Effectiveness in Application of General Concept of Mindfulness (GCM) and the Buddhist Concept of Mindfulness (BCM) in Psychotherapeutic Interventions

Abstract

Mindfulness has advanced in research arena as an increasing trend in psychotherapeutic practice. Many attempts have been made to test how mindfulness can be effectively integrated in therapy. It is claimed that mindfulness has been adopted from Buddhism and has proved to be efficacious in contemporary practice. Some researchers have pointed out that the original meaning of mindfulness with certain vital notions of the ideology have missed or abandoned in the adaptation process resulting a perfunctory practice. Therefore, this study was intended to investigate how counsellors relate the true meaning of mindfulness as in contemporary Buddhist practice and its applications in counselling interventions. The study was steered under phenomenological approach in qualitative research framework. Data was gathered through openended face-to-face interviews from Buddhist counsellors (n=15), who integrate BCM along with GCM in their counselling activities. The study has emerged the concepts, which suggested the importance of comprehending ‘Right View’ as the initial footstep of understanding, and that it makes the pathway to master ‘Right Mindfulness’. The evidences from texts which contain the original doctrine of the Buddhist philosophy confirm the aforementioned findings. Moreover, BCM is more effective and provides a more sustainable outcome. Further researches need to be done to provide evidence on the importance of achieving ‘Right View’ as a pre-requisite to achieve ‘Right Mindfulness’, and how it can be introduced as a novel strategy of mindfulness counselling to enhance wellbeing and quality of life.