Mindful meditation for addiction disorders

Pages:202-204
Pooja Varma (Department of Psychology, Jain University, Bangalore, Karnataka)

Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder that has become a global epidemic contributing to millions of deaths per year, and drastically lowering the quality of life for several million individuals’ worldwide (Brandon et al., 2007). Therefore, it is important to understand the various approaches to treating addiction, and what can be done to prevent the numerous problems associated with this detrimental disorder. It appears that meditation may have therapeutic value, but limited to those who are psychologically healthy, well integrated and may have mild neurosis or psychosomatic disorders (Hussain & Bhushan, 2010). While addiction can be a way of running away from life by trying to forget one’s difficulties and challenges, mindfulness is the opposite (Rahula, 1996). It improves one’s ability to cope with life by teaching how to be present with whatever is going on without getting overwhelmed or overly disturbed. It helps individuals inculcate a sense of detachment from these inner sensations that are at the root of conscious experiences.