Mindfulness exercises are valuable and useful for anyone, but most especially for people who are struggling with mental illness or addictions. There’s a significant amount of research backing up its effectiveness. While some clients are skeptical of meditation and insist they “can’t do it,” they almost invariably report that the practice is helpful in managing stress, fear, anxiety, and self-destructive behaviors.
The most debilitating problems people experience have their foundations in defects/dysfunction in either emotional regulation or interpersonal communication. If people can learn to identify and name their emotions; recognize that their emotions are fluid and impermanent in nature and not life-threatening; pay attention to how their emotions influence the way they communicate with others; and be able to communicate in ways that are not reactive, defensive, or judgmental in nature, their symptoms will undoubtedly improve.
In addition to using guided audio meditations, we also use a biofeedback program with our clients that encourages awareness of respiration rate, heart rate, and skin conductance using sensors that are placed on the fingertips and provide real-time feedback to the client on a computer screen through a series of games or meditations. In combination, these mindfulness activities help clients to detach from obsessive or harmful thoughts, and instead maintain some curiosity and a nonjudgmental attitude about those thoughts.
People are often hijacked by their worries and memories, especially in the case of recovery from trauma, and mindfulness is key in grounding them in the present moment. This is especially necessary for survivors of trauma who experience intrusive flashbacks; they need all the tools they can learn to manage those very disorienting moments.