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In Congress Workshops

Transdiagnostic and Therapeutic Processes

In-Congress Workshop 17 - Integrating Mindfulness with Clinical Precision: Strategic Practice Selection in CBT

Friday, June 26, 2026
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM PDT
Location: Pacific C, 4th Floor
Earn 3 Credit
Keywords: Mindfulness/Meditation, Psychotherapy Process, Emotion Regulation
Recommended Readings: Hölzel, B. K., Lazar, S. W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Vago, D. R., & Ott, U. (2011). How does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural perspective. Perspectives on psychological science, 6(6), 537-559.,   Zerubavel, N. & Messman, T. L. (2025). Integrating mindfulness into psychotherapy for trauma: A clinician's guide to using mindfulness processes to facilitate healing and reduce suffering. New Harbinger.,   Britton, W. B. (2019). Can mindfulness be too much of a good thing? The value of a middle way. Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 159–165. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.12.011,   ,  

    Author(s)

  • Noga Zerubavel, Ph.D.

    Medical Assistant Professor (Duke), also private practice
    Duke University Medical Center
    Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

    Handouts

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Terri L. Messman, Ph.D.

    Distinguished Scholar & Professor of Psychology
    Miami University
    OXFORD, Ohio, United States

Therapists are increasingly integrating mindfulness into CBT, drawing on a strong evidence base. When choosing mindfulness practices, clinicians often default to selecting based on familiarity, habit, or preference, rather than intentional alignment with treatment goals. Process-based CBTs grant the therapist great flexibility regarding to practice selection (in contrast to protocols) that is best leveraged therapeutically when the clinician is using strategic selection of mindfulness practices. Strategic practice selection is an opportunity for clinical decision-making, strengthening the clinical precision of mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention.

In this workshop, Drs. Zerubavel and Messman provide a systematic, transdiagnostic approach in which the clinician draws on case conceptualization to strategically select a mechanism of mindfulness, leading to a menu of relevant practices options. This approach is based on Hölzel and colleagues’ (2011) framework, which integrated conceptual and neural perspectives to distinguish four interconnected mechanisms of mindfulness: 1) attentional focus, 2) body awareness, 3) emotion regulation, and 4) changes in perspective. Drs. Zerubavel and Messman will provide recommendations for a variety of mindfulness practices that facilitate cultivation of the relevant processes. The workshop includes experiential mindfulness practices; however, it primarily emphasizes didactics as the focal goal is clinical decision-making in mindfulness integration. Participants will learn to use strategic mindfulness practice selection as an implementation choice point, creating an opportunity for enhanced tailoring and more precise targeting.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe how strategic mindfulness practice selection strengthens clinical precision, in contrast to habit- or preference-based selection.
  • List three of the four mechanisms of mindfulness based on Hölzel et al.’s (2011) model.
  • Link identified therapeutic targets to practices based on mechanism of change, increasing clinical precision in process-based CBT.