Prasanna Jayatilake
Global Minds (Private) Limited, Sri Lanka
Title: A novel approach to mindfulness-based therapies
Biography
Biography: Prasanna Jayatilake
Abstract
Mindfulness has gained much attention and inspiration from professionals, psychologists, and psychiatrists across the world. Many attempts have been made to integrate mindfulness into therapeutic interventions with many efforts to test its efficacy. Mindfulness can be used to treat a wide range of mental conditions including chronic stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, bipolar disorder, etc. Researchers suggest that mindfulness helps to make neurobiological changes inside the brain which help to repair the disturbed neural connections. Even though there are evidences of some successful integrations, research also suggest that the concept “mindfulness” used in the contemporary practice is “not complete” and rather “narrowed down” or “diluted”, with some evident weaknesses such as recurrent relapses. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the aforementioned “missing points”. It was revealed that there had been an “incompleteness” occurred in cognitive change (Right View) which is a prerequisite for mindfulness in accordance with original Buddhist texts. Consequently, with no Right View (the ability to understand the true nature of the existence), such relapses could invariably occur. Furthermore, in the most accepted definition for mindfulness by Prof. Kabat Zinn, no information was found for such a cognitive change. Accordingly, just by “paying attention” it is hard to expect a cognitive change to happen and it may result in incompleteness and relapses in therapeutic interventions. In contrast, the psychotherapies based on the original ideologies in Buddhist mindfulness, were successful at making the above-mentioned cognitive change. Subsequently, clients are guided to be mindful about the “true nature”, which can be mastered even in daily life events. With such gradual mindfulness practice, anyone would get a better understanding about themselves and the nature of their existence. Mastering mindfulness with changes in cognition would result in more consolidated therapeutic outcomes. Further research may be needed to test the efficacy of this novel approach to enhance mental wellness of mankind.
