How to Use Mindfulness With CBT

<p><b>How to Use Mindfulness With CBT</b></p> <p>Mindfulness is the practice of ‘getting out of your own head’ and of simply <i>being </i>rather than constantly thinking, worrying and stressing. While mindfulness is a common part of many meditative practices, it is also an integral part of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). More specifically, mindfulness is used for ‘cognitive restructuring’ which is an aspect of CBT concerned with the ‘reprogramming’ of thoughts.</p> <p><b>How Cognitive Restructuring Works</b></p> <p>The idea behind cognitive restructuring is to deconstruct a patient’s beliefs, thought patterns and feelings regarding certain matters in a bid to improve mental health.</p> <p>For instance, then, cognitive restructuring is often used to help combat phobias. When someone suffers from a phobia, often they will find themselves having illogical thoughts regarding that trigger. If you’re deathly afraid of heights, then, you might find yourself worrying that you’ll fall off – or even worrying that you’ll feel compelled to jump.</p> <p>Of course, in most cases, neither of these things are going to happen. Likewise, we have no reason to be afraid of spiders – even if we do find ourselves worrying that they might ‘jump into our mouths’.</p> <p>Cognitive behavioural therapy restructures these thoughts and beliefs and replaces them with healthier ones.</p> <p><b>The Steps</b></p> <p>The first step in cognitive restructuring is to assess the nature of your thoughts and to identify the specific damaging ruminations that are leading to your health problems. </p> <p>This is where mindfulness comes in as an incredibly powerful tool: simply sit quietly and <i>allow </i>yourself to experience your thoughts as they occur, taking note of what they are and letting them drift by ‘like clouds’.</p> <p>Likewise, you might assess the kinds of thoughts you often find yourself having when you are in situations that make you phobic.</p> <p>From there, you can then begin the process of cognitive restructuring