Becoming Mindful: Integrating Mindfulness Into Your Psychiatric Practice

According to a 2012 National Institutes of Health survey, 18 million adults in
the United States-8% of the adult population-practice some type of meditation.
What are the possible applications of meditation-and mindfulness in
particular-in psychotherapy and psychiatry? Becoming Mindful: Integrating
Mindfulness Into Your Psychiatric Practice tackles this issue in a down-to-earth
manner designed for immediate applicability. Whereas most other books on the
topic focus on the benefits of mindfulness either for the clinician or for the
patient, Becoming Mindful offers chapters on both, providing advice on how
clinicians can establish a personal mindfulness practice and encourage their
patients to do the same, both during sessions and at home. For clinician and
patient alike, the handbook discusses the practical aspects of mindfulness, from
the most effective postures to specific practices, and offers solutions for
overcoming common obstacles, including restlessness and boredom, sleepiness, and
sensory craving.

Several chapters feature embedded exercises and guided
meditations, and an appendix with audio guided meditations and a resource list
provides psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric residents, social workers,
counselors, and nurse practitioners, among others, with readily accessible tools
to use in sessions with patients.

Key takeaways summarize each chapter's
content, making it easy for busy clinicians to quickly reference the information
they need to most effectively treat patients, even those in special populations,
including children and adolescents; patients battling substance addiction; and
patients suffering from such disorders as depression, anxiety, posttraumatic
stress disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. With additional
sections on mindful eating, mindfulness and technology, and the growing field of
positive psychiatry, this book introduces readers to the full scope of benefits
that mindfulness has to offer.