MBCT teaches you how thoughts and emotions are created and how to build a new relationship between your thoughts and emotions and moment-to-moment mindful awareness.
MBCT teaches you how thoughts and emotions are created and how to build a new relationship between your thoughts and emotions and moment-to-moment mindful awareness.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) enhances the world renowned Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) system with the skills and practices of Mindfulness Meditation. The cognitive tools and skills of CBT see renewed effectiveness when applied with the life changing awareness and embodiment of mindfulness meditation practices. MBCT has been proven to be extremely effective with particular conditions such as chronic anxiety or worry, recurrent depression, and other mental health issues.
Modern psychological research has shown that many mental health issues are not like a usual physical illness. You seek medical care at a local doctor or hospital, you may receive a prescription or have a procedure with your healthcare worker, and then the illness usually resolves soon after. Yes, we might get the flu again next year but a new dose of medicine should resolve it quickly. Many mental health issues are not that simple, and many of them reoccur throughout our lives for the rest of our lives. The average person is 50% more likely to have another episode of serious depression or anxiety once they have had a single episode of depression or anxiety. The statistics are even more concerning the earlier in life those serious mental health issues first strike.
MBCT’s clinical system is focused on these recurring conditions that seem may seem to come and go for many people, even those who have received professional therapy. Many of us fall back into old thinking patterns over time due to any number of factors – it could be something as serious as a serious illness or divorce or something as minor as hearing the wrong song on the radio at the wrong time. It is possible for our minds to slip back into depressed, anxious, or other kinds of thinking with surprising speed. Many times, these thinking patterns are reawakened through regular repetition and unintentional practice. A stray negative thought keeps us awake in bed at night worrying, and suddenly we’re regularly ruminating on these negative thoughts throughout our day. We may fall into a full negativity spiral soon without proper interventions.
MBCT uses a combination of cognitive therapy skills and mindfulness techniques to interrupt these ruminative thought cycles. Instead of letting our mind be in control of our day to day experience, mindfulness meditation skills help us regain control of our thoughts and moment to moment experience. If we are experiencing upsetting thoughts or emotions, we have an entire psychological toolkit of proven skills, techniques, and strategies to disrupt those thoughts before they can take root. Cognitive skills help us examine and sort through our thoughts even further through skills like cognitive restructuring techniques, behavioral activation exercises, and more.
If this useful to you or someone in your life, please contact our office at (972) 596-7229 or contact us today!