Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
Developed by: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale, Bruno Cayoun
Summary:
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is based on the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) eight week program, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Research shows that MBSR is enormously empowering for patients with chronic pain, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and gastrointestinal disorders, as well as for psychological problems such as anxiety and panic. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy grew from this work. Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale adapted the MBSR program so it could be used especially for people who had suffered repeated bouts of depression in their lives.
~Excerpt from Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy
By practising in the (8 week) Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy classes, and by listening to CDs at home during the week, participants learn the practice of mindfulness meditation. Practices such as the Body Scan, Breathing meditation, and simple yoga allow participants to become in touch with moment-to-moment changes in the mind and the body and foster a new, ‘decentered’ perspective to their thoughts and feelings. MBCT also includes basic education about depression, and several exercises from cognitive therapy that show the links between thinking and feeling and how best participants can look after themselves when depression threatens to overwhelm them.
~Excerpt from Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre
Website:
Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society