What do you think?
Rate this book
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Embodied Presence and Inquiry in Practice
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a powerful, evidence-based treatment for depression and other mental health conditions. This groundbreaking professional book provides clinicians with the essential skills they need to deliver MBCT. In this book, you’ll discover the foundations of teaching MBCT, guidance on embodied mindful presence (a focused awareness of experience in the moment), the contemplative dialogue known as inquiry , and other strategies for delivering group-based MBCT. You’ll also find scripts, access to audio material, and practice guidelines for you and your clients. Although focused on MBCT, this book can be referenced for use in other mindfulness-based programs. In addition, you’ll gain the knowledge and confidence you need to effectively deliver MBCT and build the foundations of an embodied practice. The book starts with an overview of the MBCT program, before devoting chapters to the structure and skills required for developing competence and best practice. You’ll deepen your understanding and facility in the most challenging elements of mindful embodied presence and inquiry. You’ll also learn strategies for delivering this therapy to a group; troubleshooting tips; and a chapter on training, mentorship, and maintaining competence. Finally, you’ll find essential information including meditation scripts, tools, and other resources for delivering MBCT. If you are looking to deepen your practice and ability to teach MBCT, this book—written by renowned MBCT clinicians—is an invaluable addition to your professional library.
224 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2019
17 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 8, 2019
The definitive guide to teaching MBCT
In clear, concise writing, the authors convey the essential principles of teaching the 8-week program and provide practical guidance to translating these principles into practice. It should be required reading for anyone aspiring to teach mindfulness-based programs.
A critical feature of this teaching is too often ignored or not fully grasped. The teaching must be firmly rooted in the teacher’s own mindfulness practice. The teaching itself is a relational form of practice. The authors wisely emphasize this throughout the book, and provide useful illustrations in sample exchanges between teacher and participant.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of teaching is inquiry. The authors are masters of this essential skill and they have translated their collective experience and wisdom here beautifully. Every teacher of mindfulness-based programs will benefit from reading this chapter. It will be especially helpful to anyone trained in psychotherapy. Through embodied mindful presence rooted in their own practice, the skilled MBCT teacher models a new way of relating to experience that supports awareness and turning toward difficulty. For experienced therapists, the tendency is to fall back on therapeutic impulse to provide relief or explanation. But with inquiry, the participant is gently guided through a process of developing deeper awareness skills and becoming their own agents of change.
The section on the therapeutic aspects of group process is a novel and valuable contribution. Very little has been written about how group process in MBCT differs in fundamental ways from traditional therapeutic groups. Another section presents a balanced and thoughtful discussion on the important topic of possible risks, with a practical guide to screening participants, explaining potential risks and benefits, and managing difficulties if they arise.
As I finished the last chapter, I found myself wanting more. But the authors wisely chose to be concise, focusing on the essentials, avoiding unnecessary language, theory and concepts. This is consistent with the emphasis on experiential learning rather than didactics, encouraging new teachers to learn from their own practice and seek formal training and experience with teaching under the guidance of a mentor, as outlined in the last chapter on professional training. Indeed, the authors wisely caution readers against thinking they can use the book as a manual to begin teaching. The successful teacher will first integrate mindfulness into their own lives, cultivating an embodied mindful presence and a lived understanding of the causes of suffering and this unique path to relieving that suffering.
In clear, concise writing, the authors convey the essential principles of teaching the 8-week program and provide practical guidance to translating these principles into practice. It should be required reading for anyone aspiring to teach mindfulness-based programs.
A critical feature of this teaching is too often ignored or not fully grasped. The teaching must be firmly rooted in the teacher’s own mindfulness practice. The teaching itself is a relational form of practice. The authors wisely emphasize this throughout the book, and provide useful illustrations in sample exchanges between teacher and participant.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of teaching is inquiry. The authors are masters of this essential skill and they have translated their collective experience and wisdom here beautifully. Every teacher of mindfulness-based programs will benefit from reading this chapter. It will be especially helpful to anyone trained in psychotherapy. Through embodied mindful presence rooted in their own practice, the skilled MBCT teacher models a new way of relating to experience that supports awareness and turning toward difficulty. For experienced therapists, the tendency is to fall back on therapeutic impulse to provide relief or explanation. But with inquiry, the participant is gently guided through a process of developing deeper awareness skills and becoming their own agents of change.
The section on the therapeutic aspects of group process is a novel and valuable contribution. Very little has been written about how group process in MBCT differs in fundamental ways from traditional therapeutic groups. Another section presents a balanced and thoughtful discussion on the important topic of possible risks, with a practical guide to screening participants, explaining potential risks and benefits, and managing difficulties if they arise.
As I finished the last chapter, I found myself wanting more. But the authors wisely chose to be concise, focusing on the essentials, avoiding unnecessary language, theory and concepts. This is consistent with the emphasis on experiential learning rather than didactics, encouraging new teachers to learn from their own practice and seek formal training and experience with teaching under the guidance of a mentor, as outlined in the last chapter on professional training. Indeed, the authors wisely caution readers against thinking they can use the book as a manual to begin teaching. The successful teacher will first integrate mindfulness into their own lives, cultivating an embodied mindful presence and a lived understanding of the causes of suffering and this unique path to relieving that suffering.
August 12, 2019
This book is a valuable, and I would say essential, complement to the original MBCT Treatment manual. With it's focus on an exploration of the territory of teaching MBCT, this book provides a deeper understanding of what is being taught in MBCT. The authors have distilled their many years of teaching MBCT into a clear and precise description of this territory. All MBCT teachers, from novice to experience, can benefit from their accumulated wisdom.
July 27, 2024
This book goes into detail about how clinicians can utilize mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. It provides steps and examples of different practices that follow this theory. Because of the level of detail, the reading was dry at times and thus felt a bit boring. However, a clinician can become certified in this therapy model or incorporate parts of it in their practice.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews