Mindfulness is an important component of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan for treating people who suffer with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). One component of the DBT Mindfulness skill is teaching people how to accept their negative personal behaviors, but without judging them. This instructs people to observe and describe, but not to judge, the problematic behaviors that they seek to change as part of their recovery process.
One area where mindfulness may be particularly helpful to people with BPD is in resisting non-suicidal-self-injury (NSSI) such as cutting, burning and other inner directed harmful behaviors.
A recently published article by Gary Rothbard, MD, MS in the digital journal Psychiatry Advisor, describes a research project that found acceptance without judgment can lead to a marked reduction in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). You can find the article here
If you are interested in learning how to implement this technique you can find some practical examples in a PsychCentral post by Christy Matta, MA: “Exercises For Non-judgmental Thinking”
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