June 24, 2009
Margot Hasha
This multi-component study incorporated the following: (1) an integrated study measuring the impact of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction intervention (MBSR) on potential stressors, appraised stress levels and adaptation to stress of MSW students enrolled in the Louisiana State University School of Social Work through a pretest posttest group design using time-series data to evaluate...
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
June 10, 2009
Mark Allen, Andrew Bromley, Willem Kuyken et al.
158 citations
BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a promising approach to help people who suffer recurrent depression prevent depressive relapse. However, little is known about how MBCT works. Moreover, participants' subjective experiences of MBCT as a relapse prevention treatment remain largely unstudied. AIM: This study examines participants' representations of their experience of...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
June 2, 2009
Yi-Yuan Tang, Yinghua Ma, Yaxin Fan et al.
Five days of integrative body-mind training (IBMT) improves attention and self-regulation in comparison with the same amount of relaxation training. This paper explores the underlying mechanisms of this finding. We measured the physiological and brain changes at rest before, during, and after 5 days of IBMT and relaxation training. During and after training, the IBMT group showed significantly...
Mindfulness and Social Work
June 1, 2009
Susan M Graham, John R Graham
Abstract: The profession of social work operates within the context of multiple social levels—the individual, community, and institutional levels. Along with the complexity attached to practicing amid these multiple social levels, practitioners are presented with individual challenges and situations that have been shown to weigh negatively on the workplace and the individual practitioner. As a...
June 1, 2009
L. McCracken, Miles Thompson
Methods of mindfulness are gaining increasing popularity within the behavioral and cognitive therapies and appear helpful for a range of clinical problems. The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive and behavioral processes underlying mindfulness. One hundred fifty patients seeking treatment for chronic pain completed a battery of questionnaires, including the 15-item Mindful Attention...
Mindfulness and Social Work
June 1, 2009
Miriam George
Abstract: When I first met Ms. Nair, I expected my session with her to be no different from those with my other clients. Instead, it turned out to be one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. Ms. Nair came from India and had been physically abused by her husband before and after her migration to Canada and was also adjusting to her new life in this new country. She had recently been...
June 1, 2009
Steven F Hick
Abstract: There is widespread and growing interest in mindfulness within the social work profession. All helping professions, including psychology and medicine, are using mindfulness, but in many ways social work has engaged with it in unique ways. There are a range of books that detail mindfulness-based interventions, and one (Hick & Bien, 2008) that examines mindfulness and the therapeutic...
Mindfulness and Social Work
June 1, 2009
David A Parè, Brian Richardson, Margarita Tarragona
Abstract: The quotes above are samples of reflections from student therapists on their experiences of attending to their inner dialogues in the midst of a therapeutic conversation. The task of directing their attention inwardly during a session reaps a rich range of reflections, from exasperation with conflicting impulses to delight at the discovery of what becomes visible when one slows down...
Mindfulness and Social Work
June 1, 2009
Mishka Lysack
Abstract: Activism is conceptualized as acting as a change agent to transform society through externalized action. As noted by Dorothy E. Smith (2006), ‘‘an activist sees the world in terms of what people are doing— what he is or she is doing and what others are doing’’ (p. 21). However, activism also embodies a transformative and transcendent personal quality of mindful internalized action,...
Mindfulness and Social Work
June 1, 2009
Christine Kessen
Abstract: ‘‘No time!’’ a student exclaims. Discussing an article on risk management in a graduate social work ethics class, I see the frustration on the faces in front of me. I had identified burnout as a major cause of poor social work practice. My suggestion that students take time to address their own needs now sounds feeble. These students are juggling jobs, family responsibilities, and...