Two days ago I was involved in what one may call a “heated” discussion about different treatments for depression. One of the potential options, either as an alternative or supplement to medication, introduced into the conversation was meditation. I did not respond well to this suggestion at all, actually I was a bit insulted by the suggestion.
After my… um… animosity for what was suggestion dissipated, I decided to do a bit of research on the suggestion. After a bit of luck I found out the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology recently published information showing that for the first time group-based psychological treatment, called Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), is a potential alternative for medication with individual suffering from long term depression.
What is Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy? It is not “meditation” in the classical sense. It is attempting to have individuals become aware of their current situation, pay attention to their breathing… one may call it “living in the now”.
Hmmm…
Let’s say you try one medication, which doesn’t work, so you try another. Much to your dismay the second medication doesn’t help either. Ok, so here comes the third. You guessed it, nothing happens. So what does one do? It could be really, really easy to get fed up with trying to different options only to run into a dead end. Essentially the hopes of an individual get raised only to be dashed by disappointment. It gets quite frustrating – trust me.
What riled me up about the original suggestion of meditation came down to two things. One, sitting around a bunch of candles in a lotus position singing Ladysmith Black Mambazo isn’t me. Two, I’m tired of trying.
What is suggesting in MBCT is an interesting theory and may be something worth looking into, but it’s not “meditation”.
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