Mindfulness is the conscious, uninvolved awareness of the present moment.Western psychologists have recently learned that this state of mind is particularly conducive to the accomplishment of cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT. Built around a series of specific, step-by-step interventions, this book integrates the spiritual practice of mindfulness with psychological techniques for changing negative thoughts and behaviours into a powerful and proven-effective programme for coping with depression.

Author Biography

Paula E. Carmona RN, MSN, is a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Diego, CA. She graduated from Yale University with a Masters of Science in Psychiatric Nursing in 1986. She trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn and implemented a mindfulness-based stress reduction program at the VA in San Diego. She has been a student of Zen since the 1970's and has been practicing with Charlotte Joko Beck, author of Everyday Zen and Nothing Special, since 1984. She currently has a private psychotherapy practice in San Diego. John McQuaid, PhD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of stress and depression. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1995, he joined the University of California, San Diego, Psychiatry Department and became a staff psychologist at the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System. He is currently associate professor of clinical psychiatry at UCSD, and director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Interventions Program at the VA in San Diego, CA. Zindel V. Segal, PhD, is professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He is coauthor of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression and The Mindful Way through Depression.