Mindfulness therapy gives a lot of benefits to the therapists as well as trainees, but does the benefits are similar to the psychotherapy treatment outcomes?
In one study so far, it has concluded that it does. The study was conducted in Germany. In 2007, the study counselor trainees who practice Zen meditation for nine weeks were randomly picked up, and they reported more self-awareness compared to the counselor trainees who were not meditating. The important thing in this study is that clients of the trainees after nine weeks of treatment who did meditation showed fewer overall symptoms, scored more on well-being, changes were of faster rate and accepted that the effectiveness of their treatment was more effective compared to the nonmeditating ones.
Same three more studies were conducted, and the result wasn’t so much encouraging. In 2006, Stanley conducted a study on the relationship between trait mindfulness among psychology trainees who were of doctoral-level. The number of trainees was 23, and 144 adult clients were picked up from a community in the clinic who undergone manualized, empirically supported treatments. But the result showed that the therapist mindfulness wasn’t directly correlated with the client outcome.
Also, in two other studies, one carried out in 2006, by Bruce, and one at 2007, by Vinca & Hayes. One study showed that an inverse relationship between the client outcome and therapist mindfulness. The other study showed that there is no relationship between the client outcome and therapist mindfulness.
So, what might be behind those results?
Well! It could be that people who are “more mindful” are going to score lower on self-reports of mindfulness. This is because they are able to describe their mindlessness more properly. And the people who are less mindful mightn’t even realize it, and so they rate themselves higher.
