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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Mindfulness- Based Therapy	Sam	Friday, September 23, 2011
Question: Dear Brother, I am going to be facilitating groups as a mental health therapist. I was exposed to Mindfulness-Based Therapy practices when I was in graduate school. It seems like an effective form of therapy as it grounds the mind. This practice appears to dip into some gray areas pertaining to Buddism. This raises a potential red flag for me. What are your thoughts regarding this?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r) Dear Sam: Mindfulness-Based Therapy is based on a combination of cognitive therapy (which is a biblically sound method) and Buddhists meditative techniques (which christians are to avoid). One of their websites explains: It combines the ideas of cognitive therapy with meditative practices and attitudes based on the cultivation of mindfulness. The heart of this work lies in becoming acquainted with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously learning to develop a new relationship to them. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, based on Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. The "meditative practices and attitudes based on cultivation of mindfulness" refers to Buddhist ideas and practices. The best approach for a Christian counselor to follow, and that which is most effective for the client, in our opinion, is called Nouthetic Counseling. This form of counseling is biblically based and utilizes the insights of the Church and the Saints. There are secular counseling modalities that are useful, such as Cognitive Therapy. Second Corinthians 10:5-6 gives us a near dictionary definition of cognitive therapy. The passage states: (2 Cor 10:56) We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. This is in essence cognitive therapy — taking every thought captive, correcting thinking errors, in changing the way one thinks to conform to reason. The primary difference between the secular use of cognitive therapy and the way we use it is that with our clients we help them to conform their minds to the mind of Christ. If you are interested, we have an outline of the basic counseling theory that we go by. It can be found here. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Mindfulness- Based Therapy

Sam

Friday, September 23, 2011

Question:

Dear Brother,

I am going to be facilitating groups as a mental health therapist. I was exposed to Mindfulness-Based Therapy practices when I was in graduate school. It seems like an effective form of therapy as it grounds the mind. This practice appears to dip into some gray areas pertaining to Buddism. This raises a potential red flag for me. What are your thoughts regarding this?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)

Dear Sam:

Mindfulness-Based Therapy is based on a combination of cognitive therapy (which is a biblically sound method) and Buddhists meditative techniques (which christians are to avoid). One of their websites explains:

It combines the ideas of cognitive therapy with meditative practices and attitudes based on the cultivation of mindfulness. The heart of this work lies in becoming acquainted with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously learning to develop a new relationship to them. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, based on Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.

The "meditative practices and attitudes based on cultivation of mindfulness" refers to Buddhist ideas and practices.

The best approach for a Christian counselor to follow, and that which is most effective for the client, in our opinion, is called Nouthetic Counseling. This form of counseling is biblically based and utilizes the insights of the Church and the Saints.

There are secular counseling modalities that are useful, such as Cognitive Therapy. Second Corinthians 10:5-6 gives us a near dictionary definition of cognitive therapy. The passage states:

(2 Cor 10:56) We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

This is in essence cognitive therapy — taking every thought captive, correcting thinking errors, in changing the way one thinks to conform to reason. The primary difference between the secular use of cognitive therapy and the way we use it is that with our clients we help them to conform their minds to the mind of Christ.

If you are interested, we have an outline of the basic counseling theory that we go by. It can be found here.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.