Mechanisms of mindfulness: Evaluating theories and proposing a model

Clinical interest in mindfulness theories and interventions for the treatment of psychological problems such as anxiety and mood disorders has increased dramatically over the last decade. Alongside this interest relatively little attention has been paid to the hypothesised mechanisms of mindfulness that result in a mindfulness state; practice has outstripped the development of a coherent model of the mechanisms. The Decontextualising Model of Mindfulness (DMM) is proposed here to address this gap. The DMM suggests that mindfulness techniques operate to decontextualise mental events from their web of hierarchically organised levels of abstraction and associated meaning, which opens up the cognitive “space” to introduce more adaptive strategies. The DMM is evaluated in terms of its ability to explain existing theories, cognitive-behaviour therapy, and accepted mechanisms of change in psychotherapy. The DMM aims to stimulate deeper understanding of how mindfulness works so that (1) Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) are more equipped to induce mindfulness states; (2) the origins of psychopathology may be better understood and therefore more effectively treated; and (3) the causes of psychological well-being may be made more clear and therefore more readily enhanced. The research and theoretical literature as well as the current investigation indicate that in particular self-identity and self-compassion are two areas that warrant further investigation.