Self-Management of Depression

The oversaturated, hypermarketed, and superadvertised space of mindfulness and meditation apps makes choosing techniques that are actually helpful a daunting task. In this context, the three-minute breathing space offers a proven and simple mini-meditation comprising of three steps, each step lasting about a minute. It is one of the core practices of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), an evidence-based psychotherapy (Williams et al., 2007). The purpose of this exercise is to allow you to step back from a stressful situation, which helps you discern newer perspectives and alternatives that may not have been that apparent. It is hypothesized that mindfulness rewires our brain toward resilience and is considered a cornerstone of resilience (Graham, 2013). Although this exercise is called the three-minute breathing space, you can use it for shorter or longer duration depending on your comfort level and the situation. The steps of the technique are as below (Neff, 2011; Williams et...

What is Mindfulness? If your notion of mindfulness is a practice starting with a phrase like, "Take a deep breath and close your eyes," then you have mostly bought into the myth that the only effective way of practicing mindfulness is guided meditation .  However, if you know what mindfulness entails, you can incorporate it in your daily routine in an informal way without relying on popular apps that have commercialized a practice known to humans for thousands of years.  Mindfulness-based interventions are well-validated treatment approaches that not only promote well-being and resilience but also have been found to be effective in anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and substance use disorders (Wielgosz et al., 2019). Mindfulness has two components: (a) orienting one’s attention purposefully to the present moment, and (b) approaching one’s experience in the present moment with curiosity, openness, and acceptance (Bishop et al., 2004). The state of mindfulness is described as ...