The concept of Mindfulness It refers to an “awareness that emerges from paying attention to the purpose, in the present moment and in a non-judgmental way to the passage of the experience moment after moment” (Jon Kabat-Zinn, 2003). The three central elements of this definition, namely:
- awareness,
- attention centered on the present moment
- non -judgmental attitude compared to one’s current experience
They are, not only the foundations of mindfulness-oriented psychotherapy (in its theoretical-practical aspects), but also the crucial ingredients of the psychotherapy relationship in itself (Gener, Siegel & Fulton, 2005). When it comes to Mindful Therapist (Mindful or “conscious” therapist) refers to a professional who makes Mindfulness the basis of his therapeutic attitude within his work with the patient.
Although in the field of psychotherapy researchers and clinicals agree that only minority differences exist in the therapeutic results of treatments carried out with different theoretical-metadoological approaches (Luborsky et al., 2002), a certain debate continues to exist in literature regarding the importance of certain factors according to the outcome of the therapy.
In this perspective, it was found that 40% of the variability of the results seems to actually depend on the patient’s socio-demographic characteristics, 15% on its expectations, another 15% on the specific technical specifications and the remaining 30% from non-specific aspects that make the therapeutic relationship as: empathy, unconditional positive acceptance, collaboration between therapist and patient.
Recently Sapiro and Carlson, in the manual “The Art and Science of Mindfulness” (2017) focus on the role that Mindfulness can have in helping the therapeutic relationship by considering it the most important non -specific factor for a good outcome of the treatment.
The characteristics of what the authors call the “Mindful Therapist“They include: a) the ability to be” present “and” attentively focused “on the current moment; b) a positive attitude during therapy; c) a self-compression attitude of the therapist; d) empathy towards the patient; e) the regulation of emotions and management of the countertransference by the therapist.
- The ability to be “present” and “attentively focused” on the current moment: According to the authors, it does not matter how many years of experience the therapist has or how many specific skills boasting in his curricolum, if he is not able to support attention during therapy and knowing it voluntarily to be on different elements (e.g., what the patient is saying, what communicates on non -verbal level, his body sensations, etc.). In literature, a growing number of controlled studies shows that Mindfulness meditation significantly increases the ability to focus and maintain attention. In particular, the ability to follow a series of sneaky stimuli in rapid succession is an attentive skill – crucial for therapy – which is implemented with MindFulness meditation.
- A positive attitude during therapy: According to the authors, the most effective attitude in therapy is the one characterized by heat, acceptance, trust, patience, opening and kindness. The practice of mindfulness produces an evident growth of attitudes to mental opening, kindness and warmth in the therapist.
- A self-compression attitude of the therapist: compassion, understood as the ability to empathize and will to soothe its own suffering and others, is one of the skills exercisable with the practice of mindfulness. With Mindfulness meditation, in fact, it is possible to implement the ability of emotional self-syntonization, a fundamental precursor to develop a self-compression attitude. In the hypothesis that self-compression is the necassarian condition also for compassion for others, some authors have analyzed the therapist-therapist interactions Videoregistrates, highlighting that the careful more critical to themselves were those who showed more hostility, control and non-acceptance towards patients. The practice of mindfulness therefore could enormously increase the self-compression of therapists by facilitating an open and accepting relational mode also towards the suffering of others.
- Empathy towards the patient: empathy, defined by Carl Roger (1957) as the ability to “perceive the patient’s internal world as if it were his own, without losing the” as if “”, is a fundamental condition for effective therapy. However, as already mentioned, empathy towards the other can only be reached after developing tuning and compassion for ourselves. In this sense, the practice of Mindfulness once again takes on a central role in the growth of the emotional tuning capacity and empathic connection towards the other, as demonstrated by studies on therapists and champions taken from the general population (Shapiro et al., 2007; Shure et al., 2008) and research in the field of neurosciences on mirror neurons (Goleman, 2006; Siegel, 2007).
- The regulation of emotions and management of the countertransference by the therapist: a growing amount of research have shown how the practice of mindfulness increases emotional regulation skills, so much so that it is now an integral part of treatments aimed at problems of the sphere of impulses regulation, such as the DBT (Linhean, 1993) and cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness (Segal et al., 2002). Undoubtedly, within the clinical setting, therapists must modulate their emotional reaction and be aware of when it may be useful to express them or when it would be more productive not to act automatically. This is mainly applies to the management of countertransferal emotions. Since familiarity with one’s body and emotions is enormously acquired with Mindfulness meditation, the Mindfull therapist is also more capable of noting his emotional and non -verbal responses than the patient’s behavior and regulating these automatic reactions so that the therapeutic relationship benefits from it.
In recent years, research has turned more and more to the field of the therapeutic relationship and the aforementioned hypotheses have been confirmed thanks to controlled-randomized studies. Studies conducted on therapists subjected to meditation training (Grepmair et al., 2007a; Grepmair et al., 2007b; Ryan et al., 2012) have shown – compared to therapists without any mindfulness practice – an unquestionably positive outcome towards, not only of their subjective perception of the quality of their work (in terms of awareness of their dynamics and ability to overcome the therapies) also in terms of a therapeutic outcome.
In conclusion, Shapiro and Carlson suggest that it is the acquisition of specific training in the therapy based on Mindfulness (with skills and knowledge) and an informal practice for themselves (for example, through meditation) can undoubtedly help psychotherapists – beyond orientation – to increase the essential qualities for the effectiveness of their work.
Essential bibliography
SL Shapiro & Le Carlson (2017). The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integoting Mindfulness Into Psychology and the Helping Professiones. American Psychological Association
Jon Kabat-Zinn, 2003 Constructivism in Human Science, Vol 8 (2), 73-107.
