For many, this constant bad news adds to the stress of everyday life, which may already feel overwhelming.Īccording to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, each year in the US, one in five adults experience mental illness and one in six children aged 6 to 17 experience a mental health disorder. The result is a groundbreaking and practical approach that empowers those looking to practice mindfulness in a safe, transformative way.May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this year it seems to coincide with a flurry of violent headlines. Covering the role of attention, arousal, relationship, dissociation, and social context within trauma-informed practice, Treleaven offers 36 specific modifications designed to support survivors' safety and stability. Part II distills these insights into five key principles for trauma-sensitive mindfulness. Through grounded scholarship and wide-ranging case examples, Treleaven illustrates the ways mindfulness can help-or hinder-trauma recovery. Part I provides an insightful and concise review of the histories of mindfulness and trauma, including the way modern neuroscience is shaping our understanding of both. Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness offers answers to this question. This raises a crucial question for mindfulness teachers, trauma professionals, and survivors everywhere: How can we minimize the potential dangers of mindfulness for survivors while leveraging its powerful benefits? Instructed to pay close, sustained attention to their inner world, survivors can experience flashbacks, dissociation, and even retraumatization. But the reality is not so simple.ĭrawing on a decade of research and clinical experience, psychotherapist and educator David Treleaven shows that mindfulness meditation-practiced without an awareness of trauma-can exacerbate symptoms of traumatic stress. This means that anywhere mindfulness is being practiced, someone in the room is likely to be struggling with trauma.Īt first glance, this appears to be a good thing: trauma creates stress, and mindfulness is a proven tool for reducing it. At the same time, trauma remains a fact of life: the majority of us will experience a traumatic event in our lifetime, and up to 20% of us will develop posttraumatic stress.

From elementary schools to psychotherapy offices, mindfulness meditation is an increasingly mainstream practice.

Trauma sensitive mindfulness treleaven