Do I Have to Practice Mindfulness?

by Pete Campie, LMFT

These days, you almost can’t end up in therapy without hearing the word mindfulness. It’s a practice consistently shown to be helpful for a variety of mental health struggles such as depression and anxiety...for most people. (citation)

A common question that can come up is “do I have to practice mindfulness if I don’t feel like it helps or even makes me feel worse?”  The research certainly shows positive effects for a significant number of people - but people aren’t all the same! Any approach to these types of challenges is likely to work for some people but not for others - just how the same medicine can affect people differently. 

This is certainly a challenging question - but rest assured, the research also indicates some people can have their symptoms exacerbated rather than helped by mindfulness practices. In these cases, maybe you shouldn’t practice it! 

However, there are always caveats and questions to ask yourself when thinking about this. Mindfulness encompasses a very broad category of different approaches, philosophies and methods. It can be worth the time to explore other methods. Some mindfulness training can also include elements that can impede the practice’s effectiveness, so like many things related to your health, a second opinion can be useful as well. 

With all those caveats - it’s also possible the practice simply doesn’t work for you. That’s ok - it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. There are a lot of ways to cope with our challenges and despite all the outside noise, the best strategy is the one that helps you. If you try to fit yourself into a mold of “what should work”, it probably won’t work very well. 

I use the phrase “just what works” on the front page of my website for a reason - I don’t care what it is that works, just that it does work. If you’re ready to figure out what might work for you, shoot me an email at pete@darnertherapy.com and we can get started.