Mindfulness-informed therapy.

Shapiro, Shauna L. Carlson, Linda E. Sawyer, Broderick A.

Citation

Shapiro, S. L., Carlson, L. E., & Sawyer, B. A. (2024). Mindfulness-informed therapy. In S. L. Shapiro, L. E. Carlson, & B. A. Sawyer, The art & science of mindfulness: Integrating mindfulness into the helping professions (3rd ed., pp. 39–52). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000418-004

---

Abstract

Mindfulness-informed therapy offers a framework for integrating wisdom and insights from the psychological mindfulness literature and one's own personal practice into therapeutic work without explicitly teaching mindfulness meditation practice to clients. Mindfulness-informed therapy involves the integration of key mindfulness theories and concepts into psychotherapy. Therapists who use mindfulness-informed therapy have direct experience with mindfulness and draw on the insights of their direct knowing as well as on the mindfulness literature and teachings. Direct experience with mindfulness practice, however, is essential for truly understanding the nuances, paradoxes, and complexities of mindfulness and the subtleties of how to integrate it most skillfully into psychotherapy. This chapter introduces the possibility of incorporating mindfulness teachings without teaching formal meditation practice and explores possible themes the therapist can draw on as part of a mindfulness-informed therapeutic approach. The chapter provides suggestions, which are not comprehensive but are offered as examples for using a mindfulness-informed framework. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)