Compassion Matters

A new wave of therapies and therapeutic approaches has been spawned since the world of Psychology has adopted and adapted(?) mindfulness and compassion practices (from the Wisdom Traditions).

A psychotherapeutic approach based on mindful compassion emerged in the UK over 28 years ago. This approach is known as Core Process Psychotherapy - and is still taught at the Karuna Institute in Devon, England today.

As a practitioner in the UK you are either 'in' (work in the National Health Services (NHS)funded by central Government) or you are 'out'(in private practice)so a different attitude and culture has developed in relation to health care here. Private practitioners tend to be viewed with some suspicion unless they are at M.D. level since doctors receive their initial training and experience within the NHS.

There are virtually no jobs for psychotherapists in the NHS. You'll really only find Psychologists or Psychiatrists. So the Psychologists are forging the way forward with the integration of mindfulness into the NHS.

My concern is that mindfulness as delivered in the NHS is not embedded in a relational context. It is seen as a another treatment, a mind training, which will according to the wealth of research available, be beneficial for a whole range of conditions (mental and physical).

My concern may be unfounded. But there is something about the way mindfulness has gone viral, gone mainstream and is being marketed that disturbs me.

Is there anyone else who shares my unease?

Patricia Sabina Price
Core Process Psychotherapist
Scotland