| Stemming from Eastern practices, mindfulness entails intentionally bringing one's attention to all aspects of experience in the present moment, and holding these experiences with non-judgmental acceptance. In recent years mindfulness-based interventions have been gaining empirical support together with clinician interest in their use. The APA now mandates the use of evidence-based practices in psychology (EBPP), which incorporate the best empirical evidence, clinical expertise, and individual population characteristics and culture. However, at present, because there have been relatively few dismantling studies, clinicians are forced to either adopt an entire treatment protocol or pick and choose individual interventions in a relatively ad hoc fashion. This effectively creates greater variability in the quality of treatment that is disseminated in the community. A system is needed, which bridges the gap between rigid adherence to EST manuals and the inconsistency of over reliance on clinical decision-making. The common elements approach has been proposed as one means of bridging this gap.;This dissertation contributes to EBPP utilizing mindfulness approaches by (a) identifying the commonly shared elements of effective mindfulness based interventions; (b) offering treatment considerations for the integration of mindfulness into clinical practice based on EBPP requirements. This is the first attempt to provide such clinical considerations for the integration of mindfulness approaches that are consistent with the APA policy on evidence-based practice in psychology (APA, 2005). |
