Mindfulness for type 1 diabetes help

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Mindfulness for type 1 diabetes help]

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[Text on screen: Aaron Breedlove, PhD
Psychologist
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Aaron Breedlove, PhD: I think mindfulness-based therapies are very amenable to type one diabetes. Mindfulness focuses on being in the here and now, and not being up in your head, in your thoughts, thinking about the future or the past. 

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Type one diabetes makes a person make so many decisions a day. There are so many thoughts that go along with that. Mindfulness is a tool, a skill to be able to back away from some of those thoughts that don't push a person towards making good decisions. Some people experience frustration when their blood sugar is high or low. 

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Some people experience high blood sugars, they say, "Well, I must have made a mistake in dosing my insulin," so that feeds back, "I must be doing something wrong." That's just a thought. Mindfulness is a skill that can just help you say, "That's just the thought. That's not reality. I'm doing the best I can," and that's the best skill I can think of to teach people with type one diabetes.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
For more information, visit: wexnermedical.osu.edu/mental-behavioral]

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