Mindfulness for depression grows in popularity

This morning I am preparing to give a talk in Central London on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for depression. Mindfulness continues to grow in popularity, particularly since the NHS recommend it for people suffering from repeated relapse into depression.

But how does it work? Good question! The theory is that the body and mind make a connection between how one is feeling (depressed) and how the body feels (tired, aching etc). This connection leads to a spiralling low mood when they are linked up. You feel a little sad, the body aches, you get worried you may get depressed again, and this makes the body even more sluggish. These two keep bouncing back into each other until you are back into a relapse of depression. Mindfulness helps to gently untie this connection. It shows through experience that it is possible to feel negative mood without allowing the thoughts to go out of control.

Mindfulness practice helps you to see more clearly the patterns of the mind, and to learn how to recognise when your mood is beginning to go down. This means you can 'nip it in the bud' much earlier than before.