and exacerbate the original difficulty many-fold. The mindful practitioner can respond more skilfully to situations as they arise, rather than reacting automatically in accordance with conditioned behavioural patterns. One could argue that this is a prerequisite not merely for stress-free clinical practice but for good living. Perhaps the development of resilience in a profession increasingly fraught with stressors begins 'with the self as the first. .. object of knowledge' (Aronowitz, 1998).

No abstract