Jim Hjort, LCSW, LICSW, CMT-P

What is Mindfulness?

It's the combination of awareness, curiosity, and acceptance of your unfolding, moment-to-moment experience of life. The human brain has the capacity for mindfulness, and it's also something we can cultivate with mindfulness meditation practice.

Although mindfulness meditation has been around for 2,600 years or so, it was only in the 1980s that it began being studied in earnest for its application to a variety of psychological and physical health conditions (starting with chronic pain and stress).

Since then, a great deal of research evidence has accumulated for the ability of mindfulness meditation to help people maintain abstinence from substances, keep from falling into depression, improve their ability to manage their emotions, and have stable, healthy relationships.

Simply practicing mindfulness meditation for its own sake has also been shown to yield benefits, including improved well-being, empathy, and compassion, and even physical health improvements such as better immune system response, and lower levels of cortisol, the "stress hormone."

What is Mindfulness-Informed Psychotherapy?

Several mental health interventions draw upon mindfulness concepts or practices. Some of these are obvious to the layperson because of their names (e.g., Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention, and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy). Others are less so (e.g. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy®, and Gestalt Therapy).

The problems you'd like me to help you with may indicate trying one of those interventions. On the other hand, therapeutic approaches which aren't particularly mindfulness-based, such as more "traditional," psychodynamic talk therapy, may be better for you. These aren't things you need to worry about figuring out now. We can discuss and decide upon the one that is right for you together, as a team.

More generally, as someone who has practiced mindfulness meditation for over 25 years, is a Certified Mindfulness Facilitator, and has completed the study and training I mentioned, mindfulness informs my life, including my practice of psychotherapy. Among other things, mindfulness practice helps me to be better attuned to other people, so it helps me to be a better therapist regardless of the particular approach we're using.

Do I Need to Practice Mindfulness Meditation in Order to Work With You?

No, not at all. It might be helpful for you to try, and I might suggest that you do, but you remain in charge of all of your decisions when you work with me.

How Long Does Therapy Take?

There's really no way to answer this, since each person's situation is different. The course of treatment depends on your treatment goals, where you're starting from, the frequency of our sessions (I usually see clients once or twice a week), and sometimes the extent to which you're willing to do work between sessions, among other factors.

Certain challenges you're facing might benefit from shorter-term forms of therapy, including clinical hypnosis, while others might benefit from a longer-term approach. Some people also find having a long-term therapy relationship to be beneficial for their lives even after their initial problem has been remedied.

This is something you don't need to worry about right now, because we can figure it out as a team if we are a good fit for working together.

What is Clinical Hypnosis?

Clinical hypnosis is a process of tapping into the power of your subconscious mind to achieve particular therapeutic goals and effect positive change in your life.

It has many applications. Clinical hypnosis helps some people break bad habits, feel more confident and at ease, or even experience less physical pain, to name just a few. It isn't psychotherapy, but is sometimes used to complement psychotherapy, and other times is used on its own.

Unlike the way it's depicted in popular culture and stage shows, in hypnotic trance you remain aware of your surroundings and in control of yourself, and can't be made to do, say, or think anything against your will or intentions. If you'd like to explore the possibility of trying hypnosis with me, please contact me to arrange for a free consultation.