INTRODUCTION

Excerpt

The English word “mindfulness” dates from the 16th century. During the 20th century it acquired a technical sense in Western Buddhism, as the translation of the Pali word sati. More recently, during the last 15 years, the word has been taken from its Buddhist context and given a technical sense within psychology and psychotherapy, as part of evidence-based practice closely linked with CBT. Its success in this new niche has been spectacular, and this double special issue on “mindfulness and self-acceptance,” spread over the first 2 parts of this journal in 2006, is an exploration of some of the facets of this success. …