CR5 Issue 171 August 2019

Why Doctors are
prescribing Mindfulness
Mindfulness is increasingly
recommended by doctors for
mental health
Mindfulness has gone from
buzzword to a therapy
increasingly prescribed by
doctors. So what exactly is it –
and who and how can it help?
Mindfulness is…
• Increasing your awareness
of what’s going on inside
and outside yourself in a
particular moment.
• Stopping to really notice
what you’re thinking and
feeling, considering what
events sparked these
thoughts and feelings, and
how they might change your
behaviour.
• Paying attention to all the
physical and emotional
sensations you’re
experiencing.
How can mindfulness help,
and who will benefit from it?
Today, many of us lead very
busy lives and rush through
our days, reacting ‘off the cuff’
to things and often missing
opportunities to take a breath
and appreciate what’s around
us.
Mindfulness means taking a
step back to examine what’s
going on rather than just
reacting, and separating
yourself, even if just
momentarily, from past regrets
and future worries by focusing
on the present. It can help you
gain a greater awareness of
the drivers of your behaviours
and anxieties, and so help you
get better control of them.
Mindfulness is
increasingly
recommended by
doctors for mental
health
“It’s about allowing ourselves
to see the present moment
clearly. When we do that, it can
positively change the way we
see ourselves and our lives,”
says Professor Mark Williams,
former director of the Oxford
Mindfulness Centre.
Mindfulness can help you
appreciate things that you
previously took for granted,
like the taste of your favourite
sandwich or the birdsong as
you leave for work. And by
becoming more aware of your
thoughts and feelings, you
can begin to see patterns and
recognise those that aren’t
helpful, and recognise signs of
stress and anxiety earlier.
By recognising negative
thought patterns, we can help
ourselves learn to not let them
overwhelm us or lead us into a
spiral of negative, dominating
thoughts or negative actions
that make the situation worse
(one of the main principles of
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
(CBT)).
Mindfulness is something we
can all benefit from. However,
from a medical point of view,
mindfulness is now officially
recommended by the National
Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (NICE) as a way to
prevent depression in people
who have had three or more
bouts of depression in the
past.
It’s also increasingly
recommended by doctors
for those suffering chronic
conditions or pain (which
can be the cause of ongoing
stress), and for those suffering
from stress, anxiety or
depression. There’s emerging
evidence that it can help with
insomnia, too.
Practising Mindfulness
So how do you practise
mindfulness?
You can practise it anytime,
anywhere, but it seems to
work best if you make the
effort to do it regularly, and
try to choose a time each day
to practise it, in addition to
occasions when you practise
it ‘on the go’. It could be: on
the way to or from work; at
lunchtime; first thing in the
morning or last thing at night.
Experiment to find the time
most convenient and useful
for you.
Reminding yourself to take
notice of your thoughts,
feelings, body sensations and
the world around you is the
first step to mindfulness.
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