Mindfulness and clinical psychology.
Does mindfulness offer more to psychology than a useful therapeutic technique? This paper argues that it can also establish a state of presence which is understood in relation to the practice of phenomenology. Mindfulness is then both linked to a Western intellectual tradition and offers that tradition a systematic method. This is an opening for psychological investigation of the non-conceptual basis of everyday experience. The combination of this theoretical stance with the increasingly widespread practical training of clinical psychologists in mindfulness has broad implications for clinical practice; this is illustrated in relation to the descriptive approach to clinical problems, qualitative research, and reflective practice.
Avon and Wiltshire Partnership NHS Trust, UK.
David
D
Childs
D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D019122:Meditation; D010684:Philosophy; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D036301:Qualitative Research