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Buddhist Principles in Western Psychotherapy Rev. Julie Wagner, PhD ABSTRACT The Buddha’s teachings and western psychotherapy both share the goal of reducing suffering. Western psychotherapy is rapidly incorporating Buddhist principles, particularly mindfulness, in its conceptualization and treatment of human suffering. A recent survey of over 2000 psychotherapists in the US indicates that ‘mindfulness’ oriented psychotherapies were ranked third as a preferred mode of treatment. Among the various schools of psychological treatments, behavioral therapies are widely used and well validated. In western psychotherapy, we are currently in a “third wave” of behavior therapy interventions. The first wave focused on stimulus and response in classical and operant conditioning. The second wave was cognitive behavior therapy, which works to change the content of our thoughts to alter how we feel. These types of therapies directly challenge maladaptive patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior. The current “third wave” is mindfulness and acceptance-based therapy. In the new mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches, therapists help patients shift their relationship to personal experience rather than directly challenging it. When patients come to therapy, they typically have an aversion to what they are feeling or how they are behaving—they want less anxiety or less depression, or want to drink or eat less. The therapist reshapes the patient’s relationship to the problem by cultivating curiosity and moment-to-moment acceptance of uncomfortable experience. Examples of treatments from this third wave include Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1990); Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Marsha Linehan, 1993), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes, STrosahl, and Wilson, 1999), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (Teasdale 2002), and Mindfulness Based Eating Therapy (Kristeller, 1999). Each has been shown to effectively problems that have historically not responded well to the first two waves of psychotherapy including psychosomatic disorders, suicidality and self-injury, and eating disorders. This presentation will 1) outline the fundamental practices and history of western psychotherapy, 2) provide examples of the application of Buddhist principles to psychotherapy, 3) review the effectiveness of these new treatments, 4) compare and contrast psychotherapy and Buddhist practice, and 5) discuss limitations of applying Buddhist principles to psychotherapy.
BIOGRAPHY Rev. Julie Wagner, PhD Reverend Dr. Julie Wagner is Assistant Professor in the Division of Behavioral Sciences and Community Health at the University of Connecticut Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine in the USA. Julie received her B.A. from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, her M.A. from the University of the Pacific, her Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island, and was a post-doctoral fellow at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut. She is a licensed clinical health psychologist whose program of research explores psychosocial contributors to cardiovascular complications of diabetes. As a researcher, Julie has published over 30 peer reviewed articles, 3 chapters in edited books, and is currently co-writing a book. She has garnered over 1 million dollars in research funding from the American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and the National Institutes of Health. Julie had a Christian, Episcopal upbringing. As a spiritual seeker, she gradually came to Buddhism over the past 20 years, starting in college. She took refuge in the triple gem in 2003. That same year she enrolled in a Dharma Studies Program under Venerable Thich Tri Hoang. She graduated the program in 2006, and was asked to study for an additional year with Venerable Hoang. In 2007 Venerable Hoang named her a Dharma Teacher in the Hai An Dharma Teacher Order. Julie is an active member of her lay sangha at the Hai An Pagoda in New Britain Connecticut. She now helps to teach in the Dharma Studies Program from which she graduated, still under the direction of Venerable Hoang. She also is a mentor in a Buddhist Prison Correspondence course. She enjoys regular practice with her sangha, attending retreats, and organizing days of mindfulness for lay practitioners. In her personal life, Julie was married to her husband in 2007 by Venerable Thich Tri Hoang. She enjoys hiking, reading, caring for her pet cats, and birdwatching. |
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