When Mindfulness Is Too Much of a Good Thing: What is often missing in mindfulness practice?

For most of my career the Mindfulness movement has had an enormous impact on the field of psychotherapy. I had read about the power of mindfulness, and I’ve studied and practiced meditation for many years. At the time, I considered it a spiritual practice, and I rarely talked about it in my clinical work as a therapist.

In recent years, there has been an emphasis on the benefits of mindfulness in psychotherapy and beyond. While this has been an enormous contribution to the field, it also has been oversold and overemphasized. Today, mindfulness isoffered everywhere from elementary schools to prisons. Currently, there are over 2,500meditation apps that are available to us in a few simple clicks. The promises of healing, calm,improved concentration and focus, better relationships, and enhanced brain function are compelling and, in some cases, true.

With this high visibility and easy access, one would magine that we would find ourselves in a calmer, healthier, and less traumatized society. The current reality in the field of mental health suggests the opposite. Increased mental health concerns, struggling families and children, high divorce rates, alarming levels of violence, andtrauma tell a different story.

In my practice, I treat people who have experienced trauma. Like many clinicians, I was impressed by the research that was emerging from mindfulness movement and I encouraged patients to engage in mindfulness meditation practices. But their results were not reflecting the benefits that were touted by the research. Many of them quit the app that promised to change their lives, and more disturbingly some of them felt worse with practice. For these people the promises didn’t live up to the hype. It was my obligation to notice and listen.

In my search for solutions, I recognized what Peter Levine refers to as the ‘Medusa effect.’ For individuals who have experienced trauma they can become overwhelmed and frozen when, traumatic content emerges , much like Medusa who turned people to stone with her gaze. Trauma survivors often get stuck in practices that continually urge practitioners to turn towards their mental content. This seemingly benign encouragement can lead to re-traumatization. If shame is part of the picture, trauma survivors often opt to suffer in silence, or simply stop the practicing.

In listening to many patients over the years, I began to notice that one of the many strengths people with trauma have is the ability to use their imagination. Imagination is the missing piece for many struggling meditators. When we attend to the broken parts of ourselves with skillful self- compassion and expansive imagination, our horizions become more visible, and the beauty and strength we possess is accessible to all.