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    Jonathan Sophrosyne posted an update 8 years, 5 months ago

    There is a difference between nearly identical types of thinking. Reflection is the act of positively considering the past in order to learn from it and improve. Rumination is the act of negatively considering the past and is responsible for most emotional anchors that keep people rooted and mired in their negative past experiences.

    This is why I and most of the professionals in the psychology career promote Mindfulness.

    Mindfulness involves being aware moment-to-moment, of one’s subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective. When practising mindfulness, one becomes aware of one’s ”stream of consciousness”. The skill of mindfulness can be gradually developed.

    Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). It uses traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Cognitive methods can include educating the participant about depression. Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them.
    Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory that when individuals who have historically had depression become distressed, they return to automatic cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode. The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic processes and teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and instead accepting and observing them without judgment.
    This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection.

    Research supports the effects of MBCT in people who have been depressed three or more times and demonstrates reduced relapse rates by 50%.”

    Excerpts taken from Psychology Today: Mindfulness and Wikipedia: Mindfulness