The Practice of Mindfulness for Chronic Disorders

Living with cancer, chronic disease or comorbidity is not only taxing on the body but on the mind. When psychological and physical stress combine, this can complicate treatment efforts. The practice of mindfulness can help to alleviate the pain, both physical, mental and emotional. Kim Penberthy, PhD, ABPP, speaks to her work in mindfulness-based therapies.

So many people that I see have medical conditions, either diseases or pain or both. They are suffering from psychological symptoms, in addition. For instance, the therapy we do might help their depression and also alleviate some of their pain.

The other thing I found is often when I do therapy with someone, it helps them be more compliant with their medical treatment. In the cancer center, for instance, many of the therapies are very onerous. They're very taxing. And having someone to support you and teach you coping skills to get through your chemotherapy or radiation, can be very helpful.

A lot of the work that I do is in the area of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a kind of state of being where you are intentionally in the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. And this has been found to be a very therapeutic place to be in terms of your frame of mind.

A lot of the mindfulness-based therapies that I do help people achieve that state of mind so that they can then do additional things in a more effective way.

We also know that mindfulness-based interventions are very effective for people with chronic pain in addition to other chronic disorders. It seems to very much help them cope in more effective ways and live their life so that they have a better quality of life.