When it comes to mindfulness there seems to be an ongoing debate in the research community, about how effective mindfulness works and how effective it is for conditions like depression, anxiety, and stress reduction to name but a few. Perhaps part of the issue with determining whether mindfulness can be considered an evidence based practice like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or other modalities which have been studied extensively, is due to the unique qualities which mindfulness can promote and encourage in an individual which aren’t easy to measure. For example, in my own life I have seen how mindfulness helps me to be less reactive to other people in general and to have a relationship with uncertainty which is is novel and which cannot be easily quantified or tested using normal empirical methods.
To elaborate, by noticing my uncertainty I still sense the discomfort and even have some of the previous inclinations to try and minimize uncertainty, but with mindfulness I am able to have a new experience with uncertainty which is hard to describe. I am more aware of the real cost to my energy resources of requiring an answer to all of my uncertainties and realize how drained I feel after attempting to eliminate uncertainty. This novel awareness at times facilitates the desire to stay present minded because of the practical value it holds for being able to accomplish certain tasks without the added strain of trying to figure out and predict the future. Uncertainty is known in anxiety literature and research to be a key component in generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Having a new way of orienting towards uncertainty which does not immediately remove the fear of uncertainty but instead helps a person to become more acquainted with the here and now practical costs of deciding to try and eliminate anxiety can be highly therapeutic. It puts a person in touch with the practical reality of continuing to try and eliminate uncertainty and to recognize the value of to learning to allow the discomfort and angst to come and go just as an individuals allow pleasant feelings and thoughts to do the same.
SOURCES:
Farias, M., & Wikholm, C. (2016). Has the science of mindfulness lost its mind?. BJPsych bulletin, 40(6), 329–332. https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.116.053686
Martínez-Esparza, I. C., Rosa-Alcázar, A. I., Olivares-Olivares, P. J., & Rosa-Alcázar, Á. (2022). Obsessive beliefs and uncertainty in obsessive compulsive and related patients creencias obsesivas e incertidumbre en pacientes con trastorno obsesivo compulsivo y afines. International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP, 22(3), 100316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2022.100316
