Mindfulness is a practice that is currently widely disseminated and is sometimes part of evidence-based treatments, such as dialectical behavioral therapy or mindfulness-based therapy.
It consists of observing the events that happen in the present, in a particular way: without an attitude of judgment, with full openness and acceptance. Every thought, emotion or sensation that is presented to consciousness is contemplated without attempts to eliminate it
This practice also provides benefits to people who do not present any psychopathological condition and is trained through workshops worldwide by instructors who guide the meetings.
Being part of multiple treatments for different psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, stress, eating behavior problems, chronic pain, among others, it is common for those who dedicate themselves to teaching this practice to know how to guide the participants but do not know the biological mechanisms. as psychological ones that allow benefits, which is why The criteria for its use and its usefulness are often not clear
The objective of this article is to explain one of these psychological factors that allows us to understand the conditions under which this tool is useful in clinical conditions and in the general population, since it is necessary to understand when, why and why to train in this practice.
Human beings, as well as other animals, have inherited from our ancestors the ability to approach what we find appetitive and distance ourselves from aversive events. This ability is extremely useful for subsistence and allows, among other things, to avoid potentially harmful situations.
One of the mechanisms through which the body emits flight and escape responses is fear When faced with a stimulus that is presented as threatening, a series of responses are produced that prepare the individual to avoid the danger and thus be able to safeguard her life.
However, we can be afraid of something that is not dangerous. Evidence of this are the various anxiety disorders, where the feared stimuli will not kill us, but they will activate the fear response which can often be unpleasant.
A person with fear of exams knows that the exam will not kill him and that the more anxious he is, the worse his performance will be. However, he will experience greater fear the closer the evaluation date is and will want to avoid this event.
Someone with panic attacks may know that they will not die from it, since they have experienced these symptoms on many occasions, but they may still fear having an episode again and may avoid going to places where they consider this more likely to occur. Other examples are phobias or social anxiety, where this self-protection mechanism is also activated against stimuli that are not harmful.
Scary thoughts
Many external events can generate fear even if they are not dangerous. Likewise, there are internal events that also do this: thoughts and emotions.
Even if you think with all your might about an aversive situation (“I have cancer,” for example), you will never cause this to happen just by thinking about it : not biologically possible. No matter how intense an image is and no matter how strong a thought is presented, none of this will make its content more likely to happen.
But thoughts often bother, as well as the associated emotions, which is why it is expected that the person who fears these thoughts will try to avoid or suppress them.
This can lead to what is known as “cognitive fusion”, that is, base our behaviors on our thoughts rather than what is happening in the context and respond to them as if they were reality
The news is that external stimuli can often be avoided or it is possible to escape from them, but the same does not happen with internal events. Paradoxically, Thoughts become more prominent when you try to avoid them control them, escape from them or suppress them.
This is one of the reasons that gives meaning to the practice of Mindfulness both as part of a treatment in clinical conditions and for people without a psychopathological condition who carry out the practice to achieve a better quality of life, since contemplating one’s own internal experiences and Not fighting them will bring us benefits.
To learn more about this topic, request information about the course “Psychological bases of the practice of Mindfulness”.
