Teaching Self-Care to Caregivers: Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Mental Health of Therapists in Training I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration. Submitted as PSY30011 Reading Blog 2 Due date: February 7, 2021 Word Count: 607 APA 6th
2 Shapiro, Brown and Biegel (2007), in their article Teaching Self-Care to Caregivers: Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Mental Health of Therapists in Training, explore use of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program as an option for self-care in therapists. Therapists have been shown susceptible to be negatively psychologically affected as a result of their work highlighting the need for the profession to practice and promote self-care. The article provides evidence showing that in a role that is stressful in itself often results in stress-related psychological problems with the number of professional who experience the negative effects considerable. The article put forward three objectives: to test the efficacy of MBSR in improving the well-being of therapists, to examine the underlying processes of MBSR that serve to produce improvement and to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and mental health outcomes. Shapiro, Brown and Biegel (2007), provide extensive references to evidence the wide- ranging negative consequences of stress on many areas of well-being including mental health, personal relationships, self-esteem, social habits, job rewards, ability to carry out the role effectively and the rise of likelihood of burnout and emotional exhaustions. The article then moves onto research into stress management and self-care documenting the importance of self-regulation and awareness along with the need to have a good balance regarding the welfare of self and others. A final review of literature in support of MBSR's premise of increased mindfulness being effective in reducing distress and enhancing well-being is provided. This study provided an excellent starting point for developing practices designed to strengthen well-being and inhibit the incidence of stress-related psychological problems. Shapiro, Brown and Biegel's (2007) results demonstrated the use of MBSR had a significant positive effect on participants mental health by not only reducing stress and destress but also
3 suggesting its ability to boost self-regulation skills. The increase in positive affect found in participants who took part in the MBSR program is of particular advantage to the cohort being studied as positive affect is a dimension of well-being. One could hypothesise that practitioners with increased feelings of well-being will be better able to manage the effects of daily emotional load and approach work from a place of strength. The authors noted limitations surrounding the study in that it was a non-randomised trial and as such the risk of confounding factors influencing the results are not controlled. In this study the MBSR group were undertaking a unit on Stress and Stress Management which may have been chosen due to a personal need in relation to stress or the content of the unit itself may have had a positive effect on stress levels of