Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is recommended by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) as an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression, and for those who have recovered from depression to reduce the risk of experiencing depression again in the future.​
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What does MBCT teach us?​
When low mood shows up we may find ourselves caught in spirals of repetitive negative or self critical thinking, or ways of coping such as trying to avoid/supress/distract from difficult thoughts and feelings which inadvertently cause them to get worse and hang around. The MBCT can help with learning the following:
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How to become more aware of own unique depression related cyclical thought patterns and unhelpful ways of responding to these when they show up​ and more skilful ways of responding to them
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Ways to become more aware of our emotions as soon mood starts to spiral, so we can spot this and respond quicker.
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How to use CBT and mindfulness techniques to respond more skilfully to these difficult thoughts and feelings​ when they show up
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What happens in sessions?
Each session will include:
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guided meditation exercises such as mindfulness of the breath, body scan, movement meditations, 3-step breathing space
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opportunities to reflect on your experience of the meditation practice to help spot your own unique pattern of thinking and responding.​
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CBT exercises to identify how thinking mood and activity inter-relate to help de-centre from difficult thoughts and relate to them differently and identify strategies to adjust your activity in ways that improve your mood​
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Meditations to practise at home on a daily basis.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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How will MBCT help me?​
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reduced stress, feeling less overwhelmed,
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improved mood, and reduced risk of relapse
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feeling steadier and more focused
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less likely to be hijacked by our emotions and difficult thoughts, and more able to respond in skilful ways when they show up
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Being kinder to ourselves and more accepting of how things are or what is not within our power to change
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Who can benefit from MBCT?
People who:​​
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are currently experiencing mild to moderate depression.
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experience recurrent episodes of depression.
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are in recovery from an episode of depression, and who wish to reduce the risk of relapse.
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I also run 9-week MBCT groups for between 6-8 people, working to build small supportive communities focused on mental health recovery. The sessions are 2 hours long so please get in touch if this would be of interest to you.