Mindfulness: The key to a healthier society?
9th Sep 2010; 18:00
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RSA Debate
Attempting to assess individual wellbeing and social progress via financial or economic yardsticks is gradually falling out of favour. Governments are paying more attention to alternative measures of our quality of life, like the 'Gross National Happiness' indicators in Bhutan.
Exponents argue that in placing more importance on the mental wellbeing of a society, such indicators may provide a truer account of the resources countries need to operate well. Against a backdrop of pervasive clinical depression, anxiety and dissatisfaction, a growing body of evidence suggests that the practice of 'mindfulness' might be the answer.
Mindfulness-based therapies have been proven to greatly diminish the rates of depression and anxiety-related illnesses, and also have surprising effects on physical ailments such as chronic pain, HIV and cancer. The Mental Health Foundation have called for these therapies to be offered on the NHS, neuroscientists have acknowledged their impact on the workings and actual structure of the brain, think-tanks and universities have devoted research programmes to them, and the vast majority of British GPs surveyed wanted it provided for their patients.
So why is mindfulness still popularly dismissed as a placebo, a solely mystical practice, or a touchy-feely relic from the 70s? Is there any truth to these claims, and what do the experts really make of its rehabilitative powers? Could this timeless practice be a timely solution for society's woes, or is mindfulness yet another health fad marketing itself as a panacea?
Speakers to include: Dr Jonty Heaversedge, GP and Ed Halliwell, co-authors of "The Mindful Manifesto" (Hay House, September 2010) and Tim Parks, celebrated author of "Teach us to sit still"
Chair: Dr Jonathan Rowson, RSA Projects
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