Mindfulness Practice for Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Location
Sessions held in Chelmsford, Essex
Purpose
The objective of this programme is to demonstrate, in a thoroughly practical way, how using Mindfulness can be a powerful ally in allowing you to step back from the tyranny of constant, chronic worry — the "Detect-Catastrophise-Control-Avoid" syndrome at the core of the debilitating illness, Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Mindfulness is the technique of simply observing what is happening without any judgement or attempts to change it, and is the basis of DBT's acceptance strategies
"Mindfulness has to do with the quality of awareness that a person brings to everyday living; learning to control your mind, rather than letting your mind control you. Mindfulness as a practice directs your attention to only one thing, and that one thing is the moment you are living in"
Intendend Results
In the Mindfulness Practice for Generalised Anxiety Disorder programme you will:
- Change the way your mind actually functions. Mindfulness practice will enable your mind to see more clearly what's happening outside of your anxious thoughts and fears
- Become adept at observing your experience of the world directly, in a way in which thought is suspended; without judgement and without control
- Address the root causes of your worry – your fears, your tension, your mistaken belief that you are in continual danger
- Learn how to stay in the present, where anxiety does not exist, thus calming your mind and body, diminishing your anxiety as and when it arrives
- See your thoughts as just thoughts – an event in the mind, with no necessary connection to what goes on in the world at all
- Build a new relationship with anxiety. Anxiety will become less the dreaded enemy, and more of a familiar companion. You’ll start to learn from your anxiety, and understand what it means to experience anxiety, not be seized by it, not identify with it, not to buy into what it’s telling you
Structure
The Mindfulness Practice for Generalised Anxiety course is a series of eight weekly, one-hour sessions. I cover the following:
| Session(s) | Course content |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Assessment and Formulation |
| Week 2 | Mindfulness theory (Psycho-educational, taught session) |
| Weeks 3 - 5 | Basic Mindfulness Skills (Theory and Practice): Mindful Breathing*; Mindfulness and Everyday Tasks; Focus Shifting; Safe Place Visualisation; Monitoring Judgemental Thoughts |
| Weeks 6 - 8 | Introduction to Advance Mindfulness Skills (Theory and Practice): Mindful Walking; Emotion Exposure; Urge Surfing; Loving Kindness Meditation; Compassionate Mind Training |
* As an example of a typical Mindfulness session, feel free to play the Mindful Breathing recording, or download as mp3
Because much of the course is meditation-based, I recommend you attend wearing clothes which are comfortable and not restrictive. If you suffer from any respiratory illness, please seek advice from your GP if you are worried in any way.
Occasionally, clients express concerns that Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism. While that is true, the practices of Mindfulness are connected to just about all religions and none. Indeed this course is based on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)