Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

In my toolbox of CBT techniques is Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR). I often recommend MBSR to my anxious and depressed clients. This works equally well whether the client is living with a disability or is physically healthy. The practice of mindfulness has long attracted me, coming from a spiritual rather than a science-based perspective. Eckhart Tolle, the modern German mystic and author of the best-selling The Power of Now (1997) is one of my favourite authors. His simple message of living in the present moment has helped me through many an anxious day. Living one moment at a time and not focusing on the future or the past, but staying firmly fixed in the present moment is, in my experience, a powerful way to reduce anxiety and it is also the focus of MBSR. Also, as I know well from personal experience, comorbidities of depression and anxiety are prevalent in people living with chronic disease. The study Kolahkaj and Zargar (2015) did with a group of forty-eight MS patients proved that MBSR is useful for treating the patients’ psychological problems. This is the scientific foundation for MBSR and that fact reassures my clients who are initially sceptical about trying a holistic-type practice.