Mindfulness: More Than Just a New Technique

Abstract

Reviews Mindfulness and Psychotherapy edited by C. K. Germer, R. D. Siegel and P. R. Fulton (see record 2005–07373–000). In the past 10 years, mindfulness has moved from a largely unknown concept and practice among therapists to a visible and emerging field of study. “Paying attention in a particular way-on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4) is a popular definition of mindfulness. Mindfulness, a highly systematic, empirical first-person inquiry at the heart of Buddhist psychology, is now meeting with the Western third-person empirical model of psychological inquiry, resulting in a synthesis that has the potential to advance the state of psychotherapy theory and practice. The book is a brave and brilliant compilation from 11 different authors that explores many of the different ways that mindfulness can inform the theory and practice of psychotherapy–drawing on Buddhist psychology and teachings while being sensitive to the culturally defined therapy of the West. Most of the contributors are therapists who have been practicing Buddhist meditation for many years. The main strength of the book is in its broad presentation of the many ways that mindfulness can inform therapy. What the book does not do is go into depth into any one particular area. And the biggest thing this book cannot do is engage in the practice of mindfulness for the reader. In summary, this book may be a marker for the direction of a paradigm shift taking place in the field of psychology. This shift may have been anticipated as far back as the early 1900s, with William James' famous prediction that psychologists would all be studying Buddhist psychology within 25 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)