Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship


After following the breath for a few minutes, see if you can locate any discomfort, perhaps an itch or an ache. Instead of automatically shifting to relieve the ache, or scratching the itch, bring your full attention to the discomfort. Notice its texture, and how it changes moment to moment. Stay with the sensations of discomfort as long as you can. Experiment with staying with them for a while.

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After attending to the discomfort for several minutes, return your attention to the sensations of the breath. In the practice of mindfulness, we bring attention to our experience in the present moment. We let go of our regrets and rumination about the past, or our worries about the future, and return our attention to what is happening right now. We start by focusing on the sounds in the room, the sensations of the breath, or the feeling of sitting in a chair with our feet touching the floor.

As we develop this skill of being open to and accepting of whatever is emerging, we become more present in our experience and that of others.

As we become less distracted and preoccupied with our own concerns, we can listen more fully. Recent research shows that therapists who practice mindfulness meditation enjoy a variety of benefits with no apparent negative effects. These include a decrease in perceived job stress and burnout , as well as an increase in self-acceptance, self-compassion, and sense of well-being.

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In addition, clinicians have reported improvements in their relationships with their patients, saying they had a greater capacity for empathy, and experienced an increased ability to be present without being defensive or reactive. You might be thinking that you are too busy to bring formal mindfulness practice into your clinical day. One of our favorite practices can be done before greeting your next patient. A simple intervention such as this only takes a moment and can help you center, come into the present moment, and connect with your patient.

The anchor offers a sense of safety and comfort.

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Leading proponents of different treatment approaches—including behavioral, psychodynamic, and family systems perspectives—illustrate a variety of ways that mindfulness principles can complement standard techniques and improve outcomes by strengthening the connection between therapist and client. Instead of automatically shifting to relieve the ache, or scratching the itch, bring your full attention to the discomfort. Scroll To Top Mindfulness is now the fastest-developing area in mental health. Grounded in research, chapters demonstrate how therapists' own mindfulness practice can help them to listen more attentively and be more fully present. If your mind wanders, no problem; just gently bring your attention back to the breath. These include a decrease in perceived job stress and burnout , as well as an increase in self-acceptance, self-compassion, and sense of well-being.

It can also be invaluable during a difficult clinical situation. You find yourself feeling anxious, afraid, or confused. You notice that you begin to clench your jaw and tighten your fists. Your shoulders rise toward your ears.

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You wonder what to do. Before formulating a response, you could try pausing for a moment to return to your breath, the sensations of sitting, or the sounds in the room. Or, you can silently say to yourself, May we both be well.

Three Ways to Bring Mindfulness Into Therapy

May we both be free from suffering. May we both live in wisdom and compassion.

Connecting with your breath or your compassionate intention gives you a chance to pause, to come back into the present moment, to dispel the clouds of fear and confusion, and to let your innate wisdom inform what you do next. Current studies suggest that in successful treatment alliances, therapists are perceived as warm, understanding, and accepting, approaching their patients with an open, collaborative attitude. Mindfulness can help us develop these qualities. The foundational skill in mindfulness meditation of concentration or focused attention can be very useful in the therapy hour, where so many factors can cause the mind to wander—for example, when the content of the session threatens us, or an outside worry distracts us, or the patient becomes disengaged, making his or her words less compelling, or we just get tired.

Of the many factors that interfere with attention during therapy, one of the most challenging is the arousal of powerful and painful feelings.

Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship

The results tentatively indicate that mental health and health care providers benefit from mindfulness training with no negative results reported. The results are inconclusive as to whether those trained in formal mindfulness practices or who possess higher levels of mindfulness have better treatment outcomes than those who do not.

Additional research using randomized controlled designs is needed to further evaluate the role of health care providers' mindfulness in treatment outcomes. A practice review of psychotherapy-related research".

Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship

This paper provides psychotherapists with a synthesis of the empirically supported advantages of mindfulness. Definitions of mindfulness and evidence-based interpersonal, affective, and intrapersonal benefits of mindfulness are presented. Research on therapists who meditate and client outcomes of therapists who meditate are reviewed. Implications for practice, research, and training are discussed. And they further discuss potential improvements in empathy, compassion and other health professionals attributes. So far, so rosy.

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This is the first volume to focus specifically on how mindfulness can deepen the therapeutic relationship. Grounded in research, chapters demonstrate how. Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship [Steven F. Hick, Thomas Bien, Zindel V. Segal] on donnsboatshop.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A number .

Then in a somewhat tucked away section of the paper, the authors get down to the real nitty-gritty - what research evidence is there looking directly at the central question "Does increasing therapist mindfulness actually translate into better therapeutic outcomes for clients? However they then go on to say "Despite these promising results, three other studies suggest that the relationship between counselor trainees' mindfulness and client outcomes is not so encouraging.

Contrary to expectation, therapist mindfulness was inversely correlated with client outcome. Still other research suggests that no relationship exists between therapist mindfulness and therapy outcome Stratton, However the Stanley et al research - "Mindfulness: A primrose path for therapists using manualized treatments? Mindfulness in this study was assessed with the MAAS which only looks at awareness in the moment and pays no attention to the key "non-judge", "non-react" mindfulness components additionally assessed in instruments such as the Five Facet Mindfulness Scale.

I've sounded a note or two of caution myself with blog posts like "Jon Kabat-Zinn in Glasgow: However I do think that "There are so many good reasons to expect high levels of mindfulness to support effective therapy both directly via the healing relationship and indirectly via the health professional's state of wellbeing Part of the challenge is because it's not clear what aspects of mindfulness are most important in promoting better healing relationships.