Introduction to the issue of mindfulness and acceptance in psychotherapy

This paper introduces mindfulness and acceptance and their respective roles in psychotherapy. Both terms are defined and important areas of application in psychotherapy are introduced. It is argued that aspects of mindfulness and acceptance play an important role in several psychotherapeutic traditions. The distinction between mindfulness-informed and mindfulness-based approaches highlights different extents to which mindfulness is integrated into treatment: While mindfulness-informed approaches integrate mindfulness and acceptance into treatment to one degree or another, mindfulness-based approaches regard mindfulness as the most important factor in treatment. Both mindfulness-informed and mindfulness-based approaches are introduced.