Centering Prayer as an Alternative to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression Relapse Prevention

Abstract

In the last two decades, mindfulness has made a significant impact on Western secular psychology, as evidenced by several new treatment approaches that utilize mindfulness practices to ameliorate mental illness. Based on Buddhist teachings, mindfulness offers individuals the ability to, among other things, decenter from their thoughts and live in the present moment. As an example, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) teaches decentering and mindfulness techniques to adults in an eight-session group therapy format so as to reduce the likelihood of depression relapse. Yet, some Christian adults may prefer to turn to their own religious heritage, rather than the Buddhist tradition, in order to stave off depression relapse. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present centering prayer, a form of Christian meditation that is rooted in Catholic mysticism, as an alternative treatment for preventing depression relapse in adults. I argue that centering prayer overlaps considerably with MBCT, which makes it a suitable treatment alternative for many Christians in remission from depressive episodes.

Prevalence, patterns, and predictors of meditation use among US adults: A nationally representative survey

“…This finding is relatively unexpected given that mantra meditation and mindfulness meditation derive from Hinduist and/or Buddhist tradition33 and thus originate from Asia. However, this might at least partly be explained by the fact that spiritual meditation was the category practiced most often, and this category included centering prayer which originally derives from Christian tradition34. Prior analyzes of the 2012 NHIS have shown that while Asians in the US were also less likely to practice yoga as compared to non-Hispanic Whites11, they were more likely to practice Tai Chi or Qigong12.…”

Meditation has stronger relationships with mindfulness, kundalini, and mystical experiences than yoga or prayer

“…The associations of yoga, prayer and multiple practices might be seen as simply due to the meditative components contained in each (Knabb, 2012). Unfortunately, this attractive and parsimonious hypothesis cannot be asserted unequivocally.…”

Culturally competent adaptation of cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychosis: cases of Orthodox Jewish patients with messianic delusions

“…Knabb (2012) notes that "mindfulness" used in psychotherapy (such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) is based on Buddhist teachings. He 704 D.D.…”