When mindfulness is a bad idea?

Mindfulness is a practice that asks people to be in the present moment—to experience the sensations, thoughts, emotions, and any other element of what’s happening in the here-and-now.  Research to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression has been shown to give us better insights about ourselves and our experiences and help with emotional regulation overall. 

Although mindfulness has many benefits and can help bring people closer to their quality of life, it isn’t right for everybody.  This is particularly true for people with a background of any trauma, whether physical, emotional, loss of a loved one, etc.  When someone has been through a traumatic experience, the brain often attempts to adjust in many ways; one of those ways is through avoidance.  Avoidance may look like averting triggers, emotions, awareness, or certain situations.  For other people with a trauma background, reducing anxiety may feel unsafe or threatening as they view their anxiety as a shield to potential threats.  Asking them to remove this shield can result in an increased anxious response.

For survivors of trauma, asking them to be present in their experience can incite fear, anxiety, and even terror.  Many survivors of trauma work to avoid triggers, including those held in the body and mind.  Through becoming aware of their immediate experience, thoughts, emotions, and sensations may arise that overwhelm their ability to cope.  The result of this can be increased anxiety, panic attacks, and destabilization.  Burying feelings and reminders of the trauma and its effects allows some survivors to function in their lives; mindfulness may dig up feelings they are not ready to confront. 

Though mindfulness can be too much for some people, sometimes the answer is modification.  Attempting mindfulness may be distressing to the participant as sitting idle can allow for too much to resurface; however, other mindfulness practices such as walking mindfulness or mindfulness during an activity can be a helpful adjustment.  Instead of focusing on engaging with the experience without distraction, walking or other physical activity can focus on being channeled.  This focus can then reduce the risk of heightened anxiety or trauma responses. 

People tend to know themselves best regarding what works vs. what doesn’t.  If you think mindfulness may be harmful to you, try a variation of it or something completely different.  There are many coping strategies out there to choose from!