Mindfulness-based psychological care — MBCT, mindfulness-based stress reduction and yoga-informed therapy — used alongside CBT and ACT rather than instead of them.
Mindfulness has been oversold and undersold in roughly equal measure. It is not a cure for distress and it is not merely relaxation. What it does have is a specific, well-studied application: changing the relationship to repetitive thinking, which is the mechanism underneath rumination in depression and worry in anxiety.
That is why mindfulness-based cognitive therapy earned its place in the relapse-prevention evidence rather than the general-wellbeing one. At Potentialz Unlimited, mindfulness and yoga-informed practice sit alongside CBT and ACT, matched to presentations where the evidence supports them — not applied to everything by default.
Related approaches and areas: CBT, depression, burnout.
Medicare rebates available with a GP Mental Health Care Plan. In person in Bella Vista or by telehealth across NSW.
Mindfulness suits some presentations better than others. Where active avoidance or acute trauma symptoms are present, other approaches come first — and we will say so.
The eight-session MBCT structure targets depression relapse specifically, by teaching recognition of early warning signals and a different response to them.
Breath and body-based practice is used where the distress shows up physically — tension, shallow breathing, poor sleep — and where talking alone has not reached it.
Mindfulness is a component of ACT and sits naturally with cognitive work. It is most useful as part of a plan rather than as the whole plan.
Not quite. Meditation is a practice; mindfulness-based therapy is a structured psychological treatment that uses that practice toward a specific target, such as depression relapse. The structure and the rationale are what make it a therapy.
For some things, with good evidence — MBCT for preventing depression relapse is the strongest case. For others the evidence is thinner, and we would rather tell you which is which than present it as universally effective.
No. Yoga-informed work here is about breath and body awareness rather than physical postures, and no prior experience is assumed.
It is not a replacement for either. Decisions about medication belong with your GP or psychiatrist, and mindfulness is generally used alongside other psychological work rather than instead of it.
Where the sessions are psychological treatment delivered under a GP Mental Health Care Plan, eligible clients can claim rebates in the usual way.
Medicare rebates available with a GP Mental Health Care Plan. In person in Bella Vista or by telehealth across NSW.