Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness

From elementary schools to psychotherapy offices, mindfulness meditation is an increasingly mainstream practice.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.This means that anywhere mindfulness is being practised, someone in the room is likely to be struggling with trauma. At first glance, this appears to be a good thing: trauma creates stress and mindfulness is a proven tool for reducing it.But the reality is not so simple. Drawing on a decade of research and clinical experience, psychotherapist and educator David Treleaven shows that mindfulness meditation-practised without an awareness of trauma-can exacerbate symptoms of traumatic stress.Instructed to pay close, sustained attention to their inner world, survivors can experience flashbacks, dissociation and even retraumatisation. This raises a crucial question for mindfulness teachers, trauma professionals a