Mindfulness for student psychotherapists

What is it about?

Although research has documented a number of personal benefits for psychotherapists who practice mindfulness, the existing research examining the effects of psychotherapist mindfulness on client treatment outcomes has been mixed. The purpose of this study was to test whether a brief mindfulness training program for trainee psychotherapists could have a positive impact on psychotherapists’ ratings of their own state and trait mindfulness as well as on psychotherapy session outcomes. In this randomized-controlled crossover trial, 40 graduate student psychotherapists from 2 universities were assigned to either a mindfulness or a control group. Psychotherapists in the mindfulness group received a brief 5-week manualized mindfulness training program; those in the control group received the program after a 5-week no-contact period. Psychotherapists who received the mindfulness training showed improvements in state and trait mindfulness that were significantly greater than the changes seen in the control group. Psychotherapists also reported a significantly higher level of presence in treatment sessions after attending the training compared to the control condition; however, no differences in clients’ ratings of psychotherapist presence or session effectiveness were observed between the 2 conditions. Implications for psychotherapist training and mindfulness practice are discussed.

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