Month: July 2016

Mindfulness Interacts with the Genes in Producing Personality Change

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“It had been traditionally assumed that personality traits are relatively stable entities, but more recent research demonstrates that personality, including disposition towards mindfulness, can change over time as a result of life experiences or through mindfulness practice.” – Yi‑Yuan Tang

 

The genes dictate all of the chemical processes in our bodies including brain development and plasticity. One gene, in particular, encodes the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). It is a protein found in the brain and spinal cord that promotes the survival of nerve cells by playing a role in the growth, maturation, and maintenance of these cells. In the brain, the BDNF protein is active at the connections between nerve cells (synapses), where cell-to-cell communication occurs. The synapses can change and adapt over time in response to experience, a characteristic called neuroplasticity. The BDNF protein helps regulate neuroplasticity, which is important for learning and memory.

 

Since BDNF is involved in the development of the nervous system, and the nervous system, in part, determines our personality characteristics, it would seem reasonable to suspect that the genes underlying BDNF production would be associated with personality. In addition, since BDNF is involved in the plasticity of the nervous system, its ability to change and adapt to the environment and experience, it would seem reasonable to suspect that the genes underlying BDNF production would be associated with variations in brain neuroplasticity. The genes underlying BDNF production have a major variant that is present in approximately 25% of the population. It is possible that this variant may be responsible, in part, for differences between people in personality and neuroplasticity.

 

This reasoning taken together with the facts that mindfulness practices, including meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, are known to change the nervous system through neuroplasticity and are known to change some aspects of personality, it would seem reasonable to suspect that different variants of the genes underlying BDNF production would be associated with differences in the ability of mind body practices to change the brain and personality. This complex logic leads to the idea that differences in BDNF gene variants may produce different personality changes in response to mind-body practices.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Mind-Body Training on Personality and Behavioral Activation and Inhibition System According to BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1276252265732030/?type=3&theater

or below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4878969/

Jung and colleagues examine this hypothesis. They recruited a group of participants who regularly practiced Brain Wave Vibration, a practice that is a movement based meditation resembling yoga, martial arts, and meditation. They also recruited a group who did not engage in mind-body practices. Both groups were separated into subgroups based upon whether they carried the normal or the variant of the BDNF gene. All participants were measured for personality and behavioral activation/inhibition.

 

They found that the BDNF gene variant affected personality with control participants who had the variant higher in neuroticism and lower in extroversion. Neuroticism is known to be associated with personality problems and mental illness. So, these results suggest that the BDNF gene variant produces personality problems. On the other hand, those participants who engaged in mind-body practices and had the BDNF gene variant were higher in extroversion and openness to experience than the control participants who also had the BDNF gene variant. These results are complex but indicate firstly that the genes are involved in the determination of personality characteristics and secondly that they modify the ability of mind-body practices to change personality. They also show that engagement in mind-body practices can, to some extent, help to correct personality problems resulting from the individual’s inheritance.

 

So, practice mindfulness and improve personality characteristics regardless of your genetic inheritance.

 

“All the benefits of meditation arise from experiencing our mind as more workable. We can focus and guide it better and we can also let it go. More dance, less straitjacket.” – Barry Boyce

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Jung, Y.-H., Lee, U. S., Jang, J. H., & Kang, D.-H. (2016). Effects of Mind-Body Training on Personality and Behavioral Activation and Inhibition System According to BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism. Psychiatry Investigation, 13(3), 333–340. http://doi.org/10.4306/pi.2016.13.3.333

 

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: It has been known that mind-body training (MBT) can affect personality and behavior system as well as emotional well-being, but different effects of MBT on them has not been reported according to BDNF genetic polymorphism.

METHODS: Healthy subjects consisted of 64 subjects and the MBT group who practiced meditation regularly consisted of 72 practitioners. Participants completed neuroticism-extraversion-openness (NEO) Five-Factor Inventory and Behavioral Activation System/Behavioral Inhibition System (BAS/BIS) scales. All subjects were genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism.

RESULTS: In the same genotypes of the BDNF Val/Val+Val/Met group, MBT group showed the increased Extraversion (p=0.033) and the increased Openness to Experience (p=0.004) compared to the control group. Also, in the same Met/Met carriers, MBT group exhibited the increase of Extraversion (p=0.008), the reduction of Neuroticism (p=0.002), and the increase of Openness to Experience (p=0.008) compared to the control group. In the same genotypes of the BDNF Val/Val+Val/Met group, MBT group showed the decreased BAS-Reward Responsiveness (p=0.016) and the decrease of BIS (p=0.004) compared to the control group. In the BDNF Met/Met group, MBT group increased BAS-Fun Seeking (p=0.045) and decreased BIS (p=0.013) compared to the control group.

CONCLUSION: MBT would differently contribute to NEO personality and BAS/BIS according to BDNF genetic polymorphism, compensating for different vulnerable traits based on each genotype.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4878969/

 

Improve Type II Diabetes with Walking Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“While meditating as we walk, we can experience how our bodies feel much more intensely than we can either while doing a sitting meditation or simply walking with our normally scattered mental energy. Instead of thinking of the past or of the future — which our minds are into essentially all the time before we learn to meditate — we can feel all the pleasant sensations as well as the pain that parts of our body is telling us as we move along. This experience can be intense, and that intensity can in turn give us intense pleasure and even joy.” – David Mendosa

 

Type 2 diabetes is a common and increasingly prevalent illness that is largely preventable. Although this has been called adult-onset diabetes it is increasingly being diagnosed in children. It is estimated that 30 million people in the United States have diabetes and the numbers are growing. One of the reasons for the increasing incidence of Type 2 Diabetes is its association with overweight and obesity which is becoming epidemic in the industrialized world. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. In addition, diabetes is heavily associated with other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, and circulatory problems leading to amputations. As a result, diabetes doubles the risk of death of any cause compared to individuals of the same age without diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes results from a resistance of tissues, especially fat tissues, to the ability of insulin to promote the uptake of glucose from the blood. As a result, blood sugar levels rise producing hyperglycemia.

 

A leading cause of this tissue resistance to insulin is overweight and obesity and a sedentary life style. Hence, treatment and prevention of Type 2 Diabetes focuses on diet, exercise, and weight control. Recently, mindfulness practices have been shown to be helpful in managing diabetes.

A mindfulness practice that combines mindfulness with exercise is yoga and it has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of Type II Diabetes. Mindfulness can also be combined with other exercises. Walking has been frequently combined with meditation. This suggests that a walking meditation practice might be helpful in the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Buddhist walking meditation on glycemic control and vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1275528305804426/?type=3&theater

or below, Gainey and colleagues recruited adults with Type 2 Diabetes and had them walk for 40 minutes on a treadmill at a moderate intensity (50% to 70% of maximum heart rate). They randomly assigned them to either a continue the walking exercise or to practice mindfulness (focusing attention on each foot striking the floor) while performing the walking exercise for a 12-week period. Measurements were taken before and after the 12-week walking exercise of Body mass index (BMI), maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), muscle strength, artery dilatation and stiffness, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, insulin, HbA1c, lipid profile and plasma cortisol concentrations.

 

They found that both groups showed improvements in maximal oxygen consumption, arterial dilatation, fasting blood glucose, suggesting that walking exercise regardless of the inclusion of meditation improves blood glucose levels and cardiovascular fitness in patients with type 2 diabetes. Only walking meditation, however, reduced HbA1c, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, arterial stiffness and plasma cortisol concentration suggesting that the inclusion of meditation practice with the walking was effective in improving glycemic control, vascular function, and cardiopulmonary fitness, as well as reducing stress levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. The reduced HbA1c levels are particularly significant as HbA1c levels are a measure of long-term glycemic control the “gold standard” marker of diabetes control.

 

These results are quite remarkable. The exact same exercise has significantly greater benefit for patients with type 2 diabetes when it employs mindfulness while engaging in the exercise. This effect might have occurred in part because mindfulness training produces a reduction in sympathetic nervous system activity and increases parasympathetic activity, thereby reducing activation during exercise. This improved physiological relaxation may increase the impact of the exercise. Mindfulness training has been shown to reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress. This may make the exercise less stressful and more enjoyable, maximizing its impact.

 

Regardless of the explanation the results clearly suggest that you can improve type II diabetes with walking meditation. They further suggest that combining mindfulness with virtually any exercise may make it more beneficial for patients with type 2 diabetes and possibly for any disease which can be helped with exercise. This should be a rich area for future research.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

“Meditation is a way of relaxing the mind through techniques such as focusing and controlled breathing. People meditate to reduce stress and relieve a variety of physical ailments. Recent research showed meditation can also help people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels.” – ADW Diabetes

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Gainey A, Himathongkam T, Tanaka H, Suksom D. Effects of Buddhist walking meditation on glycemic control and vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes. Complement Ther Med. 2016 Jun;26:92-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2016.03.009. Epub 2016 Mar 10.

 

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and compare the effects of Buddhist walking meditation and traditional walking on glycemic control and vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

METHODS: Twenty three patients with type 2 diabetes (50-75 years) were randomly allocated into traditional walking exercise (WE; n=11) or Buddhism-based walking meditation exercise (WM; n=12). Both groups performed a 12-week exercise program that consisted of walking on the treadmill at exercise intensity of 50-70% maximum heart rate for 30min/session, 3 times/week. In the WM training program, the participants performed walking on the treadmill while concentrated on foot stepping by voiced “Budd” and “Dha” with each foot step that contacted the floor to practice mindfulness while walking.

RESULTS: After 12 weeks, maximal oxygen consumption increased and fasting blood glucose level decreased significantly in both groups (p<0.05). Significant decrease in HbA1c and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were observed only in the WM group. Flow-mediated dilatation increased significantly (p<0.05) in both exercise groups but arterial stiffness was improved only in the WM group. Blood cortisol level was reduced (p<0.05) only in the WM group.

CONCLUSION: Buddhist walking meditation exercise produced a multitude of favorable effects, often superior to traditional walking program, in patients with type 2 diabetes.

 

ACT for Chronic Pain

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“meditation practice is the best ongoing foundation for working with pain: Mindfulness practice is a wonderful opportunity to do just that. It helps to shift the locus of control from the outside (“this is happening to me and there is nothing I can do about it”) to the inside (“this is happening to me but I can choose how I relate to it”).” – Christiane Wolf

 

We all have to deal with pain. It’s inevitable, but hopefully mild and short lived. But, for a wide swath of humanity pain is a constant in their lives. At least 100 million adult Americans have chronic pain conditions. Chronic pain accompanies a number of conditions. The most common form of chronic pain is low back pain affecting between 6% to 15% of the population. Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease that is the most common form of arthritis. It produces pain, swelling, and stiffness of the joints. In the U.S., osteoarthritis affects 14% of adults over 25 years of age and 34% of those over 65. Fibromyalgia is a mysterious disorder whose causes are unknown. It is characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance, and fatigue that lead to psychological distress. It is very common affecting over 5 million people in the U.S., about 2% of the population.

 

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 reduce stress responses and anxiety, and 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.

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been shown to be effective in treating a number of physical and psychological disorders. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a mindfulness based psychotherapy technique that focuses on the individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior and how they interact to impact their psychological and physical well-being. ACT employs mindfulness practices to increase awareness and develop an attitude of acceptance and compassion in the presence of painful thoughts and feelings. Additionally, it teaches individuals to “just notice”, accept and embrace private experiences and focus on behavioral responses that produce more desirable outcomes.

 

In today’s Research News article “Acceptance as a Mediator for Change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Persons with Chronic Pain?” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1274906459199944/?type=3&theater

or below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4748004/

Cederberg and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the treatment of chronic pain and to identify potential intermediaries; factors that are altered by ACT that are responsible for improved pain tolerance. They randomly assigned chronic pain patients to either receive ACT or relaxation therapy targeted to pain. The patients were measured before after treatment and again 6 and 12 months later for acceptance of chronic pain, pain intensity, satisfaction with life, physical functioning, anxiety, and depression.

 

They found that the patients receiving ACT had significant improvements in of acceptance of chronic pain, pain intensity, satisfaction with life, and physical functioning, while the relaxation group did not. Both groups showed reductions in anxiety, and depression. These effects were for the most part still present 12 months after the completion of treatment. They performed a sophisticated statistical analysis to identify whether the effects of ACT on acceptance, anxiety, or depression were responsible for the effects on physical functioning and satisfaction with life. They found that acceptance of pain was responsible for ACT’s effects on physical functioning, but not satisfaction with life.

 

These results are exciting and important demonstrating a mindfulness based treatment, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), is effective in improving the ability of chronic pain patients to function and their satisfaction with life, and reducing their pain, anxiety, and depression. They further demonstrate that acceptance of pain is the important variable underlying the improvement in physical functioning. This underlines the importance of acceptance which is a predominant component of ACT. These results strongly suggest that ACT is an excellent, long-lasting, and safe treatment for people suffering with chronic pain.

 

So, ACT for chronic pain

 

“This perspective provides a new way to relate to distressing thoughts and emotions so they can be accepted as natural rather than avoided.  In a similar way, patients are encouraged to re-engage in previously avoided valued activities10.  Importantly, a therapeutic focus on strategies that reduce avoidance through increased acceptance have proved useful for people with chronic pain.” – Michael Hogan

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Cederberg, J. T., Cernvall, M., Dahl, J., von Essen, L., & Ljungman, G. (2016). Acceptance as a Mediator for Change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Persons with Chronic Pain? International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 21–29. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-015-9494-y

 

Abstract

Background: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is considered effective for chronic pain, but little is known about active treatment components. Although acceptance correlates with better health outcomes in chronic pain patients, no study has examined its mediating effect in an experimental design.

Purpose: The aim of the present study is to investigate acceptance as a mediator in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a third wave CBT intervention, for chronic pain.

Method: A bootstrapped cross product of coefficients approach was used on data from a previously published RCT evaluating ACT for chronic pain. To address the specificity of acceptance as a mediator, anxiety and depression were also tested as mediators. Outcome variables were satisfaction with life and physical functioning. Two change scores, pre-assessment to 6-month follow-up (n = 53) and pre-assessment to 12-month follow-up (n = 32), were used.

Results: Acceptance was found to mediate the effect of treatment on change in physical functioning from pre-assessment to follow-up at 6 months. Further, a trend was shown from pre-assessment to follow-up at 12 months. No indirect effect of treatment via acceptance was found for change in satisfaction with life.

Conclusion: This study adds to a small but growing body of research using mediation analysis to investigate mediating factors in the treatment of chronic pain. In summary, the results suggest that acceptance may have a mediating effect on change in physical functioning in ACT for persons with chronic pain. However, given the small sample size of the study, these findings need to be replicated.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4748004/

 

Improve Psychological Well Being with Commitment to Yoga Practice

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“A common factor in the healing effect of yoga for all of these issues is its ability to develop increased awareness of the body and its inner sensations- called “interoception”–which is central to emotion awareness and emotion regulation and to self-regulation in general.” – Frank Schwoeri

 

Therapists have known for years that in order for therapy to be effective, the client must be committed to the therapy. In fact, many argue that fees are necessary in order to insure that the individual is fully committed to the therapeutic process. Yoga practice has been shown to be beneficial for the physical, psychological, spiritual, and medical health of the individual and has been suggested to be a therapy for deficiencies in these realms. It would seem reasonable, then, to hypothesize that the effectiveness of yoga practice would be related to the degree of commitment that the individual has to the practice.

 

In today’s Research News article “The relationship between yoga involvement, mindfulness and psychological well-being.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1274178485939408/?type=3&theater

or below, Gaiswinkler and Unterrainer performed an on-line recruitment of yoga practitioners and a comparison group of practitioners of a variety of gym based exercises including aerobics, pilates, etc. They measured mindfulness, psychiatric symptoms, and spiritual well-beingThey also measured yoga immersion with a 10-question scale containing questions like “The wisdom of yoga affects my way of seeing things in everyday life” or “By practicing yoga I can concentrate better.”

 

They found, not surprisingly, that yoga immersion was highly related to the duration and frequency of yoga practice. In addition, the higher the yoga immersion the higher the scores on mindfulness, and spiritual well-being and the lower the scores on psychiatric symptoms. Comparing the yoga practitioners at different levels of immersion to the control exercise group revealed that the highly immersed yoga practitioners were significantly higher in mindfulness and spiritual well-being, including forgiveness, hope, meaning, and connectedness. They were also significantly lower in psychiatric symptoms including depression, anxiety, and somatization (bodily symptoms).

 

These results suggest that commitment to yoga is important for the psychological and spiritual well-being of the practitioner. It should be kept in mind, however, that the study was correlational which does not allow for a causal conclusion. It is possible that the types of people who become committed to yoga practice are also the people who have high levels of psychological and spiritual well-being, or that being psychologically and spiritually healthy allows the individual to deeply immerse themselves in yoga practice. In addition, since immersion in yoga was highly correlated with the amount of practice, the significant variable might have been the amount of practice and not the commitment. After all, it would be expected that the more the individual practiced the greater the effectiveness of the practice. It should also be noted that the control, exercise, group were not similarly measured for commitment to their exercise. So, it was not possible to determine if commitment per se was important or that it was specific to yoga practice. Hence, the results are promising, but further research is necessary to elucidate the nature of the connection of immersion in yoga to its benefits.

 

“Yoga is thought of by many as a way of life. It is practiced not only for stress management but also for good physical and mental health and to live in a more meaningful way. Yoga is a system of healing and self-transformation based in wholeness and unity. The word yoga itself means to “yoke” — to bring together. It aims to integrate the diverse processes with which we understand the world and ourselves. It touches the physical, psychological, spiritual, and mental realms that we inhabit. Yoga recognizes that without integration of these, spiritual freedom and awareness, or what the yogis call “liberation,” cannot occur.” – Mahjabeen Hassan

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Gaiswinkler L, Unterrainer HF. The relationship between yoga involvement, mindfulness and psychological well-being. Complement Ther Med. 2016 Jun;26:123-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2016.03.011. Epub 2016 Mar 17.

 

Highlights

  • Newly developed Yoga Immersion scale reliably measures the amount of yoga involvement.
  • Individuals highly involved in yoga practice exhibit reduced mood pathology.
  • Enhanced yoga involvement is linked with increased mindfulness and spirituality.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine how different levels of yoga involvement are related to different parameters of mental health and illness.

Design and setting: A total sample of 455 participants (410 females) were investigated by means of an internet survey. 362 yoga practitioners (327 females) rated their degree of yoga involvement on the Yoga Immersion Scale. A control group was comprised of 93 gymnastics practitioners (83 females).

Main outcome measures: All participants completed the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being, the Freiburger Mindfulness Inventory and the Brief Symptom Inventory for psychiatric symptoms.

Results: Highly involved yoga practitioners exhibited a significantly increased amount of mindfulness and religious/spiritual well-being (both p < 0.01) and lower psychiatric symptoms such as depression (p < 0.01) compared to those who were only marginally/moderately yoga-involved or who were in the gymnastics control group.

Conclusions: In accordance with the literature, yoga practice might have its biggest impact on mental health when it is part of a practitioner’s worldview. Further research focusing on the impact of yoga involvement in clinical groups is encouraged.

 

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Beaches

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“It’s hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much. Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy…Beach Therapy.” – Amy Dykens

 

“At the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.” – Anonymous
What is the great attraction of going to the beach. On the surface it appears to be actually an uncomfortable activity as reflected by Erma Bombeck “On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings.” But, nevertheless it’s still amazingly popular with 23% of Americans going to the beach each year and 33% indicating that they would select the beach if they had only one place to go on vacation.

Why are beaches such a hugely popular destination? Obviously, the opportunity for recreation such as swimming, snorkeling, sailing, surfing, etc. adds to its popularity. But, let’s take a look from a different perspective. In analyzing the nature of beaches we can see that they are an interface of between the three states of matter; solid, liquid, and gaseous, with rocks and sand, water, and air meeting. At the beach all of these states of matter interact and are interdependent. The wind blowing over the water creates the waves while the structure of the solids creates surfaces to initiate and absorb the waves breaking. All of this is driven by the sun’s energy and the moon’s gravitational pull. So at a beach we are immersed with the interconnected interplay of matter and energy. The wind and water pulse at levels that are dependent on the intensity of the forces at work. In addition, we can become part of that interaction and play in the surf where the power of these vast forces is on display but at manageable levels.

 

But why is there such an attraction to the beach? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that human beings also display the three states of matter in interdependence and interaction. The liquid surges with the heartbeat, the air pumps in and out in rhythm, both driven by the solids of heart and lung which are in turn powered by the suns energy in the form of food, combining solids, liquids, and gases. So, the human physically is to some extent a replica of a beach. Hence, we feel a kinship and attraction to the beach. We sense that the beach is alive like ourselves and we are attracted to that aliveness, to that pulsating replica of our physical nature.

 

The human, however, is more than just solid, liquid, and gas. The human also has an awareness, an experiencing entity, a watcher, that registers components of the internal and external environments. But, even though only the ever changing sensations of the present moment are being registered the mind attempts to hold onto everything. It does so by labelling and classifying, placing it into memory and comparing to prior experiences. It creates a sense of permanence that defies reality. Our perceptual systems in the brain are designed to produce an experience of constancy even though the actual sensory information is changing. Hence, our experience of that world as presented in the mind appears relatively permanent and unchanging.

 

But, this is not what is really going on. Our minds have produced an illusion. The truth is that everything is impermanent and constantly changing, arising, and falling away. Buddhism teaches that denying impermanence and attempting to hold onto things inevitably leads to suffering. To relieve that suffering we must accept the impermanence of everything, we must let all experiences be as they are, we must not grasp or attempt to hold onto them. As a result our grasping at permanence produces a deep feeling of unsatisfactoriness. We walk through life with this queasy feeling that something is just not right.

 

What we experience on the beach does not match up well to the relative permanence of things that our mind is producing. On the beach, impermanence is on display with ever changing movement and interplay. On the beach the wind, the waves, and even the sand itself is in perpetual motion, rising up and falling away. So, the beach is a far better match to what is true and what our awareness experiences and not the minds created illusions. We love the beach because of its synchrony with actual aware experience, unveiling the true nature of existence.

 

We can feel the beach’s authenticity and synchrony with our true nature. We are one with existence at the beach. As a result unsatisfactoriness and suffering melt away as we immerse in an honest replica of the reality of our existence. It is no wonder that a visit to the beach is so desired and so satisfying. This all happens unconsciously, of course, for most. We don’t actually see or understand this. Rather we intuitively feel it, and it feels very, very good.

 

So, visit the beach and experience the truth of existence.

 

“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.” – Rainer Maria
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

Relax with Slower Breathing with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“We often assume breathing is just a natural skill; everyone knows how to inhale and exhale. But breathing is a miracle. Being aware of our breath not only helps us manage the difficulties in everyday life, it also helps develop our wisdom and compassion. We can sit and breathe, but it is just as important to practice mindful breathing while we are moving. Life is a path, but life is not about getting to a certain place.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Breathing is essential for life and generally occurs automatically. It’s easy to take for granted as it’s been there our entire lives. Nevertheless, we become more aware of it when it varies with circumstances, such as when we exercise and also in emotional states, especially fear and anxiety. But we rarely notice it during everyday ongoing life. Yet, its characteristics are associated with our state of well-being. Slow deep breathing is characteristic of a healthy relaxed state.

 

Meditators have been trained to pay attention to and even focus on breathing. Meditation produces a relaxed state and during meditation, respiration slows and deepens. Meditation also, promotes health and well-being. All this would predict that meditation practice would result in slower deeper breathing in the individual even when they are not meditating. In today’s Research News article “Long-term mindfulness training is associated with reliable differences in resting respiration rate.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1272710419419548/?type=3&theater

or below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895172/

Wielgosz and colleagues examine this question. They compared the resting respiration rates of long-term meditators to a matched group of non-meditators and found that the meditators had significantly lower respiration rates (11%) than the controls. They further explored the lower respiration rates in meditators and found that it was significantly related to the total number of hours that these practitioners had spent on meditation retreats and not to the hours spent in daily practice.

 

These are interesting results that suggest that long-term meditation practice that includes meditation retreats is associated with lower respiration rates. These lower rates, in turn, suggest that there was an improvement in the overall well-being of the practitioners. Meditation retreats allow for extended periods of calm and quiet that are unavailable during everyday life with all its demands and stressors. It is possible that these extended periods are necessary to have an overall sustained reduction in respiration rates and the suggested improvement in overall well-being. This clearly suggests that including retreats in a meditation practice is very important.

 

It needs to be kept in mind that causation cannot be determined in this study. It is possible that people who engage in long-term meditation and attend meditation retreats are characteristically calmer people who had lower respiration rates even before initiating meditation practice. It will require a study where baselines are established before a meditation practice is commenced and then randomly assigning volunteers to either meditation practice with or without retreats or to a no-meditation condition.

 

Regardless, relax with slower breathing with meditation.

 

“Our breathing is a stable solid ground that we can take refuge in. Regardless of our internal weather- our thoughts, emotions and perceptions- our breathing is always with us like a faithful friend. Whenever we feel carried away, or sunken in a deep emotion, or scattered in worries and projects, we return to our breathing to collect and anchor our mind.” – Plum Village

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Wielgosz, J., Schuyler, B. S., Lutz, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2016). Long-term mindfulness training is associated with reliable differences in resting respiration rate. Scientific Reports, 6, 27533. http://doi.org/10.1038/srep27533

 

Abstract

Respiration rate is known to correlate with aspects of psychological well-being, and attention to respiration is a central component of mindfulness meditation training. Both traditional contemplative systems and recent empirical evidence support an association between formal mindfulness practice and decreased respiration rate. However, the question of whether long-term mindfulness training is associated with stable, generalized changes in respiration has yet to be directly investigated. We analyzed respiration patterns across multiple time points, separated by two months or more, in a group of long-term mindfulness meditation practitioners (LTMs, n = 31) and a matched group of non-meditators (Controls, n = 38). On average, LTMs showed slower baseline respiration rate (RR) than Controls. Among LTMs, greater practice experience was associated with slower RR, independently of age and gender. Furthermore, this association was specific to intensive retreat practice, and was not seen for routine daily practice. Full days of meditation practice did not produce detectable changes in baseline RR, suggesting distal rather than immediate effects. All effects were independent of physiological characteristics including height, weight, body-mass index and waist-hip ratio. We discuss implications for continued study of the long-term effects of mindfulness training on health and well-being.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895172/

 

Improve Thought Process in Addiction Recovery with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“First of all, though it may seem paradoxical, by increasing your ability to accept and tolerate the present moment, you become more able to make needed changes in your life. This is due to your learning to deal with uncomfortable feelings that might accompany modified behaviors, rather than reacting on automatic pilot. Also, practicing balanced emotional responses can reduce your stress level, and anxiety and stress are often triggers for substance abuse and addictive behavior. In addition, when you choose a neutral rather than a judgmental response to your thoughts and feelings, you can increase your sense of self-compassion rather than beating yourself up, which is often associated with addictive behaviors.” – Rachel Fintzy

 

We typically think of drug abuse as being focused on a single substance, e.g. cocaine, alcohol, opiates, etc. Many addicts, however, abuse multiple drugs, obtaining whatever is least expensive and most easily available. Some addicts combine drugs to produce a more intense high. This is called polysubstance abuse and is defined as the use at least three different classes of addictive substances over a 12-month period, without forming a preference for any single drug that qualifies for dependence on its own. Polysubstance abuse is often accompanied with significant psychological problems and it is associated with impairments in thought processes (executive functions).

 

Illicit drug use is quite common with an estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older—9.4 percent of the population—having used an illicit drug in the past month. It is increasing as over the last 10 years it has increased from 8.3%. It is estimated that around 42% of substance abusers are polysubstance abusers. So, polysubstance abuse is a major problem affecting around 4% of the U.S. population.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective in treatment for substance abuse, helping to reduce relapse. Recently, a combination of goal management and mindfulness training has been shown to be helpful in recovery from polysubstance abuse. In today’s Research News article “Goal Management Training and Mindfulness Meditation improves executive functions and transfers to ecological tasks of daily life in polysubstance users enrolled in therapeutic community treatment.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1271975576159699/?type=3&theater

or below, Valls-Serrano and colleagues delved a little deeper into the effects of this combined treatment on the thought processes (executive function) of polysubstance abusers. They recruited polysubstance abusers and randomly assigned them to receive the combination of goal management and mindfulness meditation training or to a treatment as usual control condition. Treatment occurred over 8 weeks with one goal management and one mindfulness meditation training session per week. Measurements were taken before and after treatment of perceived stress and a series of “laboratory tasks of basic and complex executive functions (i.e., basic: working memory and inhibition; complex: planning and self-regulation) and in an ecological task of goal-directed behavior.”

 

They found that the combined training produced a significant reduction in perceived stress and improvements in executive functions, including working memory, reflection/impulsivity decision making, and real world planning. The reduction in stress would be expected as mindfulness training has been repeatedly demonstrated to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. Mindfulness training has also been shown to improve memory and cognitive function and reduce impulsivity. The importance of the present study is to demonstrate that these improvements occur with polysubstance abusers in treatment. This suggests that the treatment improves their thinking and planning ability. Importantly, improvements in these areas, particularly in working memory and impulsivity, have been shown to be highly related to successful abstinence from drugs.

 

These are encouraging results and suggest that polysubstance abuse is amenable to treatment with a combination of goal management and mindfulness meditation training which improves both executive function and perceived stress, which in turn improves the likelihood of successful treatment outcomes.

 

So, improve thought process in addiction recovery with mindfulness.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

“There’s a shift in the individual’s relationship to discomfort. Let’s say someone is feeling depressed, or sad, lonely or bored — something that tends to trigger craving and then substance use. These practices are teaching people to notice that arising, and to relate to that differently.“ –  Sarah Bowen

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Valls-Serrano C, Caracuel A, Verdejo-Garcia A. Goal Management Training and Mindfulness Meditation improves executive functions and transfers to ecological tasks of daily life in polysubstance users enrolled in therapeutic community treatment. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 May 20. pii: S0376-8716(16)30115-6. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.04.040. [Epub ahead of print]

 

Highlights

  • Goal Management Training + MindfulnessMeditationimproves working memory and reflection-impulsivity in polysubstance users in therapeutic community treatment.
  • Executive functiongains transfer to daily activities measured by an ecological task.
  • The training was also associated with reduction of stress levels.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that Goal Management Training+Mindfulness Meditation (GMT+MM) improves executive functions in polysubstance users enrolled in outpatient treatment. The aim of this study was to establish if GMT+MM has similar positive effects on executive functions in polysubstance users in residential treatment, and if executive functions’ gains transfer to more ecologically valid goal-oriented tasks.

METHODS: Thirty-two polysbustance users were randomly allocated to eight weeks of GMT+MM (n=16) or control, i.e., no-intervention (n=16); both groups received treatment as usual. Outcome measures included performance in laboratory tasks of basic and complex executive functions (i.e., basic: working memory and inhibition; complex: planning and self-regulation) and in an ecological task of goal-directed behavior (the Multiple Errands Test – contextualized version, MET-CV) measured post-interventions.

RESULTS: Results showed that GMT+MM was superior to control in improving basic measures of working memory (Letter-number sequencing; F=4.516, p=0.049) and reflection impulsivity (Information Sampling Test; F=6.217, p=0.018), along with initial thinking times during planning (Zoo Map Test; F=8.143, p=0.008). In addition, GMT+MM was superior to control in improving performance in the MET-CV (task failures; F=8.485, p=0.007).

CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that GMT+MM increases reflective processes and the achievement of goals in daily activities, furthermore ecological test can detects changes easily than laboratory tasks.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.shsu.edu/science/article/pii/S0376871616301156

 

Recover from Sexual Abuse with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Our unwanted and self-destructive habits often were formed as children to help us survive. Childhood abuse, whether physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, or the covert traumas of neglect, oppression, and isolation, demands that if the child is to survive, she must create coping skills to deal with the abuse and the inherent messages about who she is. Mindfulness offers the possibility of relating differently to what’s already here by understanding that there’s nothing to get rid of and everything to accept.” – Char Wilkins

 

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a horrific crime. The trauma created in the victim changes them forever. It changes the trusting innocence of childhood to a confused, guilt ridden, frightening, and traumatized existence. It not only produces short-term trauma which includes both psychological and physical injury, it has long-term consequences. It damages the victim’s self-esteem and creates difficulties entering into intimate relationship in adulthood. It can create post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) complete with painful flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Victims often experience depression and sometimes become suicidal. It is a heinous crime that haunts the victims for the rest of their lives.

 

Unfortunately, childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is shockingly common. It is estimated that 20% of girls and 10% of boys have experienced childhood sexual abuse and half of these were forcefully assaulted. Children between the ages of 7 and 13 are the most vulnerable but abuse is also prevalent in adolescence with 16% of children between 14 to 17 having been sexually victimized. Compounding the problem disclosure of sexual abuse is often delayed; children often avoid telling because they are either afraid of a negative reaction from their parents or of being harmed by the abuser. As such, they often delay disclosure until adulthood. This makes it unlikely that they’ll seek help and instead suffer in silence.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective in treating victims of trauma and PTSD. So, it would make sense that mindfulness training may be helpful for the treatment of adult CSA survivors. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness Intervention for Child Abuse Survivors: A 2.5-Year Follow-Up.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1271288269561763/?type=3&theater

or below, Earley and colleagues performed a long-term (2.5 year) follow-up of adult survivors of CSA who had received treatment with an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. MBSR involves meditation, body scan, and yoga practices. In the original study participants reported significant decreases in levels of depression, PTSD symptoms, and anxiety at treatment’s end (8 weeks), and at follow-up (24 weeks). In the present study, the participants from this original study were invited back and re-measured two and a half years after the completion of the original study.

 

Earley and colleagues found that the decreases in depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms and the increases in mindfulness were sustained. Improvements in PTSD symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance/numbing/, and hyperarousal were all sustained. Hence, MBSR treatment produced significant improvements in the psychological health of the CSA survivors and these benefits were still present 2.5 years later. It is very unusual for a research study to be followed up this long after completion. But, it is very important. It demonstrates that treatment effects are are not fleeting. These results conclusively demonstrate that the benefits of MBSR treatment for CSA survivors are very long lasting.

 

Mindfulness training is known to improve all of the key symptoms of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) including depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and PTSD symptoms. It may do so by improving emotion regulation allowing the survivors to honestly feel their emotions but respond to them in an adaptive way. It may also do so by focusing the individual on the present moment and thereby reducing the rumination about the past that is so characteristic of CSA survivors. Regardless of the mechanism, the fact that the symptom relief is so long lasting supports use of MBSR training to treat adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

 

So, get over sexual abuse with mindfulness.

 

“Each person’s healing journey, while it will partake of some common elements, will be unique. For professionals, it’s important not to force survivors into a practice that might not work for them. For survivors, it’s important to not get discouraged if we don’t find the right practice at first. There are endless ways to practice being mindful and, sooner or later, something will resonate.” – Christopher Anderson

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Earley, M. D., Chesney, M. A., Frye, J., Greene, P. A., Berman, B., & Kimbrough, E. (2014). Mindfulness Intervention for Child Abuse Survivors: A 2.5-Year Follow-Up. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 70(10), 933-941. doi:10.1002/jclp.22102.

 

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The present study reports on the long-term effects of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

METHOD: Of the study participants, 73% returned to the clinic for a single-session follow-up assessment of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and mindfulness at 2.5 years.

RESULTS: Repeated measures mixed regression analyses revealed significant long-term improvements in depression, PTSD, anxiety symptoms, and mindfulness scores. The magnitude of intervention effects at 128 weeks ranged from d = .5 to d = 1.1.

CONCLUSION: MBSR may be an effective long-term treatment for adults who have experienced childhood sexual abuse. Further investigation of MBSR with this population is warranted given the durability of treatment effects described here.

Reduce Inflammation and Depression with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is a valuable practice for improving the cognitive symptoms of depression, such as distorted thinking and distractibility. It helps individuals recognize these more subtle symptoms, realize that thoughts are not facts and refocus their attention to the present.” –  Margarita Tartakovsky

 

Major depression is one of the most common mental disorders. In 2014, an estimated 15.7 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. This number represented 6.7% of all adults. In addition, major depression carries the heaviest burden of disability among mental and behavioral disorders. It is most frequently treated with anti-depressive drugs. But, these frequently do not work or lose effectiveness over time and have many troublesome side effects. So, there is a need for better treatment methods.

 

Depression has been linked to chronic inflammation. Patients with major depressive disorder exhibit all of the cardinal features of an inflammatory response, including increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and their receptors. In addition, administration of inflammatory cytokines to otherwise non-depressed individuals cause symptoms of depression. This suggests that chronic inflammation may be a contributing factor to the development, promotion, or maintenance of depression.

 

Mindfulness practice has been shown to be effective in the treatment of chronic depression. It has also been shown to reduce inflammation and the inflammatory cytokines. So, it would make sense to study the relationship of mindfulness training to depression and the inflammatory response in depressed individuals. In today’s Research News article “Brief Mindfulness Training Reduces Salivary IL-6 and TNF-α in Young Women with Depressive Symptomatology.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1270480726309184/?type=3&theater

or below,

Walsh and colleagues do just that. They recruited female college students who had mild to moderate depression and assigned them to either a mindfulness training group or a contact control group. Mindfulness training was modelled after a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program and included meditation, body scan, and yoga, but the program was conducted over only 4 weeks rather than the customary 8 weeks. The contact control group met in a group on a similar schedule but simple filled out questionnaires. The participants were measured for salivary inflammatory cytokine levels, depression, and other mental issues both before and training and 3 months later.

 

They found that mindfulness training decreased the levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α between 59% to 76% and this decrease was maintained at the 3 month follow up. There was also a significant decrease in depression but this was true for both the mindfulness and contact groups. The higher the levels of baseline depression the greater the effect of mindfulness training on reducing inflammatory cytokines. These results suggest that mindfulness training is effective in reducing the inflammatory response and that the more depressed the individual is the greater the benefit.

 

These are exciting findings. They suggest that mindfulness training reduces chronic inflammation in depressed women. The fact that the depression levels were low to start with may have produced a floor effect making it impossible to detect a benefit of mindfulness training on the levels of depression. This prohibits and analysis of the relationship of the reduction in the inflammatory cytokines to the reduction in depression. But, the results are suggestive of a potential effect in that the most depressed women showed the greatest reductions in the inflammatory response. It will require further work with women exhibiting higher levels of depression and perhaps with a longer treatment period to conclusively demonstrate whether there’s a causal connection between the two.

 

Mindfulness training has a number of known effects that may underlie its ability to reduce depression and inflammation. In particular mindfulness training has been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. This decreased stress response may be responsible for the reduction in inflammation. In addition, mindfulness training is known to improve focus on the present moment and thereby reduce rumination about the past or worry about the future, both of which are characteristic of depression. This may well underlie the ability of mindfulness training to reduce depression.

 

So, reduce inflammation and depression with mindfulness.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

“Everyone can benefit from mindfulness meditation, but some can more than others.  There are no negative side effects of mindfulness, and there are the positive benefits of stress reduction and relaxation.  Reducing inflammation and boosting immune health can help fight a broad range of ailments, from a stubbed toe to chronic inflammatory conditions.” – Amanda Page

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Walsh, E., Eisenlohr-Moul, T., & Baer, R. (2016). Brief Mindfulness Training Reduces Salivary IL-6 and TNF-α in Young Women with Depressive Symptomatology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, doi:10.1037/ccp0000122

 

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Pro-inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in the pathophysiology and maintenance of depression. This study investigated the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention on salivary pro-inflammatory correlates of depression (IL-6, TNF-α) and self-reported symptoms of depression in college women.

METHODS: Sixty-four females with a cut score of ≥16 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies for Depression Scale (CES-D) were assigned to a 4-week mindfulness-based intervention (MBI; N = 31) or a contact-control group (N = 33). For both groups, salivary cytokines and depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and posttreatment. For the mindfulness group only, salivary cytokines were also assessed at a 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS: Both groups showed similar reductions in depression. However, MBI (vs. control) predicted greater reductions in IL-6 and TNF-α; changes in IL-6 were sustained at 3-month follow-up. Higher baseline depressive symptoms predicted greater reductions in inflammation in the mindfulness group.

CONCLUSION: MBIs may reduce inflammatory immune markers commonly implicated in depression. Individuals with greater depressive symptoms may benefit more from mindfulness training. Although reductions in salivary cytokines in the mindfulness condition were not attributable to changes in depressive symptoms, future work should examine the possibility that such reductions are protective against the development of future depressive episodes.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.shsu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=911f511a-9143-4771-8f7c-e876dcfe165f%40sessionmgr4005&hid=4208

 

Lower Aggression in Substance Abusers with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“When we practice mindfulness we practice responding to our experience with a non-reactive, non-judgmental attitude. This helps us maintain autonomy over our behavior. We may not have control over whether a craving for a drug arises, but we can control how we respond to such a craving. The irony is that when we practice simply observing the craving; letting it arise and letting it pass away (rather than actively trying to push it away or avoid it), we are left with more of an ability to regulate ourselves.” – Center for Adolescent Studies

 

Drug and alcohol abuse are highly related to aggressive behavior. Alcohol abuse has been found in 50%-72% of convicted rapists, 50% of incestuous offenders, 40%-83% of wife abusers and perpetrators of family violence, 29% of individuals with a history of injurious violent acts, 48-56% of individuals with a history of violent acts at home, 36%-83% of imprisoned murderers, 61% of adolescents convicted of homicides, and 33% of convicted felons. Other drugs are less problematic except that the difficulties in supporting an expensive habit can lead to violence and aggression. Obviously, treatment for drug abuse and the consequent violence and aggression is important both for the individual and for society in general.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective in drug abuse treatment. It has also been shown to lower aggression and to reduce maladaptive responses to emotions and anger. In addition, it has been shown to be inversely associated with aggression and violence in women entering treatment for substance abuse such that the higher the level of mindfulness the lower the levels of violence and aggression. But men are more violent and aggressive than women. In fact, approximately 75% of all violent crimes are committed by men. So, the relationship between mindfulness and aggression that is observed in women may be different in men.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Relation Between Trait Mindfulness and Aggression in Men Seeking Residential Substance Use Treatment.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1269818923042031/?type=3&theater

or below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4363039/

Shorey and colleagues address the question of mindfulness’ relationship to aggression in men entering substance abuse treatment. They recruited adult males in residential substance abuse treatment facilities and measured mindfulness, aggression, and alcohol and drug use. They found, as expected, that the higher the levels of drug and alcohol abuse the higher the levels of aggression. They also found that the higher the level of mindfulness the lower the levels of overall aggression, aggressive attitude, verbal and physical aggression, and drug and alcohol use.

 

These are interesting and important findings that replicate for men the findings for women that mindfulness is related to lower drug and alcohol use and lower aggression. Since this study was correlative in nature, it cannot be concluded that high mindfulness caused lower drug us and aggression. It could be that lower drug use causes greater mindfulness or that aggressive people and not mindful people. It remains for future research to train substance abusers in mindfulness and measure for a decrease in aggression to determine if indeed mindfulness causes lower aggression in substance abusers. This will be important to demonstrate to establish that mindfulness should be included in therapy for drug abuse.

 

These results fit with the general findings that mindfulness improves the individual’s ability to regulate emotions, to be able to fully feel emotions yet act more adaptively. So, the mindful individual would be much less likely to respond to anger with aggression and violence. In addition, by focusing attention and thoughts in the present moment, the mindful individual would be less likely to ruminate about others past offenses, making it less likely that they would respond in a vengeful way toward them. Hence, since violence and aggression is so prevalent in substance abusers and mindfulness acts in opposition to aggression, mindfulness training should be considered for inclusion in drug abuse treatment.

 

So, lower aggression in substance abusers with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness also helps people learn to relate to discomfort differently. When an uncomfortable feeling like a craving or anxiety arises, people like Sophia are able to recognize their discomfort, and observe it with presence and compassion, instead of automatically reaching for a drug to make it go away.” – Sarah Bowen

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Shorey, R. C., Anderson, S., & Stuart, G. L. (2015). The Relation Between Trait Mindfulness and Aggression in Men Seeking Residential Substance Use Treatment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(10), 1633–1650. http://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514548586

 

Abstract

There has been an abundance of research in recent years on mindfulness, including mindfulness within individuals seeking substance use treatment. However, to date, there has been no research on whether trait mindfulness is associated with increased aggression among individuals seeking substance use treatment. Past research has demonstrated that individuals in substance use treatment evidence higher levels of aggression than non-substance abusers, and preliminary research has shown that trait mindfulness is inversely associated with aggression in non-substance-use treatment-seeking populations. The current study examined whether trait mindfulness was associated with aggression among men seeking residential substance use treatment (N = 116). Results demonstrated that lower trait mindfulness was associated with increased aggression (physical, verbal, and aggressive attitude). Moreover, this relation held for both verbal aggression and aggressive attitude after controlling for alcohol use, drug use, and age, all known predictors of aggression. Findings provide the first evidence that mindfulness is negatively associated with aggression among men in substance use treatment, which could have important implications for intervention. That is, mindfulness-based interventions may prove helpful for the treatment of both substance use and aggression.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4363039/