Describe mindfulness as a form of clinical intervention. Describe the components and processes of mindfulness as well as some types of mindfulness-based interventions. Identify some mental health problems that it has been shown to be effective in treating. Using information from the chapter, state one possible mechanism by which mindfulness could be helpful in treating these problems.

Mindfulness is defined as the awareness that arises through paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmental. Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy are four major therapies that have mindfulness components and for which there is ongoing research. Components typically include skills training and exercises that involve intentional awareness and acceptance of one's experience in the "here-and-now". Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in reducing worry, fear, anxiety, anger symptoms as well as other forms of psychological distress.
Mindfulness-based therapy typically involves teaching and practicing with clients so they can independently engage in some or all of the following: regular, scheduled dedicated exercises; use of techniques throughout the day as opportunity arises (e.g., in a grocery store lineup); or use of techniques when coping with stressful or emotionally troubling situations.
Mindfulness might be helpful because it diverts one's attention to the here and now and away from (forwards looking) worry and (backwards-focused) rumination which are central to anxiety and depressive disorders. An attitude of acceptance is similarly incompatible with the negative emotions that accompany the cognitive aspects of rumination and worry.
Many anxious-depressed clients are well entrenched in their routine ways of reacting to their environment and so might experience various forms of reinforcement (i.e., reward, escape from punishment) and/or exposure-extinction processes as they sit non- judgmentally with the "here and now" through the help of a clinician. These behavioural processes may lead to lasting changes in the way a client responds to their environment. Also, stepping back from and noticing one's experience is qualitatively different from just "having" or being "in" experience, and might automatically engage cortical brain processes and divert processing from the subcortical amygdalo-hippocampal areas which the