Month: January 2016

Be Mindful and Act with Awareness with Alcohol

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“I’m saying let’s bring mindfulness to the act of drinking. Let’s not overindulge; let’s work with our craving in a fashion similar to the way we work with it on the meditation cushion. Let’s enjoy the experience without falling into the trap of confusion. At the end of the night of a Right Drinking, don’t be surprised if instead of feeling woozy you feel refreshed by the experience.” – Lodro Rinzler

 

Alcohol intake is a ubiquitous fact of life. In the US 87% of adults reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 71% reported that they drank in the past year; 56% reported that they drank in the past month. If alcohol intake is tempered by moderation and caution it can be enjoyed and may be potentially beneficial. But as alcohol intake gets out of control it can lead to binge drinking and alcoholism. It is reported that 25% of US adults reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the last month and 7% have what is termed an alcohol use disorder.

 

This is troubling as it can be very dangerous and potentially fatal. Nearly 88,000 people in the US and 3.3 million globally die from alcohol-related causes annually, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Drunk driving accounted for over 10,000 deaths; 31% of all driving fatalities. Excessive alcohol intake has been shown to contribute to over 200 diseases including alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis, cancers, and injuries. It is estimated that over 5% of the burden of disease and injury worldwide is attributable to alcohol consumption. So, clearly, it is important to control excessive alcohol intake.

 

Attempts by society to make alcohol illegal have been dismal failures. So, it is important to find methods to prevent excessive alcohol intake and assist in preventing relapse in recovered alcoholics. Mindfulness has been shown to be associated with lower use of alcohol in adolescents (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/28/lower-substance-use-with-mindfulness/) and to help with relapse prevention with alcoholism (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/10/staying-on-the-wagon-with-mindfulness/). So, mindfulness may be useful in controlling alcohol intake and preventing relapse.

 

In today’s Research News article “Elucidating the Association Between Trait Mindfulness and Alcohol Use Behaviors Among College Students”

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Karyadi and colleagues measured mindfulness, self-reported alcohol use, and responses to alcohol related visual cues in college students. They found that the more mindful the students the less the problematic alcohol use and the lower the level of cued alcohol cravings. Of the different facets of mindfulness, they found that acting with awareness was the most highly related to lower alcohol consumption and cued cravings. Finally, they found that acting with awareness appeared to work through a reduction in cued cravings to produce its effects on alcohol intake. Hence, mindfulness, particularly acting with awareness, appears to reduce alcohol consumption by reducing the individual’s responses to cues for alcohol intake.

 

The mindfulness facet of acting with awareness involves focusing attention on what you are doing at the present moment. When an individual is acting with awareness they are fully engaged with their current activity and not acting automatically “on autopilot.” As a result, they do not respond to unconscious or subconscious signals, but rather are in complete attentional control of what they are doing. This would make it less likely that they would respond to cues signaling alcohol craving. Rather they would respond to the conditions and act on them with complete awareness and not act irrationally.

 

These results do not demonstrate that mindfulness is the cause of the reported altered consumption. It will require a trial in which mindfulness training is actively manipulated to establish a causal connection. But, these results are encouraging and suggest that such a trial should be conducted.

 

So, be mindful and act with awareness with alcohol.

 

“The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour.” – William James
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/alcohol.html#VhlXCV71s87co30G.99

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Spirituality Assists in Addiction Recovery

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“Addiction tries to make a spiritual experience static. When we are in an addictive process, we want to hold on to the moment, not feeling the discomfort of the longing but attempting to maintain what we feel in an instant. Our spirituality becomes stagnate and the addiction leads us into a deep bondage with a substance or process.” –  Jim Seckman

 

Substance abuse is a major health and social problem. There are estimated 22.2 million people in the U.S. with substance dependence. It is estimated that worldwide there are nearly ¼ million deaths yearly as a result of illicit drug use which includes unintentional overdoses, suicides, HIV and AIDS, and trauma. In the U.S. about 17 million people abuse alcohol. Drunk driving fatalities accounted for over 10,000 deaths annually and including all causes alcohol abuse accounts for around 90,000 deaths each year, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

 

Drug and alcohol addictions are very difficult to kick and if successful about half the time the individual will relapse. So, there have been developed a number of programs to help the addict recover and prevent relapse. The 12 step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, etc. have been as successful as any programs in treating addictions. These programs insist that spirituality is essential to recovery.  Indeed, addiction is described as a “spiritual, physical, and emotional” problem. It appears that spirituality is highly associated with successful treatment and relapse preventions as demonstrated in a number of research studies (see links below).

 

In today’s Research News article “NIDA-Drug Addiction Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) Relapse as a Function of Spirituality/Religiosity”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1146018118755446/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455957/

Schoenthaler and colleagues analyze the data from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Drug Addiction Treatment Outcome Study. They found that there were much higher rates of successful treatment outcomes for drug abuse when either spirituality or religious participation were high in the patients. They found that the higher the level of spirituality or religious participation the greater the likelihood that the individual will be drug free 12 months after the end of the program. This was true for alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana addictions, but not for crack cocaine addiction. The measures of spirituality and religious participation that were most clearly linked to successful outcomes were frequency of attending religious services, reading religious books watching religious programs and meditation/prayer

 

It should be pointed out that as impressive as these results are, they do not prove that spirituality and religious participation were the cause of improved addiction recovery. There was not a manipulation so there may be other factors that both increase addiction recovery and simultaneously spirituality and religious participation. These could include the support of a religious community, or that people who tend toward spirituality and religious participation are also good candidates for addiction recovery, or the belief that spirituality and religious participation would help.

 

Why is spirituality and religious participation associated with better outcomes? One possible reason is that spirituality provides a source of comfort as the individual faces the challenges of recovery. Spirituality may provide another way to cope with the individual’s problems. The individual can take solace in the Devine instead of drugs when upheavals occur. This can help to break the vicious cycle, making it possible to deal with the addiction. Spirituality and religious participation can provide the recognition that help is needed, that they can’t control the addiction without outside assistance. The addict then can allow fellow addicts, people close to them, or therapists to provide needed assistance when the urge to use the drug begins to overwhelm the individual’s will to stop. The recognition that there are greater powers than themselves makes it easier to ask for and accept assistance.

 

It has also the case that spirituality is associated with negative beliefs about drugs. Buddhism teaches that intoxication is an impediment to spiritual development. Other religions completely prohibit alcohol and drugs while many decry the behaviors that occur during alcoholic or drug induced stupor.  This provides a cognitive incompatibility between drug use and spirituality. The recognition that using drugs or alcohol is not an OK thing to do might provide the extra motivation to help withstand the cravings. In addition, spiritual groups tend to be populated with non-addicts. So, increased spirituality also tends to shift the individual’s social network away from drug or alcohol using buddies to people less inclined to provide temptation. It is very difficult to stop using when those around you are not only using themselves but encouraging you. So shifting social groups to people who abstain can help tremendously.

 

Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a strong relationship between spirituality and religious participation and successful recovery from addiction to a variety of different substances.

 

“The earliest A.A. members, then, discovered that some kind of spirituality— some kind of sense of the reality of some “beyond”—was essential to their sobriety” – Ernest Kurtz
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

What’s the Big Deal about the Present Moment?

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“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
The present day mindfulness movement has made a mantra of the present moment. There are constant calls to be in the “now”, to pay attention to the present, to be aware of our state at this very moment. Whenever something like this gets into pop culture, as it has, it almost inevitably takes on meanings beyond the simple idea originally represented. The notion of the present moment is no different. It’s not rocket science. It’s simply what is right now.

 

To many, the idea of being in the present moment is not an attractive one. The present is full of suffering, it is stressful, it is unsatisfactory, and sometimes it’s terrifying. Such people not only don’t want to be in the present moment they do everything they can to escape it. They immerse themselves in books, movies, TV, social media, etc. to escape. Many use drugs and alcohol to get away from “now” and still others use thrill seeking in an attempt to make the present moment more exciting and pleasurable. But these escapes do not solve the underlying problems. Instead, they merely cover them up, to be suffered through at other times.

 

So, to many people the idea of being in the present seems ludicrous. Why focus on the suffering? Why work to stay in the place they find so uncomfortable and unsatisfactory. What is missed is that the present moment may seem to be the problem, but it is in fact the solution. After all, where else could problems be dealt with? The past can’t be changed and the future is simply a present moment that has not yet arrived. So, the present moment is a big deal because it is the only time that any problems can be solved, any issues addressed, and any happiness experienced. In fact, truly seeing the present moment as it is lets us see where our unhappiness and suffering are coming from.

 

The Buddha said that “I teach only two things: suffering and the end of suffering.” He recognized that things were unsatisfactory in the present moment, but paradoxically the unsatisfactoriness can only be ended in the present moment. Part of the problem that people have in seeing this is that their experience of the present moment is not a pure experience of the very moment. Instead it is colored by past experiences and future expectations and it is these that are the source of the suffering. Releasing them and seeing everything just as it is, is what is needed to relieve the suffering.

 

For many the present moment is filled with, not what’s simply there, but with their judgments and interpretations of what’s present based upon their past experiences. So, rather than enjoy a social interaction the individual is fearful and unhappy because in the past similar social encounters have produced unhappiness. Their past experiences cause them to interpret the current situation as a threat and not an opportunity. This makes the present moment unsatisfactory, even though, taking it simply for what it is, it is not only satisfactory but wonderful. The rumination about the past prevents the enjoyment of the moment from ever occurring.
For many the present moment and the things that are in it are predictors of future disaster or pain. The present moment is filled with anxiety fueled by constant worry and fear about the future. So the present moment is never honestly experienced, it’s constantly being seen as an indicator that problems are on the horizon. This causes these people to completely miss the wonder of the present moment.

 

We engage in mindfulness training in order to see the present moment as it is. The training works to eliminate the ruminations and worries that taint the experience of the present. It works to stop the judging and labelling of whatever is present. Our conditioning is deep and it takes time and practice, but slowly we begin to see the present in its glory. We begin to see that life is unfolding right here and right now, not in a remembered past or an imagined future, but right now. Slowly we begin to see that what is happening is not about us, it doesn’t say anything about us. It just is.

 

In actuality “now” is filled with amazing things and great joy and happiness, if we just let it. It is a big deal. In fact it’s the only deal.

 

The “Now” may be seen as boring, containing little that is new. But, in actuality, “now” is a unique moment that has never happened before and will never happen again. If we just look at it carefully we can easily discern how unique and amazing this very moment is. The fact of our breathing is simply a miracle. We are blessed by the beautiful sensations that are constantly being refreshed. We experience the biggest miracle of all, that we are aware of this very moment. Seeing and understanding that can lead to insight and awakening that can transform existence and it is only available in the present moment.

 

Our lives are the sum total of present moments. Life can only be lived now. Living elsewhere is missing out on all that life has to offer. It’s no wonder people have so many regrets on their death beds. They never truly lived. They never let themselves simply experience the essence of life itself occurring only in present moments. But, living in the “now” is not to avoid regrets. It’s to experience the joy and wonder of interacting with another human being. It’s to be loved and to love. It’s to be awed by how everything arises and falls away. It’s to feel the air on or skin. It’s to hear the music of sounds around us. It’s to see the beauty in everything. It’s to experience the intense pleasures of the flavors of foods. It’s to “smell the roses.”

 

So, practice mindfulness and discover the big deal about the present moment.

 

“The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity… The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.”- Samuel Johnson

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Beat Pain with Mindfulness

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“A common but unfortunate saying is that the pain is in your head….this saying implies that it’s not real, but fabricated. This is not true. However, pain is located in your head, within your brain. When you have pain, the brain is very active processing it. How your brain processes it determines the pain you experience. So yes, your pain experience is in your head, but it’s real. It can be measured, and it can be changed for the better.” – Adriaan Louw

 

Mindfulness practices including meditation have been shown to reduce perceived pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/pain/). The studies that examined mindfulness and pain, however, did not include any control conditions to account for the effects of a placebo or participant expectations about the efficacy of the treatment. The placebo effect is powerful and can produce outcomes that are very similar to those produced by different forms of treatment including therapy and drugs. This effect is based upon the psychological tendency of people to produce outcomes that conform to their expectations. So, if the participant believes that a treatment will make him/her better, it will, regardless of whether the particular treatment is actually effective or not.

 

The placebo effect presents a difficult issue for treatment research and most studies do not include any mechanism for assessing the expectations of the participants. Thus many reported positive results may in fact be due to the placebo effect rather than an actual effect of the treatment. So, it is possible that the reported efficacy for mindfulness training to reduce perceived pain may in fact be due to a placebo effect. Even if a treatment is actually effective, the placebo effect may be so strong that the true effect cannot be distinguished from the placebo effect. It is very difficult to separate the two.

 

A potential method for examining whether an effect is due to a treatment or a placebo is to look at the neural mechanisms underlying the two.  In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness Meditation-Based Pain Relief Employs Different Neural Mechanisms than Placebo and Sham Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Analgesia”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1144956498861608/?type=3&theater

http://jn.sfn.org/press/November-18-2015-Issue/zns04615015307.pdf

Zeidan and colleagues implement this strategy and investigate the neural systems that respond to meditation vs. placebo for pain. They actually implement three control groups, placebo conditioning, sham mindfulness meditation, and book-listening for comparison with meditation and also record functional neuroimaging for each group while responding to an experimental pain condition. The placebo condition involved telling the participant that they were being administered a pain killing cream which was in actuality an inert petroleum jelly. The sham meditation condition only instructed the participant to close their eyes and breath and meditate but without specific instructions as to how to meditate. The experimental pain procedure involved the application of a non-damaging hot probe. During the application of the probe the participants rated their pain and also had their brains scanned with functional MRI.

 

They found that only the meditation group had an increase in mindfulness and that all groups except the book-listening control group had decreased pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings. The meditation group, however, had the largest decrease in perceived pain and pain unpleasantness. They also found that different neural structures were activated with the pain manipulation with the different conditions. Meditation produced a greater activation in brain regions associated with the cognitive processing of pain, including the orbitofrontal, subgenual anterior cingulate, and anterior insular cortex. While the placebo produced increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and deactivation of sensory processing regions. Sham meditation did not produce significant neural activity, but rather greater reductions in the respiration rate.

 

These results are interesting and important. They demonstrate that meditation is more effective than either a placebo or a sham meditation in reducing perceived pain and pain unpleasantness. In addition, they demonstrate that there were different neural mechanisms involved in the effects of each on pain. The fact that they work differently in the brain indicates that meditation’s effectiveness at relieving pain is not due to a placebo or subject expectancy effect or to the conditions of meditation. Hence, meditation is an effective treatment for pain.

 

So, meditate and beat pain.

 

“Your brain plays a major role in controlling your pain. How you are feeling or what you are thinking about your pain has a direct impact on what happens to the pain signal in the spinal cord, and thus has a huge effect on how much pain you feel.”- Charles Argoff

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Headaches are a Headache – Reduce them with Mindfulness 2

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“To diminish the suffering of pain, we need to make a crucial distinction between the pain of pain, and the pain we create by our thoughts about the pain. Fear, anger, guilt, loneliness and helplessness are all mental and emotional responses that can intensify pain.” ~Howard Cutler

 

Headaches are the most common disorders of the nervous system. It has been estimated that 47% of the adult population have a headache at least once during the last year. The most common type of headache is the tension headache with 80 to 90 percent of the population suffering from tension headaches at least some time in their lives. The second most common type of headache is the migraine headache. Around 16 to 17 percent of the population complains of migraines. It is the 8th most disabling illness in the world with more than 90% of sufferers unable to work or function normally during their migraine. American employers lose more than $13 billion each year as a result of 113 million lost work days due to migraine.

 

There are a wide variety of drugs that are prescribed for chronic headache pain with varying success. Most tension headaches can be helped by taking pain relievers such as aspirin, naproxen, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen. A number of medications can help treat and prevent migraines and tension headaches, including ergotamine, blood pressure drugs such as propranolol, verapamil, antidepressants, antiseizure drugs, and muscle relaxants. Drugs, however, can have some problematic side effects particularly when used regularly and are ineffective for many sufferers. So, almost all practitioners consider lifestyle changes that help control stress and promote regular exercise to be an important part of headache treatment and prevention. Avoiding situations that trigger headaches is also vital.

 

A Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program has been shown to be an effective treatment for tension headache (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/07/headaches-are-a-headache-reduce-them-with-mindfulness/). Unfortunately, migraine sufferers were not included in the study. In today’s Research News article “The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Perceived Pain Intensity and Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Headache”

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Bakhshani and colleagues examine the effectiveness of an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program compared to a treatment as usual (primarily drugs) control group for chronic headaches including tension and migraine headaches. They found that in comparison to the control group which primarily controlled pain with drugs the MBSR group had a clinically significant reduction in pain intensity with a moderate effect size. They also found that MBSR produced a significant improvement in quality of life including role limitation due to physical health, bodily pain, general health, energy and vitality, emotional health and physical and mental health. These results indicate that MBSR is a clinically meaningful effective treatment for both tension and migraine headaches, not only reducing pain but also improving the patients’ quality of life. Importantly, MBSR effects were superior to drug treatment.

 

MBSR is structured to reduce stress and has been empirically shown to significantly reduce both the physiological and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/). Since tension headaches are primarily produced by stress and migraine headaches are frequently triggered by stress, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the stress reduction contributed to the effectiveness of MBSR for chronic headaches. Mindfulness training, by focusing attention on the present moment has also been shown to reduce worry and catastrophizing (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/worry/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/). Pain is increased by worry about the pain and the expectation of greater pain in the future. So, reducing worry and catastrophizing should reduce headache pain. In addition, negative emotions are associated with the onset of headaches. Mindfulness has been shown to increae positive emotions and decrease negative ones (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/). Finally, mindfulness has been shown to change how pain is processed in the brain reducing the intensity of pain signals in the nervous system.

 

Regardless of the mechanism, it is clear that MBSR is a safe and effective treatment that is more effective than drugs for chronic headaches. So, reduce headache pain and improve quality of life with mindfulness.

 

“The way to live in the present is to remember that ‘This too shall pass.’ When you experience joy, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ helps you savor the here and now. When you experience pain and sorrow, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ reminds you that grief, like joy, is only temporary.” ~Joey Green

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Be Less Dependent upon Others with Mindfulness 2

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“Our dependency makes slaves out of us, especially if this dependency is a dependency of our self-esteem. If you need encouragement, praise, pats on the back from everybody, then you make everybody your judge.” – Fritz Perls

 

We are social animals. Alone we are weak and vulnerable and would not have fared well in evolution. But, in concert with others we have dominated our world. By working together in organized society we have not only been able to provide for a vast population but create technical wonders expanding interpersonal interaction possibilities. It is obvious that we depend upon one another and that, in general, is a good thing.

 

We are born totally helpless. We are completely dependent upon our parents and would perish without them. We take decades to fully develop and become completely independent of our parents. There is no other creature on the planet that takes so long to become independent. But we never really are independent, as the saying goes, “No man is an island”– John Donne. Independence simply means that we can guide ourselves through the intricacies of societal dependencies without another person directing us. That independence notwithstanding, we are forever dependent on others.

 

This is healthy. But, if that dependency is so strong that it interferes with the individual’s ability to live a happy and productive life then it becomes a personality disorder, called Maladaptive Interpersonal Dependency (MID). It is “characterized by the tendency to overrely on others for nurturance, support, and guidance. … the perception of oneself as weak and helpless, along with the perception of others as strong and powerful. . . fears of negative evaluation, fears of abandonment, and . . . passivity, submissiveness, reassurance seeking” Andrew McClintock. This pattern is associated with a number of other psychological disorders, but the most serious is an association with suicidality.

 

There is little known about MID and there are currently no empirically demonstrated effective treatments available. Mindfulness, however, has been shown to reduce interpersonal dependency (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/21/be-less-dependent-upon-others-with-mindfulness/). So, it would seem reasonable to suspect that it may be effective for Maladaptive Interpersonal Dependency (MID). In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness Therapy for Maladaptive Interpersonal Dependency: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1143873198969938/?type=3&theater

McClintock and colleagues examined the ability of a mindfulness based treatment, Mindfulness Therapy for Maladaptive Interpersonal Dependency (MT-MID), to relieve the symptoms of MID in comparison to an equally time intensive control condition. They documented a significant improvement in interpersonal dependency produced by the MT-MID treatment. This occurred with a large effect size, indicating a clinically meaningful impact on MID.

 

McClintock and colleagues reported that the mindfulness treatment group had significantly higher mindfulness and significantly lower maladaptive dependency, helplessness, fears of negative evaluation, and excessive reassurance-seeking as compared to control participants. They also found that these effects were mediated by the increased mindfulness. In other words the MT-MID treatment increased mindfulness which, in turn, produced the relief of MID symptoms. The effects were still present a month after the end of the program, indicating that MT-MID produces sustained benefit for Maladaptive Interpersonal Dependency.

 

These results are potentially very important suggesting that a mindfulness based treatment program is effective for the clinical treatment of a personality disorder, MID, for which there was previously no known treatment. But, how can increases in mindfulness improve interpersonal dependency?

 

It is likely that interpersonal dependency is maintained by heightened levels of fear and anxiety and low self-esteem. Mindfulness has a number of known effects that may underlie its effectiveness for interpersonal dependency. It has been shown to reduce fear and anxiety (see  http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/fear/) and to improve self-esteem (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/self-esteem/). So, mindfulness addresses some of the problems underlying MID. It would seem reasonable to infer that these were the changes induced by mindfulness training that were responsible for its effectiveness for MID.

 

So, practice mindfulness and be less dependent upon others.

 

“Authority is not a quality one person ‘has,’ in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.” ― Erich Fromm

 

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee. 

John Donne

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Mindfully Improve Memory

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“Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not compare them. It does not label them or categorize them. It just observes everything as if it was occurring for the first time. It is not analysis which is based on reflection and memory.” – Bhante Gunaratana

 

Humans have both an amazing capacity to remember and a tremendously limited capacity depending upon which phase of the memory process that is looked at. Our long-term store of information is virtually unlimited. We can recall in great detail events that occurred years ago or a few minutes ago. It not only includes events but things that were memorized by rote, music, places and their relationship to other places, faces, emotions, facts, definitions, etc. It’s really quite amazing. On the other hand, or very short-term memory is extremely limited. This is called our working memory and it can contain only about 5 to 9 pieces of information at a time. This fact of a limited working memory store shapes a great deal about how we think, summarize, and categorize our world.

 

Memory is not always accurate. We forget a great deal of information or have great difficulty retrieving it. We sometimes vividly recall things that really never happened to us, called false memories. Problems with memory are exacerbated by interference within memory where similar things tend to produce problems in our ability to recalling them. The problems with memory are well known in the legal system where the unreliability of eyewitness testimony is legendary. So, methods to improve memory and recall could be quite helpful, particularly to students who are required to recall information regularly.

 

Mindfulness has a mixed record in regards to its effects on memory. It has been shown to increase the likelihood of false memories and to impair memory for emotionally negative words but not positive words in adults (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/memory/). But mindfulness has also been shown to improve working memory capacity and Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores among college students (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23538911). So, mindfulness appears to be able to improve some forms of memory while impairing others. It is thus important to sort out what kinds of memories are affected by mindfulness, in what way, and with whom.

 

In today’s Research News article “A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Working Memory Capacity in Adolescents.”

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http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1054139X15003808/1-s2.0-S1054139X15003808-main.pdf?_tid=79ab478a-9055-11e5-80cd-00000aab0f27&acdnat=1448113429_d94f3f38ebf8666c5d47d94b9f652dbb

Quach and colleagues investigated the effect of contemplative practices on working memory in 12 to 17 year-olds. They compared students receiving 4-weeks of the meditation component of a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to students receiving 4-weeks of Hatha yoga training and to untreated students on a wait list. They found that over the 4 weeks the students receiving meditation training significantly improved their working memory capacity while neither the yoga training nor the wait list groups did.

 

Hence the results indicated that meditation training improved short-term memory in adolescents. This adds to the prior results that mindfulness improved working memory in college students and suggests that meditation practice may be an effective method to improve an important component of students’ memories, working memory. This should, in turn, improve cognitive abilities such as problem solving, mathematics, etc. and improve school performance in general. But, future research will be required to confirm this speculation.

 

Meditation training improves attentional ability and present moment awareness and reduces mind wandering. These effects of meditation may well account for the improved working memory. By simply being able to concentrate better on the material and stay on task more will be entered into memory and less lost. Also, meditation training has also been shown to increase the size of brain areas involved in memory. This structural change in the nervous system might also underlie the improved working memory. Regardless of the mechanism it appears clear that meditation practice can lead to improved working memory in high school and college students.

 

So, mindfully improve memory.

 

“Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going.” — Tennessee Williams

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Mindfully Improve Thinking after Recovery from Cancer

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“You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It’s a mindset.” – Dave Pelzer

 

Cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. Over half of the people diagnosed with cancer are still alive 10 years later and this number is rapidly improving. With breast cancer about 80% survive at least 5 years and the earlier the diagnosis the better the survival rate. With colorectal cancer about 50% survive at least 5 years and again the earlier the diagnosis the better the survival rate.  It is estimated that 14,483,830 adults and children with a history of cancer alive in the United States today. So, there are a vast number of cancer survivors.

 

Surviving cancer carries with it a number of problems. “Physical, emotional, and financial hardships often persist for years after diagnosis and treatment. Cancer survivors are also at greater risk for developing second cancers and other health conditions.” National Cancer Survivors Day. Unfortunately, most of these residual problems go untreated. Psychologically, cancer survivors frequently suffer from anxiety, depression, mood disturbance, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sleep disturbance, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, loss of personal control, impaired quality of life, and psychiatric symptoms which have been found to persist even ten years after remission.

 

Less well known is that cancer survivors frequently suffer from residual cognitive impairments that affect the majority of survivors and can last for many years. These include problems with attention, including divided attention and multitasking, memory, including short and long-term memory and retrieval, and executive function. These impairments in the ability to think and the extra energy needed for routine cognitive activities can increase fatigue over the day.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to help with cancer recovery and help to alleviate many of the residual psychological symptoms (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/cancer/) and it has been shown to improve cognitive function (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/cognition/).  So, it would seem reasonable to postulate that mindfulness might help in alleviating the cognitive impairments occurring in cancer survivors.

 

In today’s Research News article “Randomized controlled pilot trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction for breast and colorectal cancer survivors: effects on cancer-related cognitive impairment”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1142698709087387/?type=3&theater

Johns and colleagues examined the effect of an 8-week Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on cognitive function in cancer survivors and compared it to an 8-week Education and Support (ES) program involving comparable amounts of time. They found that the MBSR group in comparison to the ES group showed greater improvements in overall attentional function, particularly with effective action and attentional lapses. The MBSR group also showed greater improvement in ability to cope with cognitive interference as measured by the classic Stroop test. These improvements were lasting as they were still present 6-months after the conclusion of treatment.

 

These are exciting results as they are in comparison to an active control condition and they suggest that MBSR is an effective treatment for the cognitive impairments in cancer recovery patients. There are a number of explanations for how MBSR might produce these improvements. MBSR targets stress and has been shown to effectively reduce psychological and physiological stress responses. This stress reduction could greatly help the survivors deal with their residual problems. MBSR also markedly improves attention, particularly present moment attention. This may fairly directly help improve cognitive function. MBSR also improves emotion regulation. This may make the survivors better able to cope with the emotional sequela of cancer recovery. Finally, MBSR has been shown to improve cognitive function in healthy individuals and may simply be improving overall cognitive function and not specifically treating the cognitive symptoms of cancer recovery.

 

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that mindfulness training is effective in alleviating the cognitive problems following recovery from cancer.

 

So, improve thinking after recovery from cancer with mindfulness.

 

“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.” – Jim Valvano

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Repair the Damage with Mindfulness

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“In today’s rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being.” ~Eckhart Tolle

 

Mindfulness practices are known to improve people’s physical, mental, and even social well-being. But, why would mindfulness training, learning to pay attention to the experiences of the present moment without judging the experiences, be so good for people? It is surprising that such a simple training would be so beneficial. Why would we need to practice something as obvious as paying attention to what is going on right in front of our noses.

 

It is particularly puzzling, given that we are born mindful. A newborn infant is the epitome of mindfulness. Everything that is going on grabs their attention and they respond only to the present moment. There is no past as the memory systems have not yet developed and there is no future, as planning and foresight mechanisms have yet to develop. For them there is only now.  Even later in childhood, life is experienced in the present moment. There is a sense of wonder and awe at the world and the beings, human and otherwise, that populate it. Play is a joy unto itself, without goal or purpose.

 

So, if mindfulness is our primal state, why do we later in life need to try to recapture it? It must be that we somehow lost it, otherwise why would we need to practice it. Rather than lost, mindfulness is trained out of us. The training that puts mindfulness to the side is ubiquitous. It’s present in the home, in school, at work, in the media, and in friendship groups. It teaches us to strive for a “better” future, for a degree, for a career, to acquire things, to seek relationships, for a family, to look out to avoid difficult issues or people, to make money. It teaches us to be focused on the future, rather than now. It teaches us to see now, not as something to be savored but as a necessary evil to get to the promised future.

 

We are trained to perfect ourselves, to be better at everything we do. This causes us to focus on the past and particularly things in the past that didn’t work, were troubling, embarrassing, or even terrifying. We try to look back at these events and work out what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future. We are trained to try to have a healthy “self-concept.” This notion unto itself in unmindful as there really isn’t anything there, other than an accumulation of labels, thoughts, stories, and experiences that are summarized as the self. Again this causes us to focus on the past and future in the continuous striving to perfect ourselves.

 

By the time we’re adults severe damage has been done to our appreciation of our existence. Our society and culture not only allows it, but encourages it. Messages in the media and in ads constantly hammer home the notion of perfecting oneself and one’s life situation. We become so focused on these unattainable goals that our lives become a treadmill of unsatisfactoriness leading to more analysis and striving, leading to more unsatisfactoriness, leading to …..  It leads to unhappiness that we delude ourselves will be fixed sometime in the future when we accomplish some objective or acquire some object.

 

The damage that has been done is severe. It makes us constantly dissatisfied and unhappy. There isn’t a magical solution. But, going back toward our primal state of mindfulness will help immensely. But, our minds are so trained to focus on the past and future that we literally need to be retrained. We’ve been trained out of it, so we need to be trained back into it. That is where mindfulness practices come in.

 

Mindfulness practices work to undo the damage that’s been done to us by our society and culture throughout our lives. They work to return us to that happy state of appreciation of the present moment, to return, if only occasionally, to the wonder and awe at this miraculous thing we call life, to the appreciation of the other people that surround us. These practices work to teach us to really listen to one another and become compassionate, and to become active contributors to the overall group happiness.

 

It’s no wonder that mindfulness training is so beneficial to us physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and socially. It repairs the years of damage that so blinds us and makes us so dissatisfied. In a different society, with a different culture and values, mindfulness practice may not be so valuable. But, in our modern western culture, mindfulness practice is almost mandatory to ever truly be healthy and happy.

 

So, practice mindfulness, repair the damage, and thrive.

 

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” – Lao Tzu

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Distress Produces Less Stress with Mindfulness

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“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ― Amit Ray

 

Psychological distress is related to an increase in physiological stress responses. That is, when the individual is anxious, ruminating, or having negative emotions, the physiology including the hormonal system reacts. The increased activity can be measured in heightened stress hormones in the blood and increased heart rate, blood pressure etc. These physiological stress responses on the short-term are adaptive and help to fight off infection, toxins, injury, etc. But when these stress responses are long lasting (chronic) they can themselves be a source of disease.

 

Chronic stress can produce a myriad of physical problems including mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders; cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and stroke; obesity and other eating disorders; menstrual problems; sexual dysfunction, such as impotence and premature ejaculation in men and loss of sexual desire in both men and women; skin and hair problems, such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema, and permanent hair loss; and gastrointestinal problems, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gastritis, ulcerative colitis, and irritable colon. Needless to say, chronic stress can be very harmful.

 

Unfortunately, psychological distress is often persistent and chronic and resulting in chronic stress which in turn can produce disease. Many of the symptoms of psychological distress have been shown to be related to a lack of mindfulness. Anxiety is often rooted in a persistent dread of future negative events while rumination is rooted in the past, with persistent replaying of negative past events. Since mindfulness is firmly rooted in the present it is antagonistic toward anything rooted in the past or future. Hence, high levels of mindfulness cannot coexist with anxiety and rumination. This has been repeatedly demonstrated (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/worry/). In addition, high mindfulness has been shown to be related to high levels of emotion regulation and positive emotions (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/). So, mindfulness would appear to be an antidote to psychological distress.

 

In today’s Research News article “It’s Not What You Think, It’s How You Relate to It: Dispositional Mindfulness Moderates the Relationship Between Psychological Distress and the Cortisol Awakening Response”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1141553695868555/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4503930/

Daubenmier and colleagues investigated whether mindfulness could blunt the stress hormone response to psychological distress. They measured the cortisol awakening response. Cortisol is a stress hormone whose levels are very low during sleep. Upon awakening they increase. How much they increase is related to the level of chronic stress the individual is under. So, the increase in cortisol shortly after awakening is a good measure of the individual’s level of chronic physiological stress.

 

They found that, as expected, that the magnitude of the cortisol awakening response was positively related to the individuals’ levels of psychological distress. But, high levels of mindfulness were related to a smaller cortisol awakening responses to psychological distress. In particular, two facets of mindfulness, the ability to describe and the ability to accept thoughts and emotions were negatively related to the cortisol awakening response. This suggests that the ability to consciously label or accept negative thoughts and emotions may buffer their impact on stress hormone activation. In other words, if thoughts and emotions are experienced with mindful awareness they have a less stressful impact.

 

Mindfulness by focusing the individual’s awareness on the present moment, improving their ability to experience, label, and accept their responses to stress, while interfering with rumination rooted in the past and anxiety rooted in the future, provides a greater tolerance for psychological stress. This would predict that mindful individuals would have less illness as a result of psychological stress. Future research will be needed to verify this prediction.

 

So, be mindful and be less stressed by psychological distress.

 

“All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies