Contemplative Psychotherapy: Clinician Mindfulness, Buddhist Psychology, and the Therapeutic Common Factors

Contemplative psychotherapy (CP) is a counseling discipline that integrates psychotherapy training, clinician mindfulness, and Buddhism. This review articulates CP as developed at Naropa University, contextualizes its core concepts and practices with regard to the common therapeutic factors, and briefly reviews the Buddhist frameworks, theories of pathology, and interventions that characterize CP. The foundation of CP training is clinician mindfulness and compassion. Because of its integrative approach to developing these therapeutic traits in clinicians, aspects of CP have the potential to enhance the common factors and therapeutic outcomes across counseling disciplines. Future empirical research should investigate these claims and explore best practices in clinician mindfulness and compassion training. Because CP thoroughly integrates clinician mindfulness and compassion into clinical training and practice, it is a notable field for research into psychotherapy practice, pedagogy, and outcomes.