These kind of things turn on all my bullshit/cult flags - does anybody here have any experience with this particular course or better yet scientific evidence that it works?
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness#Clinical_applicatio...
Personally, I've found it difficult to keep up the practise (meditating every day), but when I do remember it does improve things. Even as a one-off activity occasionally it is good for introspection, and identifying subconscious sources of stress allowing you to act on them.
[1] NICE aren't perfect, but they do a reasonable job.
Hang on, that's not how it works. (For one thing health is devolved in Scotland so you have seperate English, Scottish, and Welsh NHSs. (Not sure what happens with NI.) More importantly:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/homeopathy/Pages/Introduction.a...
> Homeopathy is not available on the NHS in all areas of the country, but there are several NHS homeopathic hospitals and some GP practices also offer homeopathic treatment.
So, it's possible to get a stupid pointless "treatment" on the NHS. You might want to write to your local clinical commissioning group if you want to stop them spending money (about £4m per year) on homeopathy.
"NICE currently does not recommend that homeopathy should be used in the treatment of any health condition"
"Some homeopathic remedies may contain substances that are not safe, or that interfere with the action of other medicines"
"there is no evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition"
"Some people who use homeopathy may see an improvement in their health condition due to a phenomenon known as the placebo effect"
I'm not sure what the phrase 'NHS homeopathic hospitals' means. Does it mean more than what is implied by the paragraph following the one you quoted, that some people that work for the NHS also work privately on alternative medicine like homoeopathy.
I'd also be interested to know more about the £4m per year.
The page on mindfulness has a very different tone [1] to the one on homeopathy.
[1]: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages...
[2] is a recent meta-analysis published in the same journal and looking into identifying the underlying mechanisms of mindfulness-based therapy aka how it works: "These findings are largely consistent with the theoretical underpinnings of MBSR and MBCT. Evidence for mindfulness, cognitive reactivity and emotional reactivity as mechanisms support the key theoretical premises underlying MBSR and MBCT that the cultivation of mindfulness skills leads to insight and non-reactive acceptance of one's experience which in turn lead to positive outcomes."
The underlying theory of this course is sound and has been shown to be on a similiar level of effectiveness as other therapies including pharmacological ones. Whether this specific online course (or any online course) is effective i can't comment on.
[1] http://www.verksampsykologi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/K...
[2] http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kate_Cavanagh/publicatio...