In November’s two blogs, let’s get into more about mindfulness therapy at Wasatch Crest.
What is mindfulness therapy?
Mindfulness-based therapy is a modified form of cognitive therapy that incorporates practices such as meditation and breathing exercises. At Wasatch Crest, we also use hiking and outdoor adventure, a sweat lodge, and non-denominational spiritual practice for our mindfulness therapy. Through these tools our Wasatch Crest therapists teach our clients to change negative thought patterns that have led to depression and possible drug and alcohol abuse. Once a client has learned mindfulness methods, he or she can fight off depression and other negative thought patterns before they are overwhelmed by them.
How does mindfulness therapy work?
We all encounter sadness, but for a person who has had prior depression this current sadness can cause a relapse into another bout of depression. You can’t eliminate sadness or negative emotions — they are part of the human experience. Instead, mindfulness therapy helps clients change their relationship with these emotions through meditation, yoga, and other practices.
Through training and the use of meditation exercises clients are able to shift their responses to sadness or negative emotions. What formerly were automatic negative responses that could lead to an accumulating cascade of negative thinking change to an understanding that there are other ways to respond to these situations.
Whenever a client starts to feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, he or she can utilize the meditation techniques they’ve learned. This helps the client replace the negative thought patterns with positive ones. This helps them ward off a relapse into depression.
What are the benefits of mindfulness therapy?
At Wasatch Crest Treatment, our clients realize numerous benefits from this form of therapy:
- Fights off depression
- Reduces anxiety
- Manages chronic pain
- Improves attention
- Decreases loneliness in seniors
- Lowers stress
- Improves sleep
- Aids weight management
Do you want to know more about how we use mindfulness therapy for our Wasatch Crest Treatment clients? Call us at (435) 657-9755 for our office, or (800) 385-3507 for admissions.
