“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ― Amit Ray
Anxiety is normal and everyone experiences occasional anxiety. But, frequent or very high levels of anxiety are considered anxiety disorders and can be quite debilitating. Unfortunately anxiety disorders are epidemic in modern society, being the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults, 18% of the population. They are more common in women accounting for 60% of anxiety disorders. Symptoms can include feelings of panic, fear, and uneasiness, problems sleeping, cold or sweaty hands and/or feet, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, an inability to be still and calm, dry mouth, and numbness or tingling in the hands or feet.
It has been estimated that one out of every three absences at work are caused by high levels of anxiety. Also, it has been found to be the most common reason for chronic school absenteeism. In addition, people with an anxiety disorder are three-to-five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than non-sufferers, making it a major burden on the healthcare system.
Anxiety disorders have generally been treated with drugs. It has been estimated that 11% of women in the U.S. are taking anti-anxiety medications. But, there are considerable side effects and these drugs are often abused. Although, psychological therapy can be effective it is costly and not available to large numbers of sufferers. So, there is a need to investigate alternative treatments.
Contemplative practices appear to be a viable alternative. Mindfulness has been shown to be associated with low anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/25/buffer-yourself-from-neuroticism-with-mindfulness/) and mindfulness training (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/the-mindfulness-cure-for-social-anxiety/) and yoga practice (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/03/keep-up-yoga-practice-for-anxiety-and-depression/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/) have been shown to reduce anxiety. Additionally, meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety by altering neural activity (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/13/get-the-brain-to-reduce-anxiety-with-meditation/).
It is clear that meditation can be effective. But there are multiple forms of meditation. They fall into two general categories, open monitoring meditation (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/25/beginning-meditation-getting-started-4-open-monitoring-meditation/) and focused meditation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/23/208/). It is important to investigate which of these forms might be most effective to help optimize the use of meditation practice in treating anxiety disorders.
In today’s Research News article “Evaluating psychological interventions in a novel experimental human model of anxiety”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4406751/
Ainsworth and colleagues compare the effectiveness of a single 10 minute session of open monitoring or focused meditation in reducing anxiety in a laboratory manipulation designed to evoke feelings of anxiety. They found that both meditation types reduced subjective anxiety but not physiological indicators of anxiety. Open monitoring meditation appeared to be better at reducing anxiety than focused meditation.
Meditation, in general has been shown to increase emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/) allowing the individual to feel the emotion but keep its intensity at manageable levels and being able to respond appropriately and effectively to the emotion. This effect of meditation may be responsible for its ability to reduce anxiety. In addition, anxiety is due to worry about a potential future negative occurrence. Thus the focus on the present moment that occurs in meditation may also be helpful in reducing anxiety.
Open monitoring meditation allows for a broad spectrum of sensations, feelings, emotions etc. to enter awareness than focused meditation that attempts to restrict attention on a small group of sensations. This wider scope of the contents of awareness may be useful in dealing with anxiety allowing the individuals to be more sensitive to their physical and mental state. This would allow them to be better prepared to deal with the wide scope of physical and mental activities associated with anxiety.
Regardless, both forms of meditation are effective in reducing anxiety. So, meditate to reduce anxiety.
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies