Mindfulness's Role In Psychiatric Analysis

Human beings influence each other in deep ways; the therapists who have worked on themselves have a field around themselves that has a profound impact on the client. In Sanskrit, the term used to depict a state of well-being or good health is swastha, which means rooted in the self. Hence, if the therapist experiences a state of well-being and radiates an aura of healthiness, it has a healing impact on the client.

Health is traditionally defined as a state of perfect balance and healing is that which brings about this kind of balance once again (William McGrey, 1964).The therapist who has worked through his own crisis and has reestablished a state of balance understands the process of inner healing, and this understanding is conveyed to the

In addition to its role as a clinical intervention, mindfulness may have applications to increase both the well-being and effective practice of therapists. Mindfulness states of mind are cultivated through the self-regulation of attention on moment-to-moment experience, underpinned by attitudes of acceptance, curiosity, and non-judgmental warmth (Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freedman, 2006). Central to this capacity is the ability to inhibit secondary appraisals (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002), and to return one’s attention to the present moment when distracted (Bishop et al., 2004). The expansion of awareness and acceptance are the two key elements of mindfulness. Mindfulness practices can cultivate in the therapist, what is known in the Indian tradition as, sakshibhava. It is the capacity to witness experience and cultivate that part of us and that part of consciousness that allows the mind to non-reactively witness all that is a part of life. The Svetasvatara Upanisad describes God as a mere witness (säkshi), not an agent. The spiritual practice of the healer helps him to witness the reactions of the client and respond to them in non- reactive and non-defensive ways, and this was beautifully illustrated by participant three, ‘My spiritual practice helps me to witness and observe and not be threatened by the things that clients bring into therapy the things that happen in the room between us.’ If the therapist does not react in a defensive way or in a retaliatory sort of way, and if the therapist is really receiving the experience of the client, then a difficult moment in therapy can transform into a therapeutic moment with the skill of the therapist. Spiritual practice enhances acceptance by the psychotherapist and grounds him more in a place of equanimity. Spiritual practice helps