Mindfulness: A Practical Checklist

Deliberately attending to present experience without trying to change or judge it. Structured programmes have a reasonable evidence base for recurrent depression and stress; the app-based version is far less well evidenced.

Key takeaways

• Structured course length: typically 8 weeks
• NICE recommendation: mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for preventing depressive relapse
• Most useful single change: Use a structured course rather than an app alone if you can access one.
• Commonest mistake: Treating it as a replacement for therapy or medication.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.

Do

• Use a structured course rather than an app alone if you can access one
• Practise daily and briefly rather than occasionally and at length
• Expect your attention to wander; noticing it is the practice
• Use it alongside treatment you have been prescribed

Do not

• Treating it as a replacement for therapy or medication
• Judging a session by how calm you felt during it
• Persisting alone if it increases distress; some people find it difficult

The numbers behind the list

Those two lists follow from the published figures here.

If you change one thing

Use a structured course rather than an app alone if you can access one. That one first, and the others when you get to them.

Where to go next

• What People Get Wrong About Mindfulness
• Mindfulness: A Beginner-Friendly Start
• Mindfulness — the reference entry
• The Evidence on Loneliness, Without the Hype
• The Evidence on Talking Therapies, Without the Hype

When to speak to a doctor

Speak to a GP or therapist before starting intensive practice if you have a history of psychosis, severe depression or trauma, as some people find intensive meditation distressing. If you have thoughts of harming yourself, contact your GP, NHS 111, or the Samaritans on 116 123.

Where this comes from

• NICE — Depression in adults: treatment and management
• NHS — Mindfulness

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.