Reality Psychology by Stephen Paul McKenzie

Reality Psychology by Stephen Paul McKenzie

Author:Stephen Paul McKenzie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030971700
Publisher: Springer International Publishing


7.8 Real Mindfulness in Clinical Practice

To know what real clinical mindfulness practice is, and how it can really be practiced fully effectively, it is important to know what clinical mindfulness really isn’t, and how it can be practiced not-fully-effectively.

Conversation

In this conversation with the internationally well-known mindfulness expert Assoc. Prof. Craig Hassed from Monash University, Australia, we talk about real clinical mindfulness.

SM

Welcome Craig. Do you think that there are clinical mindfulness techniques that are commonly being offered which aren’t really mindfulness? I’m thinking of relaxation like techniques, or mindfulness techniques with relaxation components such as visualising relaxing scenes, or asking people to relax, which are presented as mindfulness. Do you think they are actually mindfulness?

CH

Not really. I think the word mindfulness is used a lot these days and perhaps for techniques that you wouldn’t say were bread and butter mindfulness. And I wouldn’t even call mindfulness meditation primarily a relaxation technique. Feeling more relaxed or calm is a common side effect of mindfulness, but it’s primarily about raising awareness and changing attitude and so relaxation often happens as a side effect of that. It’s not a visualisation exercise, it’s not about being in some imaginary comfortable place and so on. It’s actually learning to be more present and comfortable in the moment that we’re in. And so many things that are called mindfulness are perhaps not necessarily mindfulness practices.

SM

Do you have any advice for psychologists or doctors or other health professionals or students who might want to use clinical mindfulness techniques in their practice or eventual practice?

CH

In order to use it clinically I think we really have to learn to use it personally. You can’t really understand mindfulness just from a theoretical point of view and then expect to use it clinically. So I think that to actually understand it, you’ve got to learn it from the inside out. And the second thing is that to really use it with complex psychological or medical problems in clinical practice, I think requires somebody to really understand it well. Because if a person doesn’t understand it well, it could be taught in a very ineffective way and could even sometimes cause problems for patients.

SM

What do you think is the greatest value of mindfulness and clinical mindfulness in particular?

CH

Well, I suppose one of the things is that there are so many side effects of mindfulness, meaning in a good kind of way. So a person might be learning it to help them to manage their mental health, but their sleep starts to improve, they start to communicate more consciously and intentionally with their partner, for example, start to be less reactive in situations at work. So I think that the side effects that often come with mindfulness are one of the really interesting and valuable things about it. A person might come at it initially for one reason, but then a whole lot of other benefits come as well. I think that in learning to use mindfulness for a person who’s dealing with a



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