The Palgrave Handbook of Third Wave Psychotherapies was published in October 2025. It is a compendium of papers on a diverse range of psychotherapies, and at 1238 pages (on my kindle) it is not a book to read from cover to cover, but at some level I have now read between a third and a half. As a student of mindfulness and a mindfulness teacher it feels like an important book. I would have welcomed such a sweeping overview of the field some 12 years ago when I started my masters in mindfulness at Bangor University. The book is a large collection of chapters with dozens of authors, many whom I know from my mindfulness teaching and training.
The book introduces the first wave of psychotherapies as essentially Freud’s work. Freud created a theory of the human psyche that introduced the concept of the unconscious mind and a talking therapy (psychoanalysis). This introduced the patient into the curative process for mental health conditions, giving them some agency in their treatment. The book does not mention Jung, once a student of Freud, who took a different direction in early psychotherapies with a different model of the unconscious.
The second wave of psychotherapies are introduced as behaviourist, culminating in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) that is widely used today. CBT focuses on the interaction between thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and works on the principle that unhelpful patterns of thinking can cause unnecessary distress. The therapist is a coach who helps a client understand and change unhelpful patterns. The book does not mention Carl Rogers, whose work took quite a different direction in parallel with CBT that introduced the person-centred approach to psychotherapy that differs quite radically in many ways from CBT.
The third wave of psychotherapies are oriented towards cultivating mindfulness, acceptance and values. The intention of these therapies is to help people relate differently to their thinking – rather than change thinking the invitation is to become more aware and less judgemental of thoughts. This heightened awareness and shift in attitude can have a strong therapeutic value.
The book introduces a large number of therapies. Interestingly many (not all) are based on Buddhist teachings and philosophy. A lot of the therapies are focused on particular mental health problems (for example Dialectic Behavour Therapy is designed for people with borderline personality disorder), though some are intended to be transdiagnostic (i.e. aimed at a more general population), for example Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT).
Third wave psychotherapies are aimed more at underlying psychological processes rather than being outcome-focused. Nevertheless, a lot of the evidence base for these therapies are outcome based (particularly effects on depression, anxiety and personality disorders). Reading across the multiple therapies there are common themes but no unifying theory. There is a strong bent towards behaviourism, and the influence of CBT is clear.
As an MBSR teacher, I am particularly keen to understand what other therapies offer that are not extant or prominent in MBSR. There are some areas where I would like to delve further. Acceptance is a key underpinning of ACT and DBT, and in MBSR it is only explicitly referenced in foundational attitudes, though it is implicit in the teachings around non-judgemental awareness. Meditation is not a required element of many of the therapies, though the definitions of mindfulness are consistent with MBSR. I found the treatment of rumination in DBT useful, and the term persevaritive negative thinking (PNT) expands on rumination helpfully. The use of distress rather than stress in DBT was illuminating: chronic distress is really where all these therapies are targeted. I have some understanding of CBT and attachment theory from general reading, but no direct experience of them, and I would probably not be seeking to use these in my teaching practice.
There is a useful section on diverse adaptations of third wave psychotherapies. I found the chapter on autism sensitive mindfulness insightful, but it would be useful to have a wider perspective on mindfulness for neurodiversity. There are chapters on different cultural adaptations, including for Hawaiian and Māori populations, and a chapter on social and systemic awareness in MBSR. There is also a consideration of emerging therapies, including trauma sensitive yoga.
As a mindfulness teacher who is not a therapist, this is a valuable context setting book, but it takes quite a leap from this book which is aimed at therapists and researchers to using its contents in MBSR for general populations. Therapies are targeted at populations with some significant chronic psychological distress. MBSR is offered much more widely, often as a wellbeing support rather than a therapy.
Finally, the price will make this inaccessible to many mindfulness teachers, who will only realistically be able to access the book through a library. A more concise and holistic book written in a consistent style would be very valuable to mindfulness teachers who have not the motivation to deep dive into a large, academic treatise.
In summary, this is an important book for anyone interested in the broad sweep of thinking on mindfulness and psychotherapies. It feels like a landmark compendium of important papers, and gives a valuable perspective. The style and content of the papers are variable, but all feel to be of a high standard, and there is a serious assessment of training pathways and research into the evidence base for each therapy. It is perhaps too much, at this stage, to expect any unifying theory. Personally I would have welcomed some treatment of person-centred therapies though many of the therapies do invite a person-centred approach. A shorter book covering the same material, in less depth, with a more accessible price would be very useful, particularly if it could provide some transferable concepts from each therapy that could be directly used in others. The authors and editors of this book are to be applauded, and it will be useful to see how many of these therapies develop and (maybe) converge, and whether any unifying theories start to emerge.