Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer presents an eight-week course for MBCT which has been tried and tested over ten years of clinical use, and is targeted specifically for people with cancer.

• There is growing evidence of mindfulness as a successful and cost-effective intervention for reducing the negative psychological impact of cancer and treatment
• Draws upon the author’s experience of working with people with cancer, and her own recent experience of using mindfulness with cancer diagnosis and treatment
• Stories from cancer patients illustrate the learning and key themes of the course
• Includes new short practices and group processes developed by the author

Contributors ix

Foreword xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xix

Introduction 1

Personal Story – Trish 4

Part One Mindfulness and The Cancer Journey 11

1. Mindfulness and Cancer 13

2. Cancer – The Psychological Implications 23
Stirling Moorey and Ursula Bates

3. Cancer – The Medical Implications 33
Nicholas S. A. Stuart

4. The First Circle – Cancer and the Circle of Suffering 43

Personal Story – Beryl 48

Part Two The Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer Programme 53

5. Starting Out 55

Personal Story – Sally 67

6. The Eight Week Course 72

• Week One 73

• Week Two 91

• Week Three 111

• Week Four 130

• Week Five 150

• Week Six 170

• All Day 186

• Week Seven 194

• Week Eight 215

• The Follow Up Class 230

7. The Second Circle: Mindful Awareness and the Circle of Practice 243

Personal Story – Derek 250

8. The Practices 254

The Core Practices 255

The Short Practices 269

Personal Story – Bridget 284

9. Mindfulness In Palliative Care 289
Ursula Bates

10. After The Eight Week Course 303

11. The Third Circle – Being and the Circle of Presence 310

Part Three The Practitioner Teacher 319

12. Introducing The Teacher 321

13. Embodying The Practice 328

14. Facilitating The Learning 340

15. The Three Circle Model: A Formulation of MBCT for Cancer (MBCT-Ca) 354
Trish Bartley and Ursula Bates

Personal Story – Geraint 364

Epilogue 370

Resources and Links 376

Bibliography 378

Sources and Permissions 388

Index 390

“The author's wish to share her expertise is commendable. Written from a wealth of experience and conviction, the book is a valuable tool for anyone involved in dealing with the psychological aspects of cancer care.” (Doody’s, 4 January 2013)

Trish Bartley has taught MBCT to people with cancer in a regional oncology unit in Wales since 2000. She is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Bangor University. She was one of the founding teachers at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University, where she co-leads programmes for health professionals, and students on the Masters programme, to train as mindfulness-based teachers. She delivers mindfulness-based training retreats internationally.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer is a practitioner handbook which presents an eight-week MBCT for cancer course, tried and tested over ten years of clinical use, and adapted and targeted specifically for people with cancer.

The experiences of people living with cancer, who use mindfulness in their everyday lives, are included to inform and inspire those working or wanting to work in the field. The intention is to enable the voices of cancer patients to influence professional practice in psycho-oncology.

MBCT for cancer has been developed out of the author's experience of teaching, evaluating, adapting and refining the course with cancer patients, and from her own practice of using mindfulness with cancer and treatment.

Trish Bartley has succeeded in writing a book that speaks to the deepest fears of cancer sufferers with such compassion that no-one can fail to draw hope and healing from her words. Drawing on her own experience of cancer, and on her skill as a mindfulness teacher, she has pioneered a combination of mindfulness and cognitive therapy that is enormously empowering for sufferers and their families. The implications of what she says go far wider than any clinic – to the heart of what it means to be fully human and fully alive in the presence of our own death. —Mark Williams, Director, Oxford Mindfulness Centre, and Co-author of ‘Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world’

"A profoundly compassionate offering of affirmation and possibility in the face of the difficult and the unwanted. Trish Bartley and her colleagues are to be congratulated on a magnificent contribution to the field of mindfulness and cancer care. May it touch the millions who could benefit from it." —Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Author of Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness

"What a gift of a book. Alongside her own experience of living with cancer, Trish Bartley also has many years experience of teaching and developing the MBCT-Ca programme this combination of the personal and professional makes for a beautiful combination of personal story; a clear and practical manual for the eight-week programme; and poems and insights from the many people Trish has taught. This book will be invaluable to patients and health professionals alike. Read this book carefully. It is a precious jewel." —Vidyamala Burch, Author of Living Well with Pain and Illness: The Mindful Way to Free Yourself From Suffering

"As mindfulness becomes more main stream, what we need are mindfulness developments guided by clear intentions, adapted to new populations with creativity while maintaining the essence and integrity of MBCT and MBSR. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer offers such an adaptation. It has a clear rationale, pragmatic and clinically tested innovations, clear guidance for MBCT teachers and poignant clinical illustrations. This book is imbued with compassion, courage and a sense of common humanity. It will be highly valued both by people with life threatening diseases and health care professionals offering mindfulness classes to people with cancer. Trish Bartley is an MBCT therapist who teaches mindfulness with enormous heart, drawing from a well of experience and knowledge. She writes with a clear, authoritative, compelling and inspiring voice." —Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Co-Founder of Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter, UK