Introduction to Mindfulness - Dean Amory

counter the “mindless” state of addiction “in which one is bound by
rigid cognitive dichotomies (e.g. using or not using) and a reliance on
alcohol and drugs as the only available means of escaping stress and
anxiety” (Marlatt et al., 2004).
Teasdale described mindfulness as a skill that enabled people to
assume freer and more flexible ways of thinking about their
experiences (Teasdale et al., 1995). Rather than see a particular
thought as “irrational” and try to change it through argument and
debate within one’s own mind, Teasdale saw that we could learn to
simply acknowledge a negative thought for what it was (i.e. a wellworn
habit of the mind, that probably at some point in our
development served a supposed self-protective function), and let it
be, without investing it with the power of truth. For Teasdale,
mindfulness worked at the meta-cognitive level rather than directly
on passing thoughts and feelings.
Adapting this meta-cognitive perspective to addiction, Toneatto
(1999) proposed that mindfulness training could teach an addict to
adopt a different attitude to their experiences of craving, where he or
she could learn to experience the craving on a moment-by moment
basis with an attitude of acceptance. The goal for the addict is to get
to a place where they could see through the fiction that the substance
they desired would solve these cravings. By being able to tolerate the
intensity of their cravings on a moment-by moment basis (i.e. the
stimulus), without yielding to the pressure to achieve a quick fix (i.e.
the response), Toneatto believed that an addict could break their
usual conditioned behavioural routine.
The Deora mindfulness program (DMP) The Deora 8-week course in
mindfulness training introduced an additional intervention within the
Deora service in Dublin’s north inner city, to support individuals in
their recovery. Participants learned to use mindfulness to bring their
attention into the present moment and become aware of what is
happening within them and around them; they learned to pay
attention in a particular way to their body sensations, feelings and
thoughts, i.e. to allow themselves to notice what is happening in each
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