Hi Cherry
Thank you for having me. Today we will be sharing our thoughts and knowledge on CBT and Mindfulness for carers from our service experiences. But first, a bit of background on CBT and Mindfulness?
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT): CBT is one of the most commonly practiced psychological interventions used by psychologists. It is a goal-oriented talking therapy with established efficacy in the treatment of anxiety and depression, eating disorders, certain pain disorders, substance use disorders, and psychotic disorders.
CBT is an intervention that involves the therapist working with people to confront, challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs and thoughts. Maladaptive behaviors are those that prevent an individual from adjusting appropriately to normal situations, and which are considered counterproductive or not socially acceptable.1 The primary goal of CBT is to identify these maladaptive behaviors, recognize beliefs associated with those behaviors, correct any inappropriate beliefs, and replace those beliefs with more appropriate ones that will result in greater coping skills and adaptive behaviors.
The goals of most CBT approaches for depression have focused on instructing consumers about a cognitive approach to understanding the root cause and maintenance of mood disorders, applying specific skills to identify and modify unhelpful and automatic thoughts, as well as understanding maladaptive assumptions and beliefs judged as reflecting enduring thoughts and beliefs.
CBT may take place with individual clients or by within a group setting. Group-based CBT approaches have been found to be cost-effective and have achieved similar results to individual face-to-face approaches, which has contributed to the popularity of CBT as a treatment for depression
Mindfulness is a concept that has received exponentially increasing attention in psychological research and clinical application over the past two decades (Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are becoming increasingly popular in both medical and mental health settings, and there is growing evidence on their efficacy. The origins of mindfulness interventions can be traced to Buddhist ideas and practices that date back over 2500 years.
The word mindfulness is often connected to the Pali (ancient Indian language of early Buddhist texts) term sati, originally meaning 'to remember,' but with a connotation of 'lucid awareness' of the present moment. One possible way to integrate these meanings is by thinking of mindfulness as the moment of remembering to return (one's awareness or attention) to the present moment.
