Quality therapy and counselling services in Gosford and other Central Coast suburbs

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) extends cognitive therapy by including techniques such as mindfulness practice to facilitate conscious attention to thoughts and feelings, using observation only and not judgment. With increased awareness, you can better respond to events in your life rather than reacting to them.

What does Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy look like in practice?

Mindfulness techniques, strategies or exercises might include:

Meditation: Guided or self-directed meditation improves awareness of your body, thoughts, and breathing. 

Body scan exercises: These exercises encourage awareness and attention to different areas of the body, usually beginning at the toes and moving up through the body towards the head. 

Mindfulness practice: Mindfulness involves becoming more aware of the present moment. Mindfulness can be practised during meditation or incorporated into everyday activities such as walking or washing dishes.

Mindfulness stretching: This activity involves stretching intentionally and focusing on bodily sensations to facilitate noticing your physicality and what is happening for you mentally. 

Yoga: MBCT may also encourage people to practice different yoga poses, which can increase confidence in mindful body stretching.

You might be taught what's known as the "three-minute breathing space technique," which focuses on three steps, each one minute in duration:

Observing your experience (How are you doing right now?)

Focusing on your breath

Attending to your body and physical sensations

What issues is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy best at addressing?

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was initially developed to treat depression, but recent research has found support for MBCT for:

Treatment-resistant depression

Depression-relapse prevention

Anxiety

Bipolar disorder

Low mood

Non-specific unhappiness or dissatisfaction with life