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Comment by BadassFractal | Hacker News Reader

As far as I can tell that's pretty much what the book Feeling Good concluded many years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling_Good:_The_New_Mood_Ther... , except at the time it was called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It's fascinating how the book dodges mentioning meditation as much as possible, but as you read it, you realize it's essentially proposing the same exact techniques of insight, just in a more clinical terminology.

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CBT differs in two ways: First, it tends to be more reactive in that you typically analyse troublesome thoughts after-the-fact rather than in the present, as they happen. Second, it tends to be more ego-centric in that it tends to focus exclusively on your thoughts and needs, whereas mindfulness is more compassionate, both to yourself and to those you interact with. So, while there are similarities there are also important differences.

And while meditation is good for practicing mindfulness "in slow motion", you don't _need_ to meditate to be mindful.

>And while meditation is good for practicing mindfulness "in slow motion", you don't _need_ to meditate to be mindful.

Yes!! If you wake up and just don't feel like meditating that day, then don't! I view meditation as a tool that helps you reach deep into mindfulness, but meditating to meditate is missing the point. The goal you should have is to be mindful/present in the moment throughout the day.

MCBT is to CBT as C++ is to C... although don't take that analogy too far, as it certainly doesn't make it much more complex nor add a tonne of painful syntax ;)

Mindfulness-based CBT worked really well for myself, coupled with Suboxone which is being investigated as an anti-depressant itself. I haven't had an episode in two and half years, which is the longest stretch of saneness I've had since I was 16.

As others say, CBT is not MCBT.

The evidence for CBT is stronger than for MCBT, although they tend to be used for different people.

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