Mindfulness practice in youth stress coping: experience of young people
ENNowadays, mental health problems are increasing among young people. Increased number and intensity of stressors on young people are evident (Caspi et al., 2003), problems such as depression now beset young people (Health at a Glance: Europe 2018; Vidal, Lhaksampa, Miller, & Platt, 2020) and rates of anxiety disorders in youths are also high (Foa et al., 2005), all stemming from the pressures associated with rapid social change, quick pace of life, combined with the breakdown of the family bonds. Modern issues as pandemic causes much more stress than ever (Shanahan, et al., 2020). Training youth to better modulate their responses to stress and emotional states has been the focus of many interventions recently and mindfulness practices are reported to have positive effects on physical and mental health, such as reducing mood and anxiety disorders, distress, and blood pressure (Ospina et al., 2007). Mindfulness is a way of training the mind to be present. Even though mindfulness techniques could help young people who suffer from stress and anxiety or have other mental health issues, not many young people know how to do it. The article explore research, which aim is to investigate what young people and specialists working with young people know about mindfulness, mindfulness techniques and how implement it in life while coping with modern world issues: stress, anxiety and other.4 focus group interviews with specialists working with youth and young people were conducted. Main findings show that young people started to feel stressed or experience anxiety much more often, and even in situations when they had not had any stress before, such as real-life communication, in pandemic period. Young people often cope with stress not by approach coping, while choosing avoidance coping strategies, while minority are choosing mindfulness to cope with stress and anxiety. Results of the focus group research gave a strong base for the future work on VR Mindfulness application. Keywords: mindfulness, youth, mindfulness practices, stress.
