Mindfulness-based stress reduction

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · Jon Kabat-Zinn · 1979 · Massachusetts

What it is

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week group educational programme, not an individual psychotherapy. Jon Kabat-Zinn created it at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Stress Reduction Clinic in 1979, for medical patients referred by their doctors. It teaches mindfulness…

Format

• Overall format (CG2017): about 31 hours of direct instruction in total, made up of:
• an orientation session;

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• completion of the 8-week programme and of MBSR teacher qualification and certification;

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• self-blame for reacting.
• eating-disorder risk (see 4.4).
• recording only the "story". Ask for sensation-level detail.
• collisions and falls, and participants with mobility limits.
• blaming the other person. Redirect attention to one's own experience.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.