Mindfulness, Buddhist Psychology, and the Psychology of Belonging: Ontological Differences, Mechanisms of Change, and Clinical Vignettes
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 21, 2026 Carlos Federico Obregon Diaz
Mindfulness-based psychotherapies often assume a subject already capable of self-regulation, but the Psychology of Belonging argues that consciousness and mentalization are late achievements dependent on prior belonging and emotional freedom. Psychological freedom emerges sequentially as movement → emotion → decision, with emotional freedom necessary for reflective awareness. Integrating Buddhist psychology, attachment theory, and relational neurobiology, the paper repositions mindfulness as a late-stage clinical tool within reconstructed structures of belonging. Clinical vignettes show mindfulness expands freedom when it increases narrative, emotional, and existential alternatives within viable belonging; otherwise it risks becoming defensive self-surveillance or emotional anesthesia. Consciousness without reconstructed belonging may intensify control without increasing freedom.