What is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)?

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) - which is closely based on Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-based stress reduction progamme (MBSR) - was developed by Prof. Mark Williams (Oxford), John Teasdale (Oxford/Cambridge) and Zindel Segal (Toronto).

MBCT integrates traditional CBT methods with Mindfulness and Mindfulness meditation.

It has been found to be effective in coping with stress, managing anxiety and depression, and improving energy levels.

Usually MBCT involves attending group sessions over the course of eight weeks. But the skills learnt in therapy should be useful, to the person partaking in the treatment, for a lifetime; with MBCT patients actively participating in their treatment.

MBCT has been gaining popularity in the past few years when being used as part of treatment on the NHS for people suffering with chronic physical pain and long-term medical conditions.

72% of GPs think that Mindfulness meditation skills would be helpful in the treatment of those with mental health problems.

68% of GPs think that it would be helpful for patients in general to learn Mindfulness meditation skills.

Over half of GPs think that MBCT is quite effective.

(Source: ICM survey June 2009.)

Ask your GP or CMHT about whether this treatment is available to you.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is enhanced attention to the world around us and understanding how we allow our circumstances and thinking to affect us.

An increased attention to our surrounding and thoughts can help a person to understand what it is we enjoy about living.

This -in particular- is one of the aspects of MBCT which appeals to me greatly. I'll be starting MBCT soon and it is this aspect of the therapy which has me feeling excited about starting therapy.

I was worried about attending group therapy, due to severe anxiety of being around, and communicating with, other people. However; the prospect of reconnecting with the things which make life worth living excites me, as this seems to be something I've completely forgotten about (allowing my depression to spiral out of control, like a slide in a Turkish water park).

As I will be attempting to get back to blogging regularly; I've no doubt that will include updates on my progress with MBCT.

I'd also be interested to hear of others' experiences with MBCT - so please do feel free to share.

Find out more about MBCT and Mindfulness at bemindful.co.uk.

Patients Need Quicker Access to Therapy

There is no doubt that therapy is essential in treating mental illnesses, but one in five people with mental health disorders do not get the therapy they need from doctors. The mental health charity Mind says that those waiting less than three months from assessment to treatment were almost five times more likely to report that it helped them get back to work than those waiting between one and two years.

I was assessed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in 2005, with still no kind of therapy or "talking treatments"; I am on the waiting list, but I'm finding the wait highly frustrating! And, what is even more frustrating is that I am by no means the only one.

With all the recent government spending cutbacks the mental health sector is heavily feeling the strain, and this is sure to make therapies even more scarce. Doctors will be forced to prescribe even more medication than the are already doing so. Quality of treatment will suffer.

Access for patients to therapy is very slow, available therapies will be even harder to get hold of, and patients will continue to be pawned off with drugs, leaving their mental health to suffer as a consequence. What can we do?

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a treatment available from NHS, with the referral from a psychiatric service. There is, however, a long waiting list and it can be hard to get on that list. You can of course choose to see a private therapist instead. CBT is a therapy that is in high demand.

So, how does CBT work? CBT works on the premise that when we have a negative reaction to a situation it is because the meaning we have attached to it causes an automatic conditioned response.

We may behave in an irrational way to a problem and behave in the same way to a similar problem. We don't appear to have learnt from our previous experience, and thus is due to faulty thinking, caused by past experiences, and this is what leads to the automatic response; such as, anger, fear and anxiety.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy identifies faulty thinking, what causes it and addresses it. CBT aims to help you interrupt unhelpful patterns and challenge your thoughts to produce more helpful and rational thinking.

I'm not an expert in CBT; so I will offer up other places you can get information:

• Depression Alliance
• British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) The leading CBT body in the UK, it provides information on CBT and searches for accredited therapists.
• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

Be prepared; CBT is an intensive therapy and aftercare is essential. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is not easy to come by due to long waiting lists; so, I wish you all the best of luck!

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• Treating Insomnia in Depression with CBT-I (brainposts.blogspot.com)
• How is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Used to Treat Addiction (substance-abuse-recovery.suite101.com)
• Therapies guide: let's talk about it (telegraph.co.uk)

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