“Is it the right time for me to attend?”
Our experience is that this course is very suitable and helpful for most people, including some who may be struggling with mental health difficulties. However, there is a list of excluding criteria in order to protect our participants for whom our courses would not be a benefit as long these conditions require a specialist group. If you are struggling with any of the issues described below, require support or need to speak to someone urgently call Crisis Center Ambulance +420 532 232 078 or Helpline (anonymous telephone help) +420 547 212 333 or come in person at Faculty Hospital Brno, Psychiatric Clinic, Campus Bohunice, pavilion G, ground floor, (Crisis Center).
Mania, Suicidal Thoughts and Self-Harm
Our mindfulness courses are not suitable for you if you have experienced a manic or hypomanic episode in the past, if you are currently self-harming or if you are currently experiencing suicidal thoughts. It is not that mindfulness will not be helpful for people with these conditions – in fact we know it might very well be, but it would need to be delivered in a more specialist group. If you are feeling suicidal, we would strongly recommend you speak to your doctor or another mental health professional. We are unable to give specific advice or support to those with individual mental health problems. If you need to speak to someone urgently use the contacts highlighted above.
Alcohol and Drug Use
Practicing mindfulness through attendance at a mindfulness courses involves completion of up to an hour of daily home meditation practice and other activities and it is essential that this practice takes place when your consciousness is not impaired. If you are drinking a lot of alcohol or using other drugs please consider carefully whether you will be able to find time each day to complete the exercises when you are not under the influence of alcohol, drugs or their after affects. If this is likely to be difficult to you then the MBCT course will not be suitable for you at this time.
Current Severe Depression or Anxiety
If you are currently severely depressed or anxious to such an extent that it is difficult for you to manage your everyday life, it is probably not the right time for you to do the course. We know from experience that people coming on the course need to be reasonably well. The course involves some daily home practice and finding the motivation and energy to do this whilst feeling very depressed or anxious will probably be too challenging.
Recent bereavement
If you are recently bereaved it may be helpful to have come to terms with some of the grief before starting an 8-week course. It can be difficult to recognise and work with pre-existing and more longstanding habits of mind when the bereavement is still very preoccupying. The 1 year period is a notional time (and people will differ a great deal in when they feel ready to begin a course) but our experience suggests it is often helpful to have gone through all the ‘significant’ dates of the person who has died before moving on to start something like an mindfulness course.
Other ongoing psychological treatment
Mindfulness is not a ‘therapy’ as such. However, it can be confusing or impractical to engage in two ‘psychological treatments’ at the same time. Mindfulness courses involve a commitment of time and adding it on top of another ongoing therapy may be difficult.
Stressful life events – current
Taking a mindfulness course, strange though it may sound, can at times be quite stressful. In addition to the weekly sessions and a full one day session you will be encouraged to do daily practices at home which take about an hour each day in total. If there’s too much going on in your life right now (change of job, job loss, loss of home, moving, relationship breakdown, too many work commitments etc.) adding a mindfulness course to the mix may not help.
Insulin-dependent Diabetes
During periods of meditation the body may become relaxed and for some people, over time, meditation reduces stress. This may in turn have an effect on blood glucose and insulin requirements and may potentially result in a need for adjustments to patterns of insulin administration and dosage. We think it is important that you are aware of this, and encourage you to speak to your GP or healthcare professional if you have any concerns about taking part.
If there are any details of your medical history or if there are any current challenges that you are facing that you feel might affect your participation, please make a note of this in the questionnaire when signing up and discuss it with the teacher during the individual orientation call before the programme.
Reference: https://www.oxfordmindfulness.org/course-suitability/