Browsing by Author "Kallela, Jyri"

Mindfulness has been recognized as a valuable skill for psychological well-being, and it has been utilized in psychotherapeutic treatment for decades. However, its operationalization has proven to be difficult, and research on mindfulness contains a number of additional methodological challenges. Mindfulness-based interventions also differ from each other in how they conceptualize mindfulness and use it as a part of treatment, and thus its role in their effectiveness is difficult to establish. This review compares three mindfulness-based psychotherapeutic interventions: acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The comparison focuses on their definition of mindfulness and its utilization in treatment, and the role of mindfulness as a possible change mechanism. The interventions contained both common and differing elements in how they define and utilize mindfulness, which reflects the multi-faceted nature of the concept. The two elements that are most often linked to mindfulness, namely present-moment awareness and an accepting stance towards experience, were common to all interventions. However, the therapies differed in their emphasis of mindfulness either as a specific state of consciousness or as a set of skills to learn and master. There were also differences in the underlying purpose of mindfulness practice as part of the therapeutic process. The most obvious difference was whether or not a formal mindfulness practice is expected from either the patient or the therapist. The diversity of definitions makes mindfulness suitable to adapt for various psychological interventions which are aimed at different patient groups, and its therapeutic potential is clear. However, there is currently too little high-quality research available to make reliable conclusions about the specific effect of mindfulness in mindfulness-based treatments. Much more research is needed, starting with a clear definition and operationalization of the construct, and developing more reliable measures.