The Mindfulness Cliche
Saturday, March 6th, 2010In recent years there has been a constant debate about the wonders of a new version of the positive psychology of mindfulness. This leaves me wondering whether a substance to this or that is yet another pop psychology mantra waiting to be pushed aside by the next trend. Is this unjustified panacea, just another placebo claiming miraculous results, or an important therapeutic concept. My intention here is to explore the origin, foundation, and the potential value of psychotherapy attention and its relationship to hypnosis.
I was first introduced to the concept when I attended a three-day workshop jointly conducted by two psychologists at an annual conference each December in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The presenters were Mark S. Weisberg, PhD, an established authority in mind body healing practices in Minnesota, and Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Since then I have become familiar with the work of Richard J. Davidson, PhD, a Harvard trained scientist employed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Tenzin Nagi, PhD, at Emory University in Atlanta.
The common theme in their work is the belief that focused attention can and will affect the physiological structure of the body and can have an effect on behavioral problems. This seems part of a mind , body continuum that has examined the role of stress on the body, and the beneficial effect of compassion meditation on the body’s production of stress-related cortisol and the presence of oxytocin in the cranial Dr. Davidson cavity correlates with the recent negative stress triggers – the more oxytocin, the negativity of a more tolerant person.
diseases. Because of tolerance, the physical aspect of addictions needs to be addressed first one must vanish the abusive substance inside the body. This initiate is often referred to as detoxification; a initiate when the addict is not immediately, or eventually allowed to consume the substance.