Beginning to understand Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice that currently has a wide diffusion and is sometimes part of evidence-based treatments, such as dialectical behavioral therapy or full attention.

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 comes into consciousness is contemplated without making any attempt to eliminate it..

This practice also provides benefits to people who do not have any psychopathological symptoms and is trained through workshops worldwide by instructors who guide the meetings.

Being part of multiple treatments in different psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, stress, eating behavior problems, chronic pain, among others, it is common for Those who are dedicated to teaching this practice know how to guide the participants but are unaware of the biological and psychological mechanisms that allow the benefits, which is why the criteria for its use and its usefulness is not clear on many occasions.

The objective of this article is to account for one of these psychological factors that allows us to understand the conditions under which it results from This tool is useful in clinical pictures and in the general population, since it is necessary to understand when, why and why to train in this practice.

• Related article: "Emotional management: 10 keys to master your emotions"

Mindfulness and the fear mechanism

Humans, as well as other animals, have inherited from our ancestors the ability to get closer to what we find appetizing and to get away 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. Faced with a stimulus that is presented as threatening, a series of responses are produced that prepare the individual to avoid danger and thus be able to safeguard her life.

However, we may be afraid of something that is not dangerous. Evidence of this are the various anxiety pictures, where the feared stimuli will not kill us, but they will activate the fear response, which on many occasions can be unpleasant.

A person with a fear of exams knows that the exam will not kill them and that the more anxious they are, the worse the performance, however you will experience greater fear the closer to the evaluation date 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 you can still fear having an episode again and can avoid going to places where you consider this more likely happen. Other examples are phobias or social anxiety, where this self-protection mechanism is also activated against stimuli that are not harmful.

• You may be interested in: "What is fear for?"

Scary thoughts

Many external events can be scary even though they are not dangerous. There are also internal events that also do it: thoughts and emotions.

No matter how much one thinks with all his might in an aversive situation ("I have cancer", for example), he will never cause this to happen just by thinking about it.: not biologically possible. As intense as an image is and as strong as a thought is, none of this will make its content more likely to occur.

But the 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 escaped from them, but the same is not the case with internal events. Paradoxically, thoughts take center stage 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 pictures and for people without a picture psychopathological who carry out the practice to achieve a better quality of life, since contemplating their own internal experiences and not fighting against them will give us Benefits.

To learn more about this topic, she requests information on the course "Psychological Bases of Mindfulness Practice."