The focus of this work is to bring the idea of mindfulness closer, in terms of connection with other personality traits. Additionally it highlights the use of mindfulness in psychotherapy practice, specifically in regard to homosexually orientated clients. The study summarizes the main findings on the mindfulness phenomenon, highlighting the important aspects of adopting a new identity within this demographic. The study also monitors the connection of coming out process with particular aspects of mindfulness. In the empirical section the results of the FFMQ questionnaire, in which participated 294 persons of both male and female gender and of both heterosexual and homosexual orientation are compared using quantitative methods. By means of statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) it was determined that the homosexually orientated do not differ significantly from those of heterosexual orientation. Furthermore there was no significant statistical difference in mindfulness between genders within the research sample. Keywords: mindfulness, psychotherapy, mindfulness definitions, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, sexual orientation, coming out, homosexual identity, personality

This study explored mindfulness in eight self–injuring psychiatric adolescents. A concurrent triangulation mixed–method design was used. In–depth semi–structured clinical interviews and clinical records constituted the qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered using the Five–Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and subthemes for both selfinjury and mindfulness. Findings regarding self–injury were in line with the literature. In terms of mindfulness, two groups emerged: one sometimes acting mindfully and the other often acting mindfully. Both similarities and differences were found between the groups. Similarities in self–injuring behaviour can be explained by their similar scores on Observe and Nonreact, while the differences can be explained by the differences in their scores on Describe, Act with Awareness and Nonjudge. Those who sometimes act mindfully tend to be more self–critical, report more severe and lethal self–injuring episodes and more often use self–injury for self–punishment. Although those who often act mindfully self–injure more often, they show more selfcompassion and report less severe injuries and less lethal methods. Future research should explore the usefulness of mindfulness–based interventions, especially teaching Nonjudge and Nonreact skills, to not only increase mindfulness, but to decrease selfinjuring behaviour. Seeing that this is an exploratory study on a small sample, the results presented here should be considered to be preliminary until replicated with a larger clinical sample. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This study explored mindfulness in eight self–injuring psychiatric adolescents. A concurrent triangulation mixed–method design was used. In–depth semi–structured clinical interviews and clinical records constituted the qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered using the Five–Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and subthemes for both selfinjury and mindfulness. Findings regarding self–injury were in line with the literature. In terms of mindfulness, two groups emerged: one sometimes acting mindfully and the other often acting mindfully. Both similarities and differences were found between the groups. Similarities in self–injuring behaviour can be explained by their similar scores on Observe and Nonreact, while the differences can be explained by the differences in their scores on Describe, Act with Awareness and Nonjudge. Those who sometimes act mindfully tend to be more self–critical, report more severe and lethal self–injuring episodes and more often use self–injury for self–punishment. Although those who often act mindfully self–injure more often, they show more selfcompassion and report less severe injuries and less lethal methods. Future research should explore the usefulness of mindfulness–based interventions, especially teaching Nonjudge and Nonreact skills, to not only increase mindfulness, but to decrease selfinjuring behaviour. Seeing that this is an exploratory study on a small sample, the results presented here should be considered to be preliminary until replicated with a larger clinical sample. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

xv, 173 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Both Buddhist scholars and psychological researchers have suggested that mindfulness practice may result in greater empathy, but previous research has found mixed results. In addition, Buddhist philosophy suggests that mindfulness should influence the perception of and felt connection to others. Little research, however, has examined such an influence. The present studies examined the effect of dispositional mindfulness, as well as short- and long-term mindfulness meditation practice, on trait and state empathy, social perception, and felt connection to others. Study 1 manipulated mindfulness with a guided meditation CD and found that participants in this condition experienced more serenity and less negative emotion relative to control conditions. Study 1 also clarified the relationship between dispositional mindfulness (measured with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index), and felt connection (Allo-Inclusive Identity Scale). Results showed that different facets of mindfulness had different correlates. Higher observing scores were related to greater empathic concern and perspective taking; higher nonreactivity scores were related to less personal distress; and higher describing scores were associated with greater felt connection to others. Mindfulness was also associated with social perception such that higher nonreactivity scores were associated with greater ease in making emotion inferences from short video clips and higher describing scores were associated with making more mental state inferences in a modified empathic accuracy task. In Study 2, a randomized 8-week mindfulness intervention caused increases in dispositional mindfulness, especially describing scores, relative to a waitlist control condition. The intervention also resulted in increased serenity and joy and decreased negative affect and tension. Except for changes in serenity, these changes were fully mediated by increases in dispositional mindfulness. Those in the intervention condition decreased in personal distress to others' suffering, increased in the amount of mental state inferences they made for empathic accuracy targets, and increased in their ability to make inferences at times when the targets were actually having a thought or feeling. Thus, mindfulness training not only resulted in intrapersonal changes such as greater serenity and less tension; it also increased cognitive and emotional abilities important for empathy toward other people. / Committee in charge: Bertram Malle, Co-Chairperson, Psychology; Sanjay Srivastava, Co-Chairperson, Psychology; Sara Hodges, Member, Psychology; Mark Unno, Outside Member, Religious Studies

Theoretical section focuses on the concept of mindfulness, its historical background, variety of theoretical approaches and definitions of mindfulness. On this basis I provide own definition of mindfulness. Then, I present an overview of the features and characteristics of mindfulness, its applications in clinical environment, mindfulness-based approaches, effective therapeutic factors, and also its use with specific mental disorders. I also address neural correlates of mindfulness, developmental aspects of mindfulness and overview of measurement methods. Empirical section consists of standardization of Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire for the Czech population and verification of its factor model. Further I monitored the relation of mindfulness to chosen demographic variables. Results showed modestly significant correlation with age and education, and independence of sex and overall mindfulness score. In four subscales of the questionnaire, however, sexes differed. The hypothesis that mindfulness is related to profession was also confirmed. Highest mindfulness scores were reached by helping professions, especially psychotherapists, lowest scores were reached by technical professions. Next, results confirmed the hypothesis about relation between mindfulness and life satisfaction (cognitive...

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