Month: April 2016

Mindfully Control Back Pain

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“MBSR is a practice that can help you “turn the volume down” on the perception of back pain by teaching you to look into the pain, and being with the experience and not resisting it so much. Looking into our emotional reactivity to it. Focusing on the present, rather than being bitter about the past or worried about the future about your back pain, helps you take ownership of the situation (i.e., accept your pain), and ultimately, find creative solutions for pain relief. It trains you to be in control of your mind, not for your mind to control you.” – Mark Neenan
Low Back Pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and affects between 6% to 15% of the population. It is estimated, however, that 80% of the population will experience back pain sometime during their lives. There are varied treatments for low back pain including chiropractic care, acupuncture, biofeedback, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, massage, surgery, opiate pain killing drugs, steroid injections, and muscle relaxant drugs. These therapies are sometimes effective particularly for acute back pain. But, for chronic conditions the treatments are less effective and often require continuing treatment for years and opiate pain killers are dangerous and can lead to abuse and addiction. Obviously, there is a need for safe and effective treatments for low back pain that are low cost and don’t have troublesome side effects.

 

Pain involves both physical and psychological issues. The stress, fear, and anxiety produced by pain tends to elicit responses that actually amplify the pain. So, reducing the emotional reactions to pain may be helpful in pain management. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve emotion regulation producing more adaptive and less maladaptive responses to emotions. So, it would seem reasonable to project that mindfulness practices would be helpful in pain management. Indeed, these practices have been shown to be safe and  beneficial in pain management in general and Yoga and mindfulness has been shown to specifically improve back pain. Mindfulness Based Stress Reductions (MBSR) programs contain both yoga and mindfulness practices. So, it would seem reasonable to project that MBSR practice would improve emotion regulation and thereby be beneficial for back pain.

 

In today’s Research News article “Brain and behavior changes associated with an abbreviated 4-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course in back pain patients”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1205293852827872/?type=3&theater

or see below.

Braden and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of a 4-week program of Mindfulness Based Stress Reductions (MBSR) for the treatment of low back pain. They randomly assigned patients with chronic low back pain to either an MBSR or reading control group. They found that only the MBSR group reported a significant decrease in low back pain and the somatic-affective aspects of depression following the MBSR training. In addition, they performed functional magnetic imaging of the brains of the patients, both before and after training, during a task designed to induce emotions. They found that after MBSR training there was increased activity in response to emotions in the subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex and the ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex. Both of these areas have been associated with emotion regulation processing.

 

Hence the results suggest that a 4-week MBSR training program can be effective for the relief of low back pain and the improvement in emotions. The results suggest that the improvements may have been due to changes in brain processing of emotions produced by the MBSR training. Unfortunately, at a one year follow up the reductions in pain and depression were not maintained. This suggests that an abbreviated program of 4 weeks of MBSR (the standard program is 8-weeks) may be able to improve the patients but not sufficient to produce lasting effects. It remains to be shown if the standard 8-week program can produce more lasting effects. Regardless, the findings provide support for further research into the utility of MBSR training for the treatment of chronic low back pain.

 

So, mindfully control back pain.

 

“Mindfulness soothes the circuits that amplify secondary pain and you can see this process happening in a brain scanner. In effect, mindfulness teaches you how to turn down the volume control on your pain. And as you do so, any anxiety, stress and depression that you may be feeling begins to melt away too. Your body can then relax and begin to heal.” – Danny Penman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Braden BB, Pipe TB, Smith R, Glaspy TK, Deatherage BR, Baxter LC. Brain and behavior changes associated with an abbreviated 4-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course in back pain patients. Brain Behav. 2016 Feb 16:e00443. [Epub ahead of print]

 

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) reduces depression, anxiety, and pain for people suffering from a variety of illnesses, and there is a growing need to understand the neurobiological networks implicated in self-reported psychological change as a result of training. Combining complementary and alternative treatments such as MBSR with other therapies is helpful; however, the time commitment of the traditional 8-week course may impede accessibility. This pilot study aimed to (1) determine if an abbreviated MBSR course improves symptoms in chronic back pain patients and (2) examine the neural and behavioral correlates of MBSR treatment.

METHODS: Participants were assigned to 4 weeks of weekly MBSR training (n = 12) or a control group (stress reduction reading; n = 11). Self-report ratings and task-based functional MRI were obtained prior to, and after, MBSR training, or at a yoked time point in the control group.

RESULTS: While both groups showed significant improvement in total depression symptoms, only the MBSR group significantly improved in back pain and somatic-affective depression symptoms. The MBSR group also uniquely showed significant increases in regional frontal lobe hemodynamic activity associated with gaining awareness to changes in one’s emotional state.

CONCLUSIONS: An abbreviated MBSR course may be an effective complementary intervention that specifically improves back pain symptoms and frontal lobe regulation of emotional awareness, while the traditional 8-week course may be necessary to detect unique improvements in total anxiety and cognitive aspects of depression.

 

Reduce Difficulties with Sex with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

Orgasm is the involvement of the total body: mind, body, soul, all together. You vibrate, your whole being vibrates, from the toes to the head. You are no longer in control; existence has taken possession of you and you don’t know who you are. It is like a madness…it is like meditation…” – Osho

 

Problems with sex are very common, but, with the exception of male erectile dysfunction, driven by the pharmaceutical industry, it is rarely discussed and there is little research. The Puritanical attitudes toward sex in the U.S., in particular, produce inhibitions toward overt explorations of the issues surrounding sex. But, these problems have a major impact on people’s lives and deserve far more attention. While research suggests that sexual dysfunction is common, it is a topic that many people are hesitant or embarrassed to discuss. Women suffer from sexual dysfunction more than men with 43% of women and 31% of men reporting some degree of difficulty. It is amazing that such an important human behavior is can be problematic for so many people without an outcry for more study and research.

 

Problems with sex with women are labelled Female Sexual Dysfunction. It can involve reduced sex drive, difficulty becoming aroused, vaginal dryness, lack of orgasm and decreased sexual satisfaction. Sexual function in women involves many different systems in the body, including physical, psychological and hormonal factors. So, it is important for physicians to explore women’s sexual issues. But, physicians who deal with women, whether family practitioners or Ob-Gyns, often hesitate to bring up sexual issues with patients. But, talking about sexual matters benefits not only the patient but also the physician. In one study, taking a sexual history yielded information of medical importance in 26% of cases, and affected treatment and follow-up plans in 16%.

 

Although, female sexual dysfunction is often caused by physical/medical problems, it is also frequently due to psychological issues. This implies that it many cases may be treated with activities that are effective in working with psychological problems. Mindfulness trainings have been shown to improve a variety of psychological issues including emotion regulation, stress responses, trauma, fear and worry, anxiety, and depression, and self-esteem. So, perhaps mindfulness training could help resolve psychological issues that might be affecting sexual behavior. Hence, it would make sense to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness training as a treatment for female sexual dysfunction.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Sex Therapy Improves Genital-Subjective Arousal Concordance in Women with Sexual Desire/Arousal Difficulties”

See: https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1204644279559496/?type=3&theater or see below.

Brotto and colleagues assessed the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Sex Therapy (MBST) on physical and psychological sexual arousal in women who were seeking treatment for sexual desire and/or arousal concerns. MBST is a 4-week program involving a combination of psychoeducation, sex therapy, and training in mindfulness-based skills. Arousal was measured while women were watching either a neutral or an erotic film. Physiological arousal was measured with a vaginal photoplethysmograph which continuously measured vaginal pulse amplitude. Psychological arousal was measured at the same time by subjective report.

 

They found that the relationship between subjective sexual arousal and physiological arousal increased after treatment, but the relationship between physiological sexual arousal and subjective arousal did not. These results indicate that the therapy improved the alignment between how they are feeling subjectively with its physical consequences. Since, mindfulness training is known to improve the awareness of both the mind and body in the present moment, it makes sense that a mindfulness based therapy would increase their alignment.

 

Many women with female sexual dysfunction often complain that they feel disconnected sexually. Hence, better aligning psychological and physical responses to sexual stimuli may be very helpful in treating the problem. This suggests that Mindfulness-Based Sex Therapy may be a useful therapeutic tool to help women struggling with their sexuality.

 

So, reduce difficulties with sex with mindfulness.

 

“A key factor in having better sex is actually being there when you’re having it. Being there not just physically — being fully present, in thought, word and deed. . . It isn’t about adding props or toys or costumes — it’s about really showing up and tuning in, to the moment, yourself and your partner.” – Marsha Lucas

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

RESEARCH NEWS – Mindfulness-Based Sex Therapy helps align subjective with physical arousal in women with sexual desire and arousal difficulties.

 

Brotto LA, Chivers ML, Millman RD, Albert A. Mindfulness-Based Sex Therapy Improves Genital-Subjective Arousal Concordance in Women with Sexual Desire/Arousal Difficulties. Arch Sex Behav. 2016 Feb 26. [Epub ahead of print]

 

Abstract

There is emerging evidence for the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for improving women’s sexual functioning. To date, this literature has been limited to self-reports of sexual response and distress. Sexual arousal concordance-the degree of agreement between self-reported sexual arousal and psychophysiological sexual response-has been of interest due to the speculation that it may be a key component to healthy sexual functioning in women. We examined the effects of mindfulness-based sex therapy on sexual arousal concordance in a sample of women with sexual desire/arousal difficulties (n = 79, M age 40.8 years) who participated in an in-laboratory assessment of sexual arousal using a vaginal photoplethysmograph before and after four sessions of group mindfulness-based sex therapy. Genital-subjective sexual arousal concordance significantly increased from pre-treatment levels, with changes in subjective sexual arousal predicting contemporaneous genital sexual arousal (but not the reverse). These findings have implications for our understanding of the mechanisms by which mindfulness-based sex therapy improves sexual functioning in women, and suggest that such treatment may lead to an integration of physical and subjective arousal processes. Moreover, our findings suggest that future research might consider the adoption of sexual arousal concordance as a relevant endpoint in treatment outcome research of women with sexual desire/arousal concerns.

 

Alter the Brains Self-Related Processing with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness and meditation are the two most effective brain trainers to support optimal prefrontal cortex functioning. The more you incorporate them into your daily experience, the more you will be training your brain to recalibrate, balance, and control.” – Michele Rosenthal

 

The nervous system is constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. For example, the brain area that controls the right index finger has been found to be larger in blind subjects who use braille than in sighted individuals.  Similarly, cab drivers in London who navigate the twisting streets of the city, have a larger hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, than predefined route bus drivers. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas.

 

There are two primary brain areas that appear to be altered by mindfulness training, the prefrontal cortex, including the orbitofrontal cortex, and what is termed the default mode network, which includes the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, precuneus, inferior parietal cortex, and lateral temporal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is involved in attention, decision making, and cognitive processes while the default mode network is involved in mind wandering and self-referential thinking.

 

Self-referential thinking is an important process that I prevalent when the mind is wandering and appears to be reduced by mindfulness training. In today’s Research News article “Medial orbital gyrus modulation during spatial perspective changes: Pre- vs. post-8 weeks mindfulness meditation.” See

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1204026446287946/?type=3&theater

or see below.

Tomasino and colleagues further investigate the neural process in self-referential thinking and the area of the brain that underlie them. They studied the effects of 8-weeks of meditation training on the brain responses to tasks that involve referencing the self or involve non self-referenced thinking. Brian activity was measured with functional Magnetic Imaging (f-MRI). They found that when processing the self-referential thinking task, there was significant activations of the left and right medial orbital gyrus. This activation was greater after the meditation training than before. In addition, after training response speeds increased on the self-referential thinking task. They also found that the magnitude of the signal change was negatively related to Self-Directedness, such that the higher the level of self-directed thinking the lower the activation.

 

The orbitofrontal cortex area is normally activated in high level thinking and with attention. It is thus not surprising that the orbitofrontal cortex would be activated by processing information necessary to make decisions. It is, however, surprising that the response would be greater for self-related tasks than for non self-related tasks. Meditation training is known to reduce self-referential thinking. So, it would make sense that that this intensified activation of the orbitofrontal cortex to self-referential thinking would be negatively related to self-directedness after meditation training.  But, it is surprising that the activation of this area by self-referential thinking would be intensified after meditation. It will remain for future research to disentangle these puzzling responses.

 

Regardless, alter the brains self-related processing with mindfulness.

 

“Meditation practice appears to have an amazing variety of neurological benefits – from changes in grey matter volume to reduced activity in the “me” centers of the brain to enhanced connectivity between brain regions.” – Alice Walton

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Tomasino B, Campanella F, Fabbro F. Medial orbital gyrus modulation during spatial perspective changes: Pre- vs. post-8 weeks mindfulness meditation. Conscious Cogn. 2016 Feb;40:147-58. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.01.006. Epub 2016 Jan 25.

 

Highlights

  • We used fMRI pre and following a 8-weeks mindfulness training (MT).
  • During fMRI subjects solved a own-body mental transformation task.
  • The own-body mental transformation task (vs. non-bodily) in the post (vs. Pre-MT) significantly increased activations in the left and right middle orbital gyrus.
  • The signal change correlated with changes in a self-maturity scale.
  • A brief mindfulness training caused increased activation in areas involved in self related processing.

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation exercises the ability to shift to an “observer perspective”. That means learning to observe internally and externally arising stimulations in a detached perspective. Both before and after attending a 8-weeks mindfulness training (MT) participants underwent an fMRI experiment (serving as their own internal control) and solved a own-body mental transformation task, which is used to investigate embodiment and perspective taking (and an non-bodily mental transformation task as control).

We found a stimulus × time-points interaction: the own-body mental transformation task (vs. non-bodily) in the post (vs. pre-MT) significantly increased activations in the medial orbital gyrus. The signal change in the right medial orbital gyrus significantly correlated with changes in a self-maturity personality scale.

A brief MT caused increased activation in areas involved in self related processing and person perspective changes, together with an increase in self-maturity, consistently with the aim of mindfulness meditation that is exercising change in self perspective.

 

Alter the Sleeping Brain with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“A simple meditation for sleep . . . is to focus on the breath while lying in bed as you are preparing to go to sleep. Follow the breath moving into and out of the body. As you are being aware of the breath just allow yourself to sink into the bed with each breath. . . . By taking this mindful attitude, sleep is facilitated by simply being aware of the moment-to-moment experience of relaxing into the bed, without judging or being critical of that experience, so that the mind can gently slip into sleep.” – John Cline

 

We spend about a third of our lives in sleep, but, we know very little about it. It is known that sleep is not a unitary phenomenon. Rather, it involves several different states that can be characterized by differences in physiological activation, neural activity, and subjective experiences. In the waking state the nervous system shows EEG activity that is termed low voltage fast activity. The electrical activity recorded from the scalp is rapidly changing but only with very small size waves. When we close our eyes and relax the heart rate and blood pressure decline and muscles relax. In this state the EEG shows a characteristic waveform known as the alpha rhythm, which is a large change in voltage recorded that oscillates at a rate of 8 to 12 cycles per second. Subjectively, the mind slows down and often day dreaming occurs.

 

When sleep first occurs, the individual enters into a stage called slow-wave sleep, sometimes called non-REM sleep. The heart rate and blood pressure decline even further and the muscles become very soft and relaxed. In this state the EEG shows a characteristic waveform known as the theta rhythm, which is a large change in voltage recorded that oscillates at a rate of 4 to 8 cycles per second. Subjectively, the mind enters into a state of slow and distorted experiences. It is here that nightmares can occur. As the individual goes even deeper into sleep something remarkable happens as the individual enters into rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep). Here the muscles become extremely inhibited and flaccid, but the eyes move rapidly under the closed eyelids as if the individual was looking around. At the same time the heart rate and blood pressure increase and become very variable and sometimes very high. Subjectively this is where elaborate dreams occur.

 

It has been shown that mindfulness training, including meditation practice, affects sleep and tends to improve sleep and reduce insomnia. In today’s Research News article “Short Meditation Trainings Enhance Non-REM Sleep Low-Frequency Oscillations”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1203352533022004/?type=3&theater

Or see below or see full text at:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148961

Dentico and colleagues investigate the effects of long-term meditation on the electrical activity of the brain (EEG) during sleep. They recorded the EEG during sleep before and after 2-days of intensive meditation. They found that after meditation, the EEG activity over the frontal and parietal cortical areas increased in power in the alpha and theta rhythm range of 1-12 cycles per second (Hertz). The more experience that the participants had with meditation the larger the increase in the EEG power during sleep following the meditation. These results suggest that long-term meditation practice changes the nervous system making it more sensitive to the effects of meditation on sleep.

 

Other research has demonstrated that long-term meditation practice produces increases in the size, activity, and connectivity of the frontal and parietal regions. So, the finding that EEG power increases during sleep in these areas as a result of long-term meditation makes sense. It is not known, however, exactly what the increased EEG power indicates. But, it can be speculated that is may indicate deeper sleep in non-REM, slow-wave, sleep. Perhaps enhancing subjective experiences during this phase of sleep. This would fit with the improvements in sleep seen in meditators. It remains for future research to test these speculations and determine exactly what meditation does to the sleeping brain and the subjective experiences of the dreamer.

 

Regardless of the merits of this speculation, it is clear that meditation alters the sleeping brain.

 

“there are whole-health benefits to the practice of mindfulness, wherein every aspect of health stands to gain. A healthier you is likely to sleep better, and a better-sleeping you is likely to be healthier.” – Michael Breus

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Dentico D, Ferrarelli F, Riedner BA, Smith R, Zennig C, Lutz A, et al. (2016) Short Meditation Trainings Enhance Non-REM Sleep Low-Frequency Oscillations. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148961. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148961

 

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We have recently shown higher parietal-occipital EEG gamma activity during sleep in long-term meditators compared to meditation-naive individuals. This gamma increase was specific for NREM sleep, was present throughout the entire night and correlated with meditation expertise, thus suggesting underlying long-lasting neuroplastic changes induced through prolonged training. The aim of this study was to explore the neuroplastic changes acutely induced by 2 intensive days of different meditation practices in the same group of practitioners. We also repeated baseline recordings in a meditation-naive cohort to account for time effects on sleep EEG activity.

DESIGN: High-density EEG recordings of human brain activity were acquired over the course of whole sleep nights following intervention.

SETTING: Sound-attenuated sleep research room.

PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-four long-term meditators and twenty-four meditation-naïve controls.

INTERVENTIONS: Two 8-h sessions of either a mindfulness-based meditation or a form of meditation designed to cultivate compassion and loving kindness, hereafter referred to as compassion meditation.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: We found an increase in EEG low-frequency oscillatory activities (1-12 Hz, centered around 7-8 Hz) over prefrontal and left parietal electrodes across whole night NREM cycles. This power increase peaked early in the night and extended during the third cycle to high-frequencies up to the gamma range (25-40 Hz). There was no difference in sleep EEG activity between meditation styles in long-term meditators nor in the meditation naïve group across different time points. Furthermore, the prefrontal-parietal changes were dependent on meditation life experience.

CONCLUSIONS: This low-frequency prefrontal-parietal activation likely reflects acute, meditation-related plastic changes occurring during wakefulness, and may underlie a top-down regulation from frontal and anterior parietal areas to the posterior parietal and occipital regions showing chronic, long-lasting plastic changes in long-term meditators.

 

Improve Caregiving for Developmental Disabilities with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness practices could be helpful for . . . caregivers because they encourage a nonjudgmental interpretation of their child’s situation, and increased acceptance of their reality. Mindfulness practices also help people observe their thoughts and behaviors with less reactivity and judgment, which could enable caregivers to better respond to the emotional and physical difficulties they encounter.” –  Emily Nauman

 

Four in ten adults in the U.S. are caring for an adult or child with significant health issues, up from 30% in 2010. Caring for a loved one is an activity that cuts across most demographic groups, but is especially prevalent among adults ages 30 to 64, a group traditionally still in the workforce. Caring for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be particularly difficult. Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas. These conditions begin during the developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime. Recent estimates in the United States show that about one in six, or about 15%, of children aged 3 through 17 years have a one or more developmental disabilities.

 

Today, most people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live with their families. This places many stresses on the caregivers and their families and stretches their financial resources. Due to these issues, people with severe cases of intellectual and developmental disabilities are often cared for in community and group homes. The staff of these homes, like family caregivers are under high levels of stress for many reasons including that many individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are highly aggressive and at time combative.  They sometimes require physical restraint and can cause injuries to the caregiver and to other patients. In addition, the high levels of stress and injury results in many staff leaving. It should be clear that there is a need for methods to reduce the stress, and burnout of caregivers in community and group homes. Mindfulness training has been found to be helpful for caregivers in the home setting. So it would be reasonable to expect that mindfulness training may also be helpful for caregivers in community and group homes.

 

In today’s Research News article “Caregiver Training in Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Supports (MBPBS): Effects on Caregivers and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1202660149757909/?type=3&theater

or see below, or for a full text see:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4746712/

Singh and colleagues implemented a 10-week Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) training for caregivers of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in community and group homes. The training added practice with meditation to a standard Positive Behavior Support (PBS) program. The PBS program “is designed to decrease an individual’s problem behaviors by teaching new skills, modifying the environment where the problem behaviors occur, and enhancing quality of life.” It was hypothesized that the addition of mindfulness training would magnify and supplement the effectiveness of the PBS program.

 

Singh and colleagues found that the MBPBS training resulted in a significant decrease in the use of physical restraint and significant decreases in injuries to staff and other patients. There were also significant reductions in the staff’s perceived stress levels and turnover rate. The reduced stress and injuries resulted in a highly significant reduction in institutional costs. These results clearly demonstrate that the MBPBS training is effective for caregivers. It is not clear, however, whether the meditation training was responsible, the Positive Behavior Support training or both. It remains for future research to identify which components are necessary and sufficient for improvement of caregivers well-being.

 

Regardless, it is clear that the combination of meditation to Positive Behavior Support (PBS) training produces important improvements for the staff, patients, and institution in caregiving for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in community and group homes.

 

“caregivers and patients found that the mindfulness training actually helped improve their relationships with each other. Mindfulness places both people in the present and in positive emotion; the two sides share this experience with a bit of freedom from the baggage of their history. . . . such gentle, positive interaction helped defuse the ongoing stress of a caregiver dynamic, and it helped build a stronger relationship in the present.” – Adam Perlman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Singh, N. N., Lancioni, G. E., Karazsia, B. T., & Myers, R. E. (2016). Caregiver Training in Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Supports (MBPBS): Effects on Caregivers and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 98. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00098

 

Abstract

Caregivers often manage the aggressive behavior of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities that reside in community group homes. Sometimes this results in adverse outcomes for both the caregivers and the care recipients. We provided a 7-day intensive Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) training to caregivers from community group homes and assessed the outcomes in terms of caregiver variables, individuals’ behaviors, and an administrative outcome. When compared to pre-MBPBS training, the MBPBS training resulted in the caregivers using significantly less physical restraints, and staff stress and staff turnover were considerably reduced. The frequency of injury to caregivers and peers caused by the individuals was significantly reduced. A benefit-cost analysis showed substantial financial savings due to staff participation in the MBPBS program. This study provides further proof-of-concept for the effectiveness of MBPBS training for caregivers, and strengthens the call for training staff in mindfulness meditation.

 

Frontal Cortex Damage Increases Mystical Experiences

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Push theories argue that activation of a single ‘God Spot’ causes mystical beliefs, suggesting that injuries to these spots would reduce mysticism. In contrast, pull theories argue that the suppression of our inhibitory functions opens up the brain to mystical experiences,” – Joseph Bulbulia

 

Spiritual experiences, be they called awakenings, mystical experiences, or enlightenments, involve a shift in how the individual perceives reality. This could be viewed as a spiritual revelation. But it could also be viewed as a change in the neural systems integrating and interpreting experiences. So, are spiritual awakenings revelations of a reality beyond physical reality or are they simply hallucinatory experience evoked by changes in the nervous system?

 

One way of investigating this question is to study the brain-spirituality connection. Modern neuroscience research employing sophisticated neuroimaging techniques has investigate this relationship and has revealed that there is a clear association between spirituality and the brain. Neuroimaging techniques that allow the measurement of the nervous system in an intact human have demonstrated that spirituality is associated with changes in the size, activity, and connectivity of the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain. So spirituality and changes in neural systems co-occur. But, this does not demonstrate a causal connection, whether spirituality alters the brain or brain alteration causes spirituality, or some third factor is responsible for both.

 

A better way to demonstrate if brain activity causes spiritual experiences is to investigate what happens to spirituality when the brain changes. One place to look at this is with accidental brain injuries incurred by humans. This affords an opportunity to glimpses associations between brain change and spirituality. In general people who have incurred damage to the right inferior parietal area show an increase in spirituality. So, brain alteration affects spirituality. But, increased spiritual beliefs and spiritual seeking are not the same thing as spiritual experiences. So, we cannot conclude that these changes in the brain are responsible for awakening experiences.

 

In today’s Research News article “Neural correlates of mystical experience”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1201966963160561/?type=3&theater or see below

Cristofori and colleagues study the effects of brain injury incurred by soldiers in the Vietnam war and mystical experiences with a matched group of uninjured Vietnam veterans. The neuroimaging technique of Computerized Axial Tomography (CT Scans) were used to map the areas of the brain damaged in the veterans. They found that one particular area, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) was associated with higher levels of mystical experiences. Veterans with damage to that area had significantly higher scores on the Mysticism Scale (M-Scale) than either intact veterans or veterans with damage to other brain areas. These results suggest that damage to the brain causes increased mystical experiences.

 

The prefrontal cortex in general, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) have been shown to be involved in executive function. Executive function regulates cognitive processes, including attention, working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, and problem solving as well as planning and execution. The results from the study suggest that damage to areas underlying these executive function increases mystical experiences. This in turn suggests that reducing higher level thinking induces more mystical experiences. Indeed, Cristofori and colleagues found that the in the brain injured veterans the greater the deficit in executive function, the higher the mysticism score.

 

These results support a theoretical model of mystical experiences proposed by de Castro in which executive function inhibits unprocessed sensory information from reaching consciousness. The model postulates that these raw sensory experiences are the basis of mystical experiences. So, brain damage which disrupts executive function would tend to increase the ability of these unprocessed experiences to reach consciousness.

 

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that frontal cortex damage increases mystical experiences.

 

“it will first be necessary for science to accept that its ability to understand subjective phenomena is radically limited by its current world-view and that this world-view or paradigm is long overdue for a radical transformation. What will aid enormously in this transformation is for scientists to begin the process of inner research or exploration of their own consciousness so that the states of mind being studied, such as mystical perception, become a part of their own experience. When the consciousness of the researchers starts to undergo a profound transformation, the old world-view or paradigm will correspondingly undergo a similar shift.” – Michael Persinger

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Irene Cristofori, Joseph Bulbulia, John H. Shaver, Marc Wilson, Frank Krueger, Jordan Grafman. Neural correlates of mystical experience. Neuropsychologia, Volume 80, 8 January 2016, Pages 212-220

 

Highlights

  • We investigated the causal role of brain region in mystical experience.
  • VLSM showed increased mystical experience associated to ip temporal cortexanddlPFC.
  • Patients with selective lesions to dlPFC reported increased mystical experience.
  • Executive functioningcontributes to the down-regulationof mystical experiences.

Abstract

Mystical experiences, or subjectively believed encounters with a supernatural world, are widely reported across cultures and throughout human history. Previous theories speculate that executive brain functions underpin mystical experiences. To evaluate causal hypotheses, structural studies of brain lesion are required. Previous studies suffer from small samples or do not have valid measures of cognitive functioning prior to injury. We investigated mystical experience among participants from the Vietnam Head Injury Study and compared those who suffered penetrating traumatic brain injury (pTBI; n=116) with matched healthy controls (HC; n=32). Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analysis showed that lesions to frontal and temporal brain regions were linked with greater mystical experiences. Such regions included the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(dlPFC) and middle/superior temporal cortex (TC). In a confirmatory analysis, we grouped pTBI patients by lesion location and compared mysticism experiences with the HC group. The dlPFC group presented markedly increased mysticism. Notably, longitudinal analysis of pre-injury data (correlating with general intelligence and executive performance) excludes explanations from individual differences. Our findings support previous speculation linking executive brain functions to mystical experiences, and reveal that executive functioning (dlPFC) causally contributes to the down-regulation of mystical experiences.

 

Improve Health with Yoga for the Obese

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By John M. de Castro

 

“Countless times I’ve been told that someone would do yoga, but only after they’ve lost weight. Unfortunately, this eliminates yoga as a tool for reclaiming their health based on their idea that yoga is only for the already thin and flexible. In fact, yoga can be done by everyone — lying in bed, sitting in a wheelchair or standing only for brief moments, the benefits of yoga can still be yours.” – Abby Lentz

 

Obesity has become an epidemic in the industrialized world. In the U.S. the incidence of obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above has more than doubled over the last 35 years to currently around 35% of the population, while two thirds of the population is considered overweight or obese (BMI > 25). Although the incidence rates have appeared to stabilize, the fact that over a third of the population is considered obese is very troubling.

This is because of the health consequences of obesity. Obesity has been found to shorten life expectancy by eight years and extreme obesity by 14 years. This occurs because obesity is associated with cardiovascular problems such as coronary heart disease and hypertension, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and others. Obviously there is a need for effective treatments to prevent or treat obesity. But, despite copious research and a myriad of dietary and exercise programs, there still is no safe and effective treatment.

 

Mindfulness is known to be associated with lower risk for obesity. This suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective treatment for overeating and obesity. Yoga practice has been shown to have a myriad of physical and psychological benefits. These include significant loss in weight and body mass index (BMI), resting metabolism, and body fat in obese women with Type 2 diabetes. Hence it would seem reasonable to investigate the benefits of particular aspects of yoga practice on the obese.

 

In today’s Research News article “Comparison of Stretching and Resistance Training on Glycemia, Total and Regional Body Composition, and Aerobic Fitness in Overweight Women”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1201271889896735/?type=3&theater

or below, or for the full text:

http://journals.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/Arciero_jpah.2015-0493-in%20press.pdf

Ruby and colleagues test yoga stretching for its effectiveness in treating obesity in women. They randomly assigned otherwise healthy overweight women to three groups, 10-week, 3-day per week, yoga stretching, 10-week, 3-day per week, resistance exercise, or diet only. “All participants consumed a protein-pacing, balanced diet (50% CHO, 25% PRO, 25% FAT) designed to meet 100% of their estimated energy needs throughout the intervention.”

 

They found that all three groups had improvements in waist circumference and total blood cholesterol levels. Both the yoga and resistance exercise groups also showed a significant improvement in aerobic fitness and also total and abdominal fat. The yoga group alone showed a reduction in their weight and body mass index and improvement in blood glucose levels. These effects are important as cholesterol levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and glucose levels with diabetes. Diet alone was helpful, but adding exercise produced further physical improvements in the women, and with yoga as the exercise the effects extended to weight, body mass, and blood glucose.

 

Yoga exercise is safe as there are very few reports of adverse consequences of engaging in supervised practice. In addition, yoga practice has been shown to have a myriad of physical and psychological benefits beyond its effects on the overweight and obese. This suggests that yoga may be an excellent exercise program for the treatment of overweight and obesity.

 

So, improve health with yoga for the obese.

 

“A healthy body can be a home to calm and receptive mind. It not only makes you look good but also adds confidence. It also takes you away from health risks so that you can enjoy life more freely. Yoga helps you gain all this by losing what harms your body. It’s a perfect win-win situation where you lose weight and gain back control of your body. So, roll out your yoga mat and take the natural route to fighting obesity today.”  – The Art of Living

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Ruby M, Repka CP, Arciero PJ. Comparison of Stretching and Resistance Training on Glycemia, Total and Regional Body Composition, and Aerobic Fitness in Overweight Women. J Phys Act Health. 2016 Feb 19. [Epub ahead of print] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2015-0493

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Yoga/Stretching (S) and functional resistance (R) training are popular exercise routines. A protein-pacing (P) diet is a common dietary regimen. Thus, we assessed the effectiveness of a P diet alone and in combination with either S or R to improve body composition and cardiometabolic health.

METHODS: Twenty seven overweight women (age= 43.2± 4.6 years) were randomized into three groups: yoga (S, n=8) or resistance (R, n=10) training (3 days/week) in conjunction with P diet (50% carbohydrate, 25% protein, and 25% fat) or P diet-only (P, n=9) throughout 12-week study. P maintained pre-existing levels of physical activity. Body weight (BW), total (BF) and abdominal (ABF) body fat, waist circumference (WC), plasma biomarkers, and aerobic fitness (VO2) were measured at baseline and 12 weeks.

RESULTS: WC and total cholesterol improved in all groups, whereas glycemia tended to improve (P=0.06) in S. BF, ABF, and VO2 increased significantly in S and R (P<0.05). Feelings of vigor increased in S and tension decreased in R (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: S training tended to decrease blood glucose compared to R and P and is equally effective at enhancing body composition, and aerobic fitness in overweight women providing a strong rationale for further research on S training.

 

Prevent Depression Relapse Better with Both Mindfulness and Drugs

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“People at risk for depression are dealing with a lot of negative thoughts, feelings and beliefs about themselves and this can easily slide into a depressive relapse. MBCT helps them to recognize that’s happening, engage with it in a different way and respond to it with equanimity and compassion.” – Willem Kuyken

 

Major Depression is the most common mental illness, affecting over 6% of the population. It appears to be the result of a change in the nervous system that can generally only be reached with drugs that alter the affected neurochemical systems. But, depression can be difficult to treat. Of patients treated initially with drugs only about a third attained remission of the depression. After repeated and varied treatments including drugs, therapy, exercise etc. only about two thirds of patients attained remission. In, addition, drugs often have troubling side effects and can lose effectiveness over time. In addition, many patients who achieve remission have relapses and recurrences of the depression. So, it is important to not only treat the disease initially, but also to employ strategies to decrease or prevent relapse.

 

Mindfulness training is another alternative treatment for depression. It has been shown to be an effective treatment and is also effective for the prevention of its recurrence. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was specifically developed to treat depression and can be effective even in the cases where drugs fail. The combination of drugs along with MBCT has been shown to be quite effective in treating depression and preventing relapse. Since, drugs have troubling side effects and can lose effectiveness over time, it is important to determine if after remission, MBCT can continue to prevent relapse if the drugs are removed. In other words, after MBCT can the drugs be withdrawn.

 

In today’s Research News article “Discontinuation of antidepressant medication after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for recurrent depression: randomised controlled non-inferiority trial”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1200545726636018/?type=3&theater or see below:

Huijbers and colleagues recruited patients who had had three or more depressive episodes, were being treated with anti-depressive medications for at least six months, and were currently in remission. All patients then received an 8-week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program. MBCT included meditation, body scan, and mindful movement as well as exercises to bring present-moment awareness to everyday activities. Cognitive therapy included education, monitoring and scheduling of activities, identification of negative automatic thoughts and devising a relapse prevention plan. At the conclusion of treatment patients were randomly assigned to have the drugs withdrawn over five weeks or to continue receiving drugs.

 

Huijbers and colleagues found that at 15 months after MBCT treatment there was a 25% higher rate of relapse when the drugs were withdrawn compared to when they were maintained. In addition, the amount of time to relapse/recurrence was significantly shorter after discontinuation of the drugs. This suggests that withdrawing the drugs increases the risk of relapse/recurrence for patients in remission from major depression and suggests that the combination of MBCT along with a maintenance dose of drug is superior in preventing relapse.

 

So, prevent depression relapse better with both mindfulness and drugs.

 

“Because [mindfulness-based cognitive therapy] is a group treatment which reduces costs and the number of trained staff needed it may be feasible to offer MBCT as a choice to patients in general practice…We therefore have a promising relatively new treatment which is reasonably cost effective and applicable to the large group of patients with recurrent depression.” – Roger Mulder

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

 

Marloes J. Huijbers, Philip Spinhoven, Jan Spijker, Henricus G. Ruhé, Digna J. F. van Schaik, Patricia van Oppen, Willem A. Nolen,Johan Ormel, Willem Kuyken, Gert Jan van der Wilt, Marc B. J. Blom, Aart H. Schene, A. Rogier T. Donders, Anne E. M. Speckens. Discontinuation of antidepressant medication after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for recurrent depression: randomised controlled non-inferiority trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry Feb 2016, DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.168971

Abstract

Background: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and maintenance antidepressant medication (mADM) both reduce the risk of relapse in recurrent depression, but their combination has not been studied.

Aims: To investigate whether MBCT with discontinuation of mADM is non-inferior to MBCT+mADM.

Method: A multicentre randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00928980). Adults with recurrent depression in remission, using mADM for 6 months or longer (n = 249), were randomly allocated to either discontinue (n = 128) or continue (n = 121) mADM after MBCT. The primary outcome was depressive relapse/recurrence within 15 months. A confidence interval approach with a margin of 25% was used to test non-inferiority. Key secondary outcomes were time to relapse/recurrence and depression severity.

Results: The difference in relapse/recurrence rates exceeded the non-inferiority margin and time to relapse/recurrence was significantly shorter after discontinuation of mADM. There were only minor differences in depression severity.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest an increased risk of relapse/recurrence in patients withdrawing from mADM after MBCT.