Mindfulness Therapy: Can it Help You?

What is mindfulness therapy?

Mindfulness therapy is a type of psychotherapy that incorporates mindfulness practices—practices that encourage awareness of present experiences, such as your current thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. Mindfulness teaches you to approach these experiences with a nonjudgmental and accepting attitude. As you do so, you build self-awareness and are empowered to manage intense emotions and unhelpful thoughts. Mindfulness can also help you nurture healthier traits in your daily life, such as acceptance, curiosity, compassion, and openness.

Although you might see it sensationalized in headlines, mindfulness isn’t a health trend with flimsy scientific backing. It’s an evidence-based approach to mental health. Mindfulness can be practiced with different exercises, including:

Body scans: Focusing on each body part and observing sensations like tightness, pain, and temperature

Sensory exercises: Using your five senses to focus on the external world, such as the sounds of wildlife or the taste and smell of food

Breath work: Paying attention to the pace and depth of your breaths and making changes to calm your nervous system

Thought observation: Nonjudgmentally observing your thoughts as they drift in and out of your mind

Some interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), are built around mindful practices and principles. MSBR is a method for reducing stress and improving self-care and general well-being, while MBCT is more targeted to address conditions like recurrent depression and chronic anxiety.

Mindfulness practices can also be used in different types of therapy, including acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

How is mindfulness used in therapy?

Here are just a few examples of how a therapist might incorporate mindfulness practices into your regular sessions.

• If you often get stuck ruminating, your therapist can talk you through the process of observing a thought and then letting it go. One common technique involves imaging your thoughts or feelings as items coming down a conveyor belt. You can acknowledge each item and label it—for instance, “Oh, that is just a worrying thought.” Then, you watch the item move along the conveyor belt, soon to be replaced with something new.
• A therapist might assign you journaling activities between sessions. Journaling your thoughts and feelings can help you examine your internal experiences from a more objective perspective, which can help build self-awareness.
• During exposure therapy, you might be taught to notice the signs of anxiety, sit with the unpleasant feelings, and notice that they subside naturally. Your therapist could help you practice this while facing something you fear, like a spider, in a safe and supportive space.
• To handle waves of anxiety that often catch you off guard, you might be taught breathing exercises that you can rely on. Perhaps you learn a step-by-step process during therapy, and then put it into practice in your daily life.

Mindful therapy can be a path to greater emotional stability, less stress, and an overall healthier lifestyle. Learn more about the uses, benefits, limitations, and evidence supporting this approach to mental well-being.

What are the benefits of mindfulness therapy?

Mindfulness is like a muscle that can be developed. So, over time, therapy that incorporates mindfulness can enhance your ability to regulate emotions, manage stress, move through negative moods, and focus on the present.

Emotional regulation. Mindfulness helps you become more aware of your feelings and observe them without judgment. In other words, you put a little distance between yourself and the emotions. This reduces the odds that your emotions overwhelm you or lead you to act impulsively. For example, you might notice your anger, accept it, and then take steps to calm yourself down before interacting with your friends.

Lower stress levels. A study based on a six-week online mindfulness course found that participants benefited from lower perceived stress. As mentioned, mindfulness helps you tune into your present emotions. When you notice your stress building, you can come up with a healthy strategy to manage it, such as a breathing exercise.

Improved mood. Mindfulness helps you to identify unhelpful lines of thinking, such as catastrophizing, and then gently move to more realistic or positive thoughts. Maybe you go from dwelling on your mistakes to focusing on lessons you’ve learned from failures. Or perhaps you stop assuming that everyone you meet is looking down on you. Over time, this can have a large effect on your mood, as you approach life with a new perspective.

Better focus. Mindfulness involves repeatedly pulling your attention back to the present, which builds focus. For instance, when your mind wanders during a conversation, you’ll be better able to guide your attention back to what the other person is saying. Or when you start to space out while studying, mindfulness helps you focus on the material in front of you. One study found that even brief 10-minute mindfulness meditation improves attention.

What mental health conditions can mindfulness help?

Although it shouldn’t be considered a cure-all for every issue, mindfulness can help improve many mental health conditions.

Anxiety and chronic worry. Perhaps you feel as if your worrying thoughts are constant and uncontrollable. Your brain seems to jump from one doomsday scenario to the next. Practices like mindful breathing can help ground you and reduce the intensity of your anxiety.

Depression. Depressive thoughts can sometimes feel out of your control as well. Perhaps self-defeating thoughts and feelings of hopelessness just seem to flow into your head and drag down your mood constantly. Mindfulness helps you notice and accept negative thoughts and emotions, and then escape cycles of depressive thinking.

Substance abuse recovery. Building mindfulness helps you become more aware of cravings and your triggers. Then, rather than impulsively caving to those cravings, you can steer yourself toward a healthier behavior. Mindfulness can also help you accept unpleasant withdrawal symptoms and practice self-compassion if relapses occur.

Stress and burnout. Burnout occurs when you ignore rising stress and end up in a state of exhaustion. Mindfulness builds self-awareness, allowing you to recognize early signs of stress. Practices like body scan and breathing exercises can help you de-stress and get back to a state of emotional balance.

Chronic pain. Mindfulness cannot eliminate pain entirely. However, it can significantly reduce its intensity and emotional impact, allowing you to function better in your day-to-day life.

Sleep problems. Racing thoughts before bed can make it hard to fall asleep. Maybe your thoughts keep returning to an embarrassing situation from earlier in the day, or perhaps you feel fixated on an upcoming exam. Mindfulness can help you recognize when you’re ruminating and then release those worries, so you can drift off to sleep.

Disordered eating. Mindfulness might be useful in treating certain eating disorders. For example, with binge eating, when you’re experience unpleasant feelings, you compulsively overeat any time you experience unpleasant feelings. It’s an unhealthy coping mechanism against stress. However, mindfulness teaches you to acknowledge and sit with those uncomfortable feelings, without allowing your impulses to take over.

Is There Evidence That Mindfulness Therapy Works?

Mindfulness practices are grounded in a growing body of research. For instance, both MBCT and MBSR have been well researched throughout the years.

Studies point to MBCT being an effective way to prevent or reduce the risk of depression relapse. Others show that it can help relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression, while improving emotional regulation. With the help of brain imaging techniques, future research might focus on how the approach actually changes activity and structures in the brain.

The MBSR program also has research-backed benefits. It reduces anxiety, depression, and stress. It can offer long-lasting benefits because it offers a reliable toolkit that you can integrate into your lifestyle to improve your mental health and relationships.

Is Mindfulness Therapy Right for You?

Before looking for a therapist who specializes in mindfulness, ask yourself the following questions.

Do you feel overwhelmed by your emotions or thoughts? Mindfulness skills can help you regulate intense emotions or escape negative thought loops. Part of this involves being reflective and present enough to know when these issues are cropping up.

Are you looking for ways to manage stress that don’t rely solely on talk therapy? Talk therapy is beneficial for most people looking to improve their mental health. However, having mindfulness skills at your disposal allows you to navigate issues on your own between sessions.

Do you find it challenging to stay present or focused in your daily life? Perhaps your mind wanders at work or in school, affecting your performance. Or maybe you find it difficult to be present in conversations with loved ones. Mindfulness offers a way to tune out the noise and focus on what’s really important in your daily life.

Are you open to experiential, body-based tools? You’ll be exploring practices like meditation and breathing exercises. These kinds of practices involve becoming more aware of emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations, including those that you typically try to avoid or suppress. For some people, this can involve some discomfort, but an experienced practitioner can help you through the process.

Are you expecting immediate results? It’s important to go into therapy with the right expectations. Mindfulness is often boasted as a quick fix for any psychological problem. In reality, mindfulness is a skill that requires appropriate guidance and patience to develop.

Do you struggle with a severe mental health condition? If so, finding the right provider is essential. For instance, if you’ve experienced trauma, a practitioner might adjust the practices so they don’t unintentionally trigger distress or panic. Special care should also be taken if you struggle with severe dissociation, since dissociating is often a way to cope with overwhelming experiences.

Mindfulness therapy can take place in-person or through an online therapy platform. As you search for a provider, consider that many therapists use a mix of therapeutic approaches. For instance, you might find one who uses a combination of mindfulness and CBT techniques, or one who includes mindfulness as a key element of their holistic approach. In either case, a skilled therapist can help you build skills to be more present and approach life with a calmer mind.

Last updated or reviewed on September 30, 2025