We are used to hearing about the benefits of mindfulness for everything from relieving stress to making chocolate tastier - it is even being employed by the US military to improve their troops' performance levels. This begs the question of how much do we really know about what mindfulness is, how it might work and in what situations is it truly useful? We'll take a look at how psychology has addressed these questions and what this means for the application of mindfulness in different areas of society.

1. We Need To Be Mindful About
Mindfulness
Dr. Chris Noone

2. So What Is Mindfulness?
“Moment-to-moment, non-judgemental awareness, cultivated by
paying attention in a specific way, that is, in the present moment,
and as non-reactively and as non-judgmentally and openheartedly
as possible” (Kabat-Zinn, 2005)
“The first component involves the
self-regulation of attention so that it
is maintained on immediate
experience, thereby allowing for
increased recognition of mental
events in the present moment. The
second component involves adopting
a particular orientation
toward one’s experiences in the
present moment, an orientation that
is characterized by curiosity,
openness, and acceptance.” (Bishop
et al., 2004)
“Intention, attention, and attitude are
not separate processes or stages—they
are interwoven aspects of a single
cyclic process and occur
simultaneously. Mindfulness is this
moment-to-moment process.” (Shapiro
et al., 2006)
“Mindfulness is a receptive attention to
and awareness of present events and
experience” (Brown & Ryan, 2003)
“Mindfulness includes the
psychological processes of contact
with the present moment, acceptance,
defusion, and self as context that result
in increased flexibility to behave
according to values.” (Fletcher &
Hayes, 2005)

3. MINDFULNESS & EVERYTHING
Research into mindfulness meditation has
exploded in recent years. In 2014, 535 scientific
papers were published on the topic, according to
the American Mindfulness Research Association.
In 1980, there were just 3.

4. MINDFULNESS & EVERYTHING
For example, where 1 in every 3,645 psychology
journal articles in the 1990s focused on
mindfulness, approximately 1 in every 120
psychology articles between 2008 and 2012
focused on mindfulness (Valerio, 2016).

5. …

8. The problem with mindfulness &
everything…

9. The problem with
mindfulness & everything…
• Widespread acceptance of mindfulness
has been met with few critiques
throughout the years, although a recent
“mindfulness backlash” has emerged
• Many highlight the lack of scrutiny given to
the quality of mindfulness research
• It has been argued that the import of
mindfulness into Western culture has
bolstered the neoliberal ideology that the
reduction of suffering is an individual
concern rather than a societal one
• By reducing the pursuit of wellbeing to a
purely individual endeavour, tools like
mindfulness can be portrayed as a
panacea and more effective solutions are
ignored

10. The problem with mindfulness &
everything…

11. So How Did We Get Here?

12. The Roots Of Mindfulness
• Emerged in the writings of Buddhism, an eastern
philosophy and religion which originated in the northeast
of India approximately 2,500 years ago
“in the context of traditional mindfulness…. meditative
practice is necessary but not sufficient for discernment, wise
action, or wisdom to arise” (Monteiro et al., 2014, p.3)

13. The Zen Boom

14. Mindfulness In Western Science

15. Mindfulness in Psychology
First-wave
Therapies
• Past-oriented – historical causes
• Disease-oriented
• Examples: Psychoanalysis, Behaviour Therapy
Second-wave
Therapies
• Present-oriented – current maintenance factors
• Problem-oriented
• Examples: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Gestalt Therapy
Third-wave
Therapies
• Present/Future-oriented – focus on self-management
• Solution-focused
• Examples: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy,
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour
Therapy
Mindfulness Emerges in Western Culture through MBSR

16. So How Did We Get Here?
There are a number of reasons for the emergence of mindfulness, its popularity
within medicine and psychology many other fields and the wider public
1. Emerging focus on health and wellbeing within discourse on mindfulness
in the 1980s and 1990s gave it more practical value than the more esoteric
and academic focus on the nature of consciousness
2. Mindfulness was promoted vigorously by a charismatic “leader” in the
form of Jon Kabat-Zinn who initially saw the applied value of mindfulness
for chronic health conditions and pursued scientific investigation of this
application
3. Mindfulness practices were directed towards a public, the chronically ill
and stressed, desperate for a useful tool for self-improvement
4. Prominent psychologists who were proponents of the dominant CBT
paradigm saw the potential of mindfulness to resolve and improve upon
limitations of the CBT model of depression (Dryden & Still, 2006)
5. Many of the senior clinical researchers and practitioners who now apply,
research and promote mindfulness were young people in 1960s and 1970s
and were influenced by the Zen boom. Some of the popularity of
mindfulness can be attributed to their ambition, in the formative years of
clinical psychology, to discover alternative methods of reducing human
suffering (Siegel et al., 2009).

17. Where Are We Now?
• We are talking about a
“disembedded” version of
mindfulness
• Mindfulness is being applied
in a wide range of contexts
• Many claims regarding
mindfulness are not evidence-
based
• Rigour is seriously lacking in
mindfulness research
• Relationship between
mindfulness and any particular
outcome is probably not
straight-forward
• Current evidence suggests
mindfulness is useful in the
treatment of depression
• Beyond this, the evidence is
mixed

18. The Solution Is Rigorous
Research
Control Group Experimental Group

19. Thanks!
Any questions?
Email – chris.noone@nuigalway.ie
Twitter – chris__noone