Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a form of cognitive counseling that encompasses mindfulness practices, such as breathing exercises, meditation, and present moment awareness. This specific type of counseling was used to treat depression and/or chronic sadness. By using these tools and techniques, mindfulness-based therapists can instruct their client(s) on how to live in the present moment, freeing themselves from negative thought patterns that can worsen their mood. When you undergo MBCT counseling, you are able to fight off a negative state of mind before it occurs.
When is Mindfulness Based Therapy Used?
Initially, MBCT therapy was created to prevent people from falling into recurring episodes of depression or severe happiness. Time after time again, studies have proven MBCT’s effectiveness for clients with Major Depressive Disorder, also known as MDD, who experienced a minimum of three depressive episodes.
Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy can be used to treat the following mental health disorders:
Generalized anxiety disorders
Depression
Low mood
Unhappiness
Depression-relapse prevention
Treatment-resistant depression
General emotional distress (e.g., life transitions, etc.)
For those with depression, MBCT has been shown to specifically improve depressive symptoms in some people with physical problems as well, such as:
Vascular disease
Chronic pain
Traumatic brain injury
Fibromyalgia
What to Expect in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Counseling at Anchor Therapy
MBCT can be conducted in individual therapy sessions to people of all ages, from children and teens to adults and senior citizens. Additionally, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy can be conducted in a group therapy format.
It is recommended that you begin MBCT therapy by attending weekly sessions, whether it be in-person at our downtown Hoboken, New Jersey office or you engage in virtual therapy from the comfort of your own home. We offer online therapy to all residents of New Jersey, including Bergen County, Jersey City, and Montclair. Additionally, our virtual therapists offer online mental health counseling to residents of Florida and New York. If you cannot begin with weekly therapy sessions, you may do bi-weekly sessions. We would not do sessions less frequently than this as it is not beneficial to the therapeutic process.
In your MBCT therapy sessions, you will learn:
More about your mental health condition
Meditation practices
Grounding techniques
The primary components of cognition (e.g., the connection between your thoughts and your emotions)
One part of MBCT counseling includes homework assignments, such as doing a breathing exercise or completing a guided meditation in your free time outside of therapy sessions.
Therapy Homework in MBCT Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
If you are new to MBCT based CBT or any form of mental health counseling in general, you may be wondering why homework is necessary and the exact purpose it serves. Normally, counseling homework includes tasks or assignments that your licensed behavioral therapist asks you to complete between counseling sessions. Homework is common in many forms of therapy, including MBCT.
By your MBCT mindfulness therapist encouraging the completion of homework assignments, you are bringing present-moment awareness into your daily life, thus making it a habit. From preparing your dinner to taking a shower, you will learn to remain grounded in the present moment.
The benefits of therapy homework in cognitive mindfulness therapy are as follows:
You feel empowered - The truth is that when you complete your therapy homework, you are taking a very important step towards bettering your life. By putting the work into your emotional and mental health improvement journey, you gain a sense of empowerment. Everytime you set a boundary, complete a breathing exercise, or filter out a negative thought, you are putting the skills you learned in therapy sessions into practice. Therapy homework makes you realize that you can overcome your mental health struggles.
Your therapist gains insight regarding your strengths and weaknesses - While your MBCT therapist already knows a great deal about you, therapy homework gives them a deeper insight into what you are succeeding with and still struggling with in mental health counseling sessions. Therapy homework assignments allow your therapist to get deep in the trenches of your day-to-day life which can be hard to recap in one 45-minute session a week. Specific counseling homework assignments can help you focus on exactly what you want to share in your next counseling session with your MBCT counselor, providing your cognitive therapist with concrete data to review and assess.
You can review your progress - Therapy homework gives you physical evidence of your progress. It also provides a pathway for your next session with your behavioral cognitive therapist where you two have a follow-up discussion regarding the assignment. By reviewing your homework with your licensed mental health counselor, you can see how far you have come in your therapeutic journey. Even if you did not complete your homework, this is a sign alone that some things may need to be tweaked so you feel encouraged to transfer your therapy tools into your real life.
While this will be discussed more in your MBCT mindfulness based cognitive therapy sessions, here are some tips if you are struggling with therapy homework…
Carve out time in your schedule for your therapy homework
Be honest when completing your assignment (do not just write what you think your behavioral therapist wants to hear)
Practice your therapeutic skills
Do not hesitate to reach out to your MBCT therapist if you are having a hard time
Remember that your counseling homework assignments are supposed to help you, not harm you
How does mindfulness based MBCT work at Anchor Therapy with a mbct therapist?
MBCT uses the main principles of cognitive therapy, such as teaching you to pay attention to your thoughts and feelings without being judgemental, by using mindfulness techniques, like meditation for instance.
At Anchor Therapy, there are many mindfulness techniques and exercises that our behavioral therapists employ as a part of MBCT therapy. Some of our approaches include:
Yoga: Your MBCT therapist may encourage you to move your body in a way that feels good to you to reap the mental health benefits of exercise. Yoga specifically can clear the way for mindful stretching of your body. When you adopt a regular yoga practice, you gain a sense of mental clarity and calmness, relax your mind, enhance concentration, and relieve chronic stress patterns.
Meditation: Meditation is one of the most common techniques used in MBCT counseling not only at Anchor Therapy, but at mental health practices throughout the country! Whether you complete guided or self-directed meditations, you can gain a greater sense of awareness for your breathing patterns, thoughts, and behaviors.
Body scan exercise: A body scan exercise involves you laying down, slowly bringing your attention to different parts of your body. Typically, you start at your toes and work your way up your body towards the top of your head. Completing a body scan exercise reconnects you to your physical self, noticing your bodily sensations without holding onto any arising critical thoughts.
Mindfulness practices: When you are mindful, you are simply more aware of the present moment. You can practice mindfulness during your meditations, but it can also be included into any task you complete on a daily basis. For example, you can try to engage all five of your senses- sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste- whenever you complete a task. This will help you truly engage in whatever it is you are doing while keeping yourself grounded and concentrated.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Action: Depression
Let us imagine that you are someone who has recovered from a depressive state but regular (but completely normal) sadness is a strong trigger for you that can throw you back into a severe depressive episode. Instead of trying to avoid all negative emotions, you can learn how to cope with this discomfort by attending MBCT counseling at Anchor Therapy in Hoboken, New Jersey. You can learn to accept your sadness by engaging in mindfulness exercises, like meditation.
When you regularly engage in mindfulness with the help of a MBCT therapist, you are actually reconstructing your neural networks, removing your need to automatically think negative thoughts about a difficult situation you are going through. That is to say, just because you think it, does not mean it is the truth or reality of your circumstance.
By developing mindfulness-based routines, you can use a mindful technique that you learned in MBCT when you start to feel like your automatic negative thoughts are consuming you. When sadness pops up, you may feel triggered to associate the sad emotions with your typical negative associations. However, when you learn healthy coping skills in mental health behavioral counseling sessions, you can replace your negative thoughts with more compassionate, optimistic ones rooted in reality.
Here are some MBCT skills you will learn in counseling that you can apply to daily life:
Taking a non-judgmental stance regarding your automatic thoughts and mental associations
Participating in activities without second-guessing yourself
Being mindful of what is going on around you
Focusing on what is occurring in the moment without being worried about the past or future
Doing what works for you logically instead of questioning yourself
Benefits of Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy
In the MBCT therapeutic approach, it is believed that your thoughts inform your moods, and your sense of self informs negative emotions you may be experiencing, like depression. Therefore, in MBCT therapy near you, elements of cognitive counseling will be utilized where you learn how to pinpoint and alter your negative thought patterns and replace them with healthier thought patterns that accurately reflect your current situation.
By adopting this mindful approach, you can filter out your negative thoughts without getting too caught up in them or becoming anxious about future events. MBCT encourages you to view your thoughts with a clear mind since it provides you with the tools needed to declutter your brain.
MBCT combines mindfulness and cognitive counseling which is what makes it so effective. When you are mindful, you can notice and recognize your feelings. At the same time, cognitive therapy instructs you to stop your automatic thoughts in their tracks so you can work through your feelings in a productive, healthy manner.
How do I know if Mindfulness based cbt is the right therapeutic approach for me?
You may be researching different therapeutic modalities. You may even have a list of certain therapeutic approaches that you think will work best for you. This is all great, and a very important part of the process in finding a therapist near you who specializes in your needs! However, it is also important to note that every therapist has a different approach to mental health counseling. Every therapist alters their approach depending on the specific client since every situation is unique. You may want your therapist to only use MBCT techniques in your therapy sessions, but they may explain to you that a combination of different counseling techniques may be best.
With all of that being said, research is important, but it is also equally as important to be flexible when it comes to starting behavioral health therapy.
MBCT is a form of psychotherapy that can help you recognize warning signs while lessening the severity of your mental health thoughts and symptoms. A highly-trained MBCT counselor at Anchor Therapy will provide you with guidance when it comes to exploring your deeper mental health concerns, getting to the root cause of your problems and offering tactical strategies to overcome your obstacles. You will safely discuss your triggers while learning skills to combat them. MBCT therapy is an evidence-based counseling approach that will help you better understand your thoughts and behaviors by providing you with helpful, effective tools.
How Can I Start Mindfulness-Based Therapy at Anchor Therapy?
WORKING WITH anchor therapy IS EASY
Fill out the contact form below.
Once you fill out and submit this Contact Form, one of our Intake Coordinators will respond to your inquiry. In their response, they will connect you with a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapist on our team who suits your needs.
Close your screen and know that you are taking a step towards becoming the best version of yourself by working with one of our behavioral mental health counselors.
