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Mindfulness and clinical psychology.

David Childs

Psychology and psychotherapy September 1, 2011 DOI: 10.1348/147608310x530048 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Qualitative Peer reviewed
Topics Meditation
Citations 5
Key points Argues that mindfulness can establish a state of presence understood in relation to phenomenology, linking it to a Western intellectual tradition and offering a systematic method for investigating the non-conceptual basis of everyday experience.

Abstract

Does mindfulness offer more to psychology than a useful therapeutic technique? This paper argues that it can also establish a state of presence which is understood in relation to the practice of phenomenology. Mindfulness is then both linked to a Western intellectual tradition and offers that tradition a systematic method. This is an opening for psychological investigation of the non-conceptual basis of everyday experience. The combination of this theoretical stance with the increasingly widespread practical training of clinical psychologists in mindfulness has broad implications for clinical practice; this is illustrated in relation to the descriptive approach to clinical problems, qualitative research, and reflective practice.