Table 1.

Major learning objectives of MBCT and course contents

Objective	Course contents
Becoming familiar with some characteristics of the mind	introducing “the autopilot” as a symbol for a state of mindlessness
	introducing “the spectacles of OCD” as a symbol for selective information processing and cognitive distortion
Exploring new ways of refocusing attention and challenging dysfunctional meta-cognitive beliefs	the “body scan”, a 45-minute mindfulness exercise teaching participants to attentively and non-judgmentally become aware of their body and body sensations
	yoga exercises
	dealing with arising thoughts and feelings during sitting meditation exercises
	the three-minute-breathing-space, a short exercise in which patients are invited to focus their attention on their breathing and present momentary experiences, shifting from a “doing-mode” to a “being-mode” of mind
	discussing the cognitive model by Salkovskis, emphasizing the impact of the subjective appraisal of thoughts
	diary of positive and negative events
	discussing neurobiological correlates of OCD to encourage disidentification with obsessive thoughts and impulses
Freeing oneself from dysfunctional habits and being kind with oneself	identifying individual OCD triggers
	encouraging participants to perform the three-minute-breathing-space whenever they notice obsessive thoughts and impulses
	sharing poems, short stories and metaphors in order to invite participants to experience thoughts as passing events of the mind rather than reflections of reality
Relapse prevention	establishing individual schemes for dealing with difficult situations
	setting objectives for goal-oriented behavior
	integrating pleasant activities into everyday lives

OCD-specific contents are highlighted in bold type.