Trainer
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Dr Bruno CayounDirector | Trainer | ResearcherDr Bruno Cayoun is a clinical and research psychologist and principal developer of Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT). He is the founder and Director of the MiCBT Institute, a leading provider of MiCBT training and professional development to mental health services and professional associations internationally since 2003.
Bruno keeps a private practice in Hobart, Australia, undertakes mindfulness research at the MiCBT Institute, and regularly cooperates on mindfulness-based research with various universities in Australia and abroad. He has practised mindfulness meditation in the Burmese Vipassana tradition of Ledi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin and S. N. Goenka and undergone intensive training in France, Nepal, India, and Australia since 1989.
Bruno is the author of three books, including Mindfulness-integrated CBT: Principles and Practice (Wiley, 2011), Mindfulness-integrated CBT for Well-Being and Personal Growth: Four Steps to Enhance Inner Calm, Self-Confidence and Relationships (Wiley, 2015) and co-author of The Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness‐integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Wiley, 2018). His mindfulness training audio instructions are used worldwide in various languages, and he is the principal developer of validated questionnaires, including the Short Progress Assessment , the Mindfulness-based Self Efficacy Scale, and co-developer of the Equanimity Scale 16.
Masterclass 8: Addressing Adverse Experiences Encountered During Meditation
While unpleasant experiences are common and expected in accurate mindfulness meditation training, adverse effects are uncommon but harmful experiences that tend to persist outside the meditation practice and impair one’s behaviour to varying degrees. These effects are usually tied to past painful emotions, which may no longer be conscious or even traceable in memory but are bound to occur in some clients. Often this causes the client to drop out of therapy without understanding it and discussing it with the therapist. It is important for therapists to learn how to differentiate the realistic and expected unpleasant effects of productive meditation from the so-called “adverse effects” of meditation. If these are not understood, some therapists will likely overreact to benign cues of reasonable discomfort, foster client avoidance, or overlook genuine signs of clients’ maladaptive responses to traumatic cues and allow harm to increase.
This masterclass will clarify the difference between the “central effects” and “side effects” of meditation and explain how to address both. It will also help you adapt the MiCBT skills to minimise potential harm, especially in clients with complex trauma.
You will learn:
- How to case-conceptualise normal and expected discomfort during mindfulness mediation
- How to differentiate and understand clients’ symptoms of trauma during meditation
- What to do with trauma and other symptoms emerging during meditation practice.
- Precautions for minimising harm