Mindfulness-integrated CBT for Well-being and Personal Growth

Four Steps to Enhance Inner Calm, Self-Confidence and Relationships

Bruno A. Cayoun

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118509128
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Index: Psychology

This is a clear, streamlined guide to using Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MiCBT) to improve well-being and manage a range of personal and interpersonal difficulties.

• Integrates the core principles of Eastern mindfulness with the Western evidence-based principles of CBT
• Provides simple and practical, step-by-step guidance to understanding and implementing the four stages of MiCBT with helpful FAQ sections, success stories from patients, and free access on the companion websiteto the author's MP3 audio instructions for basic and advanced mindfulness meditation techniques
• Written by the foremost expert in this area, with over 25 years' experience in mindfulness meditation and training from around the world
• Perfect for individuals working toward self-improvement on their own, as well as professionals assisting clients in individual or group therapy

Step 1
Personal Stage

1
Committing to Learn and Change

It is in changing that things find repose.

—Heraclitus

Any journey toward lasting well-being and genuine contentment necessitates a deeper understanding of ourselves and others. Unless we start to understand what we profoundly need and why we need it, the journey cannot begin. This chapter describes the three complementary ways of learning about ourselves and acquiring such knowledge: through others’ views (beliefs and faith), through our own views (intellectual evaluation), and through our own observation (direct experience). It also engages you in the process of change and guides you through the process of downloading the free audio instructions in order to start your practice of mindfulness as soon as possible.

Beliefs and Faith

If I told you that you could genuinely achieve a sense of well-being, a lasting experience of joy, peace, and contentment, would you believe it? Why would you or wouldn’t you believe it? What would the basis of your belief be? As children, we learn about ourselves and life in a broader sense by observing and listening to others. As we grow, our need for knowledge, often characterized by an increasing need to ask questions, is satisfied by our parents’ and teachers’ explanations. To learn about ourselves and the rest of the world, we initially rely heavily on others’ understanding and views – others’ wisdom. We form beliefs and rely on these to shape our sense of reality. We are limited in the way we are engaged in the learning experience.

Through repetition, others’ views eventually become ours by a subconscious process of internalization. Our sustained identification with our acquired views progressively shapes the neural configuration of brain pathways. Repeatedly identifying with the world as it is presented to us also shapes the person we become. As we later discover, a good deal of information we receive from our parents and others happens to be incorrect. Even basic beliefs, like the existence of the tooth fairy and Santa Claus (which children can hold so dear), will have to be dropped, disappointingly, so that a more mature understanding can be achieved.

Nevertheless, belief in others’ views remains an important means of learning in adult life. For example, believing in what is being said by a doctor, psychologist, lawyer, politician, priest, or renowned scientist is part of adult life. Our views are far more shaped by our faith in others’ views than we would like to admit.

Although a belief is necessary and useful when the proffered information is accurate and valuable, it is also extremely limiting on its own. Without questioning our beliefs, we delay or prevent the development of rational thinking, unable to reassure ourselves through logic or to question extreme views that we may have learned to endorse. We become unable to grow into an independent thinker and, like little children, can be left feeling vulnerable. Accordingly, a beneficial way of learning about ourselves requires the ability to question, investigate, and evaluate the information at hand.

Intellectual Evaluation

Critical thinking, or exercising our intellect to verify the validity of our beliefs or those of others, is the result of intellectual maturation. When we engage in critical thinking, we become more actively engaged in the learning experience. As we grow from children into young adolescents, our brain physiology produces rapid changes that concurrently enable the growth of intellectual independence. Although this may take the form of a rebellious attitude at times, it also reflects the ability to question, disagree, and recreate a more independent reality, as we see it. As teenagers, we often portray our re-evaluation and reconstruction of ourselves in the form of change of style and physical appearance. Our sense of identity begins to change as puberty takes place, leaving behind many of our childhood self-beliefs – those beliefs we held so dear.

As we mature, we acquire the ability to question established values and test hypotheses. Our evaluative ability gives us a chance to put what we believe to the test, whether through simple logic, philosophical thinking, or scientific experiments. However, one of the limitations of overreliance on this approach is that most scientific findings change. A phenomenon that the scientific community was certain of 50 years ago may now be found to be erroneous. For example, up until 20 or so years ago, the scientific community asserted that our brain cells could grow only until about 24 years of age and could not continue growing once the brain had reached maturity. This was supported by observations that aging caused nerve cells to decay, resulting in a reduction of brain volume. However, the advent of sophisticated brain imaging technology, and recent studies in stroke rehabilitation, phantom limb pain, and mindfulness meditation, demonstrate that we can grow brain cells at just about any age.

In addition, an intellectual truth for your best friend may not apply to you. Since things change all the time (as we will discuss in the next chapter), even if a research finding applies to you, will it apply to you in every situation? In science, we tend to propose theories based on our interpretation of data, but we are very cautious about asserting facts. The history of science demonstrates the need for such caution, with statements of fact continually challenged by new findings.

The increased ability to examine and question information about ourselves and the world we live in may be an important stepping-stone to self-knowledge but this aspect of learning never seems to bring us tranquility and joy. Being a philosopher or scientist, even with great ability for critical thinking, does not translate to being happier than other people. Our faith in our own and others’ views can also be a trap.

Direct Experience

Having first-hand experience brings information in a way that is undeniable, for better or worse. It engages us fully in the learning experience and brings a sense of knowing that we can rely on and that no one can take away through philosophical argument. It marks the difference between intelligence and wisdom. Nonetheless, while direct experience is the most reliable way of learning, what we make of it depends heavily on the accuracy and depth of our understanding. For instance, having a direct experience of fright during a car accident can lead to a phobia of driving or walking on busy roads. Similarly, the direct experience of snakebite can lead to a phobia of snakes. In both these cases, the direct experience of panic symptoms associated with a lack of psychological education and rational thinking about the probability of being killed in an accident or being bitten by a snake will imprison the phobic person in lifelong avoidant behavior.

Although experiential learning is the most reliable means of acquiring more accurate self-knowledge, it needs to be balanced with the other two ways of learning: others’ useful knowledge we are yet to learn (e.g., reading about what a phobia is); and our ability to make sense of the experience accurately (e.g., questioning if we would really die by walking or driving on this road). Though experiential learning is the way to liberate ourselves from confusion and misperception, it must be balanced with a degree of faith in our trusted teachers and a degree of healthy skepticism. A good way of recognizing teachers whose knowledge we can rely upon is by considering their ability and willingness to put their beliefs to the test. This brings me to the strange way in which I was introduced to mindfulness meditation, years before my formal psychology training.

In February 1989, while living in Sydney, Australia, I got a phone call from Veronique, a friend whom I had met about 18 months earlier during my travels in northern Queensland. She had found out that I had done some training in rebirthing therapy combined with gestalt therapy and heard that it was beneficial, so she wanted to learn the method. Yes, this was the heyday of the New Age movement in the 1980s in Australia.

I suggested that she enquire about training in her local area, where it was available, but she insisted that she wanted to learn from me. I agreed and she travelled 2,600 kilometers by bus from Cairns, in the north of Australia, down to Sydney in the hope of finding the holy grail of alternative therapies.

Soon after her arrival, we discussed the principles of rebirthing techniques. As I explained that connecting the breath can bring up very deep, painful memories, she asked, “What do we do with the emotional aspect of the memories?” I was pleased with the specificity and technicality of her question; I replied that we just feel it and express whatever it is that we may have suppressed at the time in whichever way we can, provided it is not harmful. She continued, “But what do you think happens to this emotional energy, like fear and anger?” I replied, “I’m not sure, but as long as it’s out of our system, does it matter where it goes? We just feel calmer and sometimes insightful afterwards.” This didn’t go down well. She appeared surprised ...