Abstract
Mindfulness meditation has been described as a useful adjunct to behavioral and medical interventions in the effective management of a range of psychological symptoms, including emotional responses to stress, anxiety, depression, and disruptive behavior. Mindfulness approaches can be taught to children, adolescents, and their parents to help reduce negative emotional reactions that result from and/or exacerbate psychiatric difficulties and exposure to stressors. This focus may be particularly relevant for African American youth and their families who have an increased risk for exposure to chronic stress and unique stressors associated with social-contextual considerations. Moreover, mindfulness parenting techniques can augment traditional behavioral approaches to improve children’s behavior through specific forms of mindful parent–child interactions. A growing body of empirical studies and clinical experience suggest that the incorporation of mindfulness meditation will enable clinicians to more effectively treat youth and their families in coping optimally with a range of challenging symptoms. This chapter provides a description of mindfulness approaches, theoretical mechanisms of action, literature review, a sample script for a beginning mindfulness exercise, and case studies.
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Perry-Parrish, C., Copeland-Linder, N., Webb, L., Sibinga, E.M.S. (2016). Mindfulness-Based Therapies. In: Breland-Noble, A., Al-Mateen, C., Singh, N. (eds) Handbook of Mental Health in African American Youth. Springer Series on Child and Family Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25501-9_6
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