Month: July 2022

Mindfulness is Associated with Better Medical Students School Performance

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Mindfulness is Associated with Better Medical Students School Performance

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“in medical students . . . mindfulness meditation may be used to elicit positive emotions, minimize negative affect and rumination, and enable effective emotion regulation.” –  Michael Minichiello

 

Medical School is challenging both intellectually and psychologically. Stress levels are high, and burnout is common. It’s been estimated that 63% of medical students experience negative consequences from stress while symptoms of severe stress were present in 25% of students. High stress levels lead to lower performance in medical school and higher levels of physical and mental health problems, especially anxiety and depression. Indeed 50% of medical students report burnout and 11% have considered suicide in the last year.

 

Obviously, there is a need to either lower stress levels in medical education or find methods to assist medical students in dealing with the stress. One promising possibility is mindfulness training. It has been shown to reduce stress in students, to help with the negative consequences of stress and to reduce burnout in medical professionals. So, it would seem reasonable to suspect that mindfulness would be helpful in assisting medical students cope with the stress of their training.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness practice correlates with reduced exam-induced stress and improved exam performance in preclinical medical students with the “acting with awareness”, “non-judging” and “non-reacting” facets of mindfulness particularly associated with improved exam performance.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8864822/ ) Hearn and Stocker recruited undergraduate medical students at the end of their 2nd year of study and measured them 7 days before and immediately before their end-of-year examinations for salivary cortisol levels, perceived stress, mindfulness, and exam performance.

 

They found that just prior to the exams there were, not surprisingly, significant increases in perceived stress and salivary cortisol levels. The greater the increase in salivary cortisol levels the poorer the performance on the exams. In addition, the greater the students’ levels of mindfulness, including the acting with awareness, non-judging, and non-reactivity facet scores, the better the exam performance and the smaller the.increase in salivary cortisol.

 

These findings are correlative. So, causation cannot be determined. But these results suggest that mindfulness is associated with smaller physiological responses to stress and better grades.

 

Hence, the more mindful the students were the better their academic performance.

 

“We all have a need to know ourselves better and to understand our place in the world. That’s the fundamental motivation  for students to not only think of medical training as learning a set of facts and procedures but also paying attention to their evolving relationship to the work that they do. The meaning they derive from that work, and their connection to it.” – Ronald Epstein

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Hearn, J. H., & Stocker, C. J. (2022). Mindfulness practice correlates with reduced exam-induced stress and improved exam performance in preclinical medical students with the “acting with awareness”, “non-judging” and “non-reacting” facets of mindfulness particularly associated with improved exam performance. BMC psychology, 10(1), 41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00754-3

 

Abstract

Background

Medical students demonstrate higher levels of psychological distress compared with the general population and other student groups, especially at exam times. Mindfulness interventions show promise in stress reduction for this group, and in the reduction of cortisol, an established clinical marker of the body’s stress response. This study investigated the relationship of mindfulness to exam-induced stress, salivary cortisol and exam performance in undergraduate medical students.

Methods

A controlled pre-post analysis design with within-groups comparisons. 67 medical students completed the five facet mindfulness questionnaire (FFMQ) and provided saliva samples, from which cortisol was extracted, during group work (control/baseline) and immediately prior to end of year 2 examinations (experimental). Academic performance data was extracted for comparison with measures.

Results

Exam-induced salivary cortisol concentration showed a significant negative relation with exam performance. Total FFMQ score showed a significant positive relation with exam performance and a significant negative relation with exam-induced salivary cortisol. The specific mindfulness facets of acting with awareness, non-judging and non-reacting also showed a positive correlation with exam performance.

Conclusions

This study suggests that there exists an important relationship between mindfulness and the physiological biomarker of stress, cortisol, and this manifests into improved assessment outcomes potentially through healthier, more adaptive coping and stress management strategies. In particular, this study identifies the acting with awareness, non-judging and non-reacting facets of mindfulness to be significantly associated with exam performance suggesting that these may be important facets for clinical educators to target when helping students with mindfulness practice.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8864822/

 

Meditation and Mind Wandering Alter Brain Network Activity Differently

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Meditation and Mind Wandering Alter Brain Network Activity Differently

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“in addition to altering specific functional connectivity, meditation leads to reconfiguration of whole-brain network architecture.” – Shogo Kajimura

 

There has accumulated a large amount of research demonstrating that meditation practice has significant benefits for psychological, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. One way that meditation practices may produce these benefits is by altering the brain. The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. 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. In other words, meditation practice appears to mold and change the brain structures and connectivity, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits, especially mindfulness.

 

Meditation practice results in a shift in mental processing. It produces a reduction of mind wandering and self-referential thinking and an increase in attention and higher-level thinking. The neural system that underlie mind wandering is termed the Default Mode Network (DMN) and consists in a set of brain structures including medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, lateral temporal cortex and the hippocampus. The neural system that underlies executive functions such as attention and higher-level thinking is termed the Central Executive Network (CEN) and includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and cingulate cortex. The salience network has been shown to direct attention to significant aspects of the environment. Hence the shift in thought process may well be associated with changes in the relationship of these systems.

 

In today’s Research News article “Spectral dynamic causal modeling of mindfulness, mind-wandering, and resting-state in the triple network using fMRI.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8893127/ ) Kim and colleagues recruited healthy adult males and had them pay attention mindfully or allow their minds to wander while having their brains scanned with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

 

They found that during mindfulness the central executive network had enhanced connectivity with the salience network through the default mode network. On the other hand, during mind wandering the default mode network had greater connectivity to the central executive network. This suggests that during mindfulness the neural systems enhanced attention to significant stimuli while during mind wandering the neural systems enhanced attention to internally generated thinking.

 

Hence, the brain’s network activity is different during different mind states.

 

“meditation states in long-term practitioners induced highly specific connectivity patterns of fronto-parietal and medial frontal networks relative to rest. This observation generally indicates that the executive processes of attentional control and cognitive monitoring have a specific role in supporting brain states of meditation.” – Juliana Yordanova

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Kim, H. C., & Lee, J. H. (2022). Spectral dynamic causal modeling of mindfulness, mind-wandering, and resting-state in the triple network using fMRI. Neuroreport, 33(5), 221–226. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000001772

 

Objective

Functional connectivity in intrinsic brain networks, namely, the triple network, which includes the salience network, default mode network (DMN) and central executive network (CEN), has been suggested as prominent, major networks involved in human cognition and mental state–mindfulness, mind-wandering and resting-state. Despite the established roles of functional connections within and between intrinsic networks, there has been limited research on the effective connectivity of mindfulness, mind-wandering and resting-state using the triple network, as well as on their direct comparisons.

Methods

We employed spectral dynamic causal modeling to compare effective connectivity patterns across mindfulness (i.e. attention focused on physical sensations of breathing), mind-wandering (i.e. connecting thoughts) and resting-state (i.e. relaxing while remaining calm and awake) conditions using functional MRI data of healthy subjects who underwent ambulatory training by practicing mindfulness and mind-wandering (N = 59).

Results

When comparing mindfulness and mindwandering conditions, our analysis results revealed that salience network and CEN interacted depending on mindfulness or mind-wandering. When mindfulness or mind-wandering was compared to resting-state, mindfulness increased the effective connectivity from the left CEN to salience network through DMN, whereas mindwandering increased the effective connectivity from the DMN to right CEN.

Conclusion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine possible differences in effective connectivity patterns among mindfulness, mind-wandering and resting-state using the triple network. We believe that our findings will provide deeper insights into the neural substrates of mindfulness compared to mind-wandering and resting-state.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8893127/

 

The Psychological Well-Being and Performance of Athletes is Associated with Mindfulness

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The Psychological Well-Being and Performance of Athletes is Associated with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“So, while ‘mindfulness’ may seem like a current fad, the Zen-influenced philosophy and practice of karate training is in fact infused with mindfulness.” – Kris Chapman

 

Athletic performance requires the harmony of mind and body. Excellence is in part physical and in part psychological. That is why an entire profession of sports psychology has developed. “In sport psychology, competitive athletes are taught psychological strategies to better cope with a number of demanding challenges related to psychological functioning.” They use a number of techniques to enhance performance including mindfulness training. It has been shown to improve attention and concentration and emotion regulation and reduces anxiety and worry and rumination, and the physiological and psychological responses to stress. As a result, mindfulness training has been employed by athletes and even by entire teams to enhance their performance.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Relationship between Mindfulness Practices and the Psychological State and Performance of Kyokushin Karate Athletes.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8997751/ ) Vveinhardt and Kaspare recruited adult Karate athletes and had them complete measures of mindfulness, meditation experience, anxiety, depression, perceived stress, emotional state, Karate experience, and duration and intensity of sporting experience.

 

They found that the higher the levels of the athletes’ mindfulness the lower the levels of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress. Further, they found that the athletes who meditated had better emotional states than those who didn’t. Finally, they found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the level of Karate performance as indicated by the belt they had obtained. Because these findings are correlative no conclusions regarding causation can be reached.

 

Hence, mindfulness was associated with better athletic performance and psychological well-being.

 

“Karate combines breathing with simple meditation to help students become more relaxed and centered.” – Scott Bullard

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Vveinhardt, J., & Kaspare, M. (2022). The Relationship between Mindfulness Practices and the Psychological State and Performance of Kyokushin Karate Athletes. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(7), 4001. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074001

 

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between mindfulness practices and the psychological state and qualification of kyokushin karate athletes. The survey was conducted using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS-15) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The study involved 371 Lithuanian kyokushin karate athletes (of which 59.3% were male and 40.7% were female; 71.4% of research participants have practiced this sport for 11 and more years and have the 1st dan or a higher belt). The results of the study showed a positive impact of mindfulness in reducing stress experienced by athletes, improving their psychological state, and enhancing their athletic performance. A moderate negative correlation was identified between stress, anxiety, and mindfulness, and while the mindfulness score was increasing, the severity level of depression was decreasing. Meanwhile, the correlation of the meditation effect and anxiety with kyokushin karate 0–7 kyu belt was very weak but statistically significant. The research results could be useful not only for athletes and their coaches but also for sports organizations. After analysing the benefits of mindfulness for kyokushin karate athletes, mindfulness practices are proposed for the effective improvement of athletes’ physical and psychological state when preparing for professional-level competitions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8997751/

 

Improve Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students with Mindfulness

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Improve Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“negative emotional reactivity associated with neuroticism is partially due to low levels of mindfulness.” – Mario Wenzel

 

Neuroticism is considered a personality trait that is a lasting characteristic of the individual. It is characterized by negative feelings, repetitive thinking about the past (rumination), and worry about the future, moodiness and loneliness. It appears to be linked to vulnerability to stress. People who have this characteristic are not happy with life and have a low subjective sense of well-being and recognize that this state is unacceptable. There is some hope for people with high neuroticism as this relatively stable characteristic appears to be lessened by mindfulness training.

 

Mindfulness is also known to affect the activity of the nervous system. One way to observe the effects of mindfulness on neural activity is to measure changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG), the rhythmic electrical activity that can be recorded from the scalp. The recorded activity can be separated into frequency bands. Delta activity consists of oscillations in the 0.5-3 cycles per second band. Theta activity in the EEG consists of oscillations in the 4-8 cycles per second band. Alpha activity consists of oscillations in the 8-12 cycles per second band. Beta activity consists of oscillations in the 15-25 cycles per second band while Gamma activity occurs in the 35-45 cycles per second band. Changes in these brain activities can be compared before and after mindfulness training.

 

In today’s Research News article “Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students: A Pilot Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Assess Its Effectiveness through Brain Signals and Behavioral Data.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9002961/ ) Izhar and colleagues recruited college women who had been identified as having neuroticism. In phase 1 they had their electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded while viewing negative emotion eliciting film clips followed by a measure of cognitive response inhibition. In phase 2 they were provided with an 6-week breathing-based mindfulness training and had them practice it for at least 5 minutes daily. Before and after training they were measured for emotions, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, and mindfulness. In phase 3 the EEG recording was repeated.

 

They found that after the mindfulness training the students had significant reductions in judgement and non-reactivity to inner experiences, anxiety, perceived stress, and the maladaptive emotion regulation strategy of suppression. In addition, after mindfulness training the students’ EEGs had significant increases in resting alpha and theta rhythms and decreases in delta rhythms.

 

These data suggest that mindfulness training improves the emotional state and emotion regulation in neurotic college women in part by altering brain activity. This further suggests that mindfulness training should be effective in improving the mental health of young women with neuroticism.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Izhar, L. I., Babiker, A., Rizki, E. E., Lu, C. K., & Abdul Rahman, M. (2022). Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students: A Pilot Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Assess Its Effectiveness through Brain Signals and Behavioral Data. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 22(7), 2703. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22072703

 

Abstract

Neuroticism has recently received increased attention in the psychology field due to the finding of high implications of neuroticism on an individual’s life and broader public health. This study aims to investigate the effect of a brief 6-week breathing-based mindfulness intervention (BMI) on undergraduate neurotic students’ emotion regulation. We acquired data of their psychological states, physiological changes, and electroencephalogram (EEG), before and after BMI, in resting states and tasks. Through behavioral analysis, we found the students’ anxiety and stress levels significantly reduced after BMI, with p-values of 0.013 and 0.027, respectively. Furthermore, a significant difference between students in emotion regulation strategy, that is, suppression, was also shown. The EEG analysis demonstrated significant differences between students before and after MI in resting states and tasks. Fp1 and O2 channels were identified as the most significant channels in evaluating the effect of BMI. The potential of these channels for classifying (single-channel-based) before and after BMI conditions during eyes-opened and eyes-closed baseline trials were displayed by a good performance in terms of accuracy (~77%), sensitivity (76–80%), specificity (73–77%), and area-under-the-curve (AUC) (0.66–0.8) obtained by k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms. Mindfulness can thus improve the self-regulation of the emotional state of neurotic students based on the psychometric and electrophysiological analyses conducted in this study.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9002961/

 

Improve Sleep in Patients with Mental Disorders with Mindfulness

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Improve Sleep in Patients with Mental Disorders with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Not getting enough sleep skews our ability to regulate our emotions. In the long run, this can increase our risk of developing a mental health condition. In turn, conditions such as anxiety and depression may cause further sleep disruption.” – James Kingsland

 

Over the last several decades, research and anecdotal experiences have accumulated an impressive evidential case that meditation has positive benefits for the individual’s mental, physical, and spiritual life. Meditation appears to be beneficial both for healthy people and for people suffering from a myriad of mental and physical illnesses. One of these benefits appears to be improving sleep and relieving insomnia.

 

It has been shown that mental disorders such as anxiety and depression are associated with sleep problems and insomnia. The research on mindfulness training for sleep problems with patients with mental disorders has been accumulating. So, it makes sense to step back and summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of mindfulness-based intervention programs on sleep among people with common mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9048455/ ) Chan and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the published randomized controlled trials examining the effectiveness of mindfulness training for the treatment of sleep problems in patients with mental disorders. They found 10 published randomized controlled trials containing a total of 541 participants.

 

They report that the published studies found that mindfulness training significantly reduced sleep problems in patients with chronic anxiety or depression. It has been well established that mindfulness training reduces anxiety and depression. Although not addressed in the present study, it is possible that these improvements may at least in part result from improved sleep.

 

“mindfulness helps patients manage anger, worry, anxiety, and depression. These researchers theorized that mindfulness may improve sleep quality by supplying patients with the mental resources to calm down the nervous system in preparation for sleep.” – Danielle Pacheco

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Chan, S. H., Lui, D., Chan, H., Sum, K., Cheung, A., Yip, H., & Yu, C. H. (2022). Effects of mindfulness-based intervention programs on sleep among people with common mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World journal of psychiatry, 12(4), 636–650. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v12.i4.636

 

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Sleep problems are particularly prevalent in people with depression or anxiety disorder. Although mindfulness has been suggested as an important component in alleviating insomnia, no comprehensive review and meta-analysis has been conducted to evaluate the effects of different mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) programs on sleep among people with depression or anxiety disorder.

AIM

To compare the effects of different MBI programs on sleep among people with depression or anxiety disorder.

METHODS

Related publications in Embase, Medline, PubMed and PsycINFO databases were systematically searched from January 2010 to June 2020 for randomised controlled trials. Data were synthesized using a random-effects or a fixed-effects model to analyse the effects of various MBI programs on sleep problems among people with depression or anxiety disorder. The fixed-effects model was used when heterogeneity was negligible, and the random-effects model was used when heterogeneity was significant to calculate the standardised mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

We identified 397 articles, of which 10 randomised controlled trials, involving a total of 541 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. Studies of internet mindfulness meditation intervention (IMMI), mindfulness meditation (MM), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based touch therapy (MBTT) met the inclusion criteria. The greatest effect sizes are reported in favour of MBTT, with SMDs of -1.138 (95%CI: -1.937 to -0.340; P = 0.005), followed by -1.003 (95%CI: -1.645 to -0.360; P = 0.002) for MBCT. SMDs of -0.618 (95%CI: -0.980 to -0.257; P = 0.001) and -0.551 (95%CI: -0.842 to -0.260; P < 0.0001) were reported for IMMI and MBSR in the pooling trials, respectively. Significant effects on sleep problem improvement are shown in all reviewed MBI programs, except MM, for which the effect size was shown to be non-significant.

CONCLUSION

All MBI programs (MBTT, MBCT, IMMI and MBSR), except MM, are effective options to improve sleep problems among people with depression or anxiety disorder.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9048455/

 

Religiosity/Spirituality is Associated with Better Psychological Well-Being in Older Adults

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Religiosity/Spirituality is Associated with Better Psychological Well-Being in Older Adults

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Both religion and spirituality can have a positive impact on mental health. . .  Both religion and spirituality can help a person tolerate stress by generating peace, purpose and forgiveness.” – Luna Greenstein

 

Spirituality is defined as “one’s personal affirmation of and relationship to a higher power or to the sacred. Spirituality has been promulgated as a solution to the challenges of life both in a transcendent sense and in a practical sense. There have been a number of studies of the influence of spirituality on the physical and psychological well-being of practitioners mostly showing positive benefits, with spirituality encouraging personal growth and mental health. The research evidence has been accumulating. So, it makes sense to pause and summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Religiosity/Spirituality and Mental Health in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9133607/ ) Coelho-Júnior and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the relationship of spirituality and religiosity with the mental health of older adults. They identified 62 published research studies with participants over the age of 60.

 

They report that the published studies found that religiosity/spirituality was associated with significantly lower levels of anxiety, depression, and fear of death and significantly higher levels of overall psychological well-being, satisfaction with life, meaning in life, and social relations. These findings are correlative so causation cannot be determined.

 

But it is clear the older people who are religious and/or spiritual are psychologically healthier.

 

“religious people live longer, on average, than non-religious people.” – Jeff Levin

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Coelho-Júnior, H. J., Calvani, R., Panza, F., Allegri, R. F., Picca, A., Marzetti, E., & Alves, V. P. (2022). Religiosity/Spirituality and Mental Health in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 877213. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.877213

 

Abstract

Objectives

The present study investigated the association between religious and spiritual (RS) practices with the prevalence, severity, and incidence of mental health problems in older adults.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that investigated older adults aged 60+ years and assessed RS using valid scales and questions from valid scales, and mental health according to validated multidimensional or specific instruments. Studies were retrieved from MEDLINE, LILACS, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and AgeLine databases until July 31, 2021. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS). A pooled effect size was calculated based on the log odds ratio (OR) and Z-scores. This study is registered on PROSPERO.

Results

One hundred and two studies that investigated 79.918 community-dwellers, hospitalized, and institutionalized older adults were included. Results indicated that high RS was negatively associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms, while a positive association was observed with life satisfaction, meaning in life, social relations, and psychological well-being. Specifically, people with high spirituality, intrinsic religiosity, and religious affiliation had a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. In relation to longitudinal analysis, most studies supported that high RS levels were associated with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and fear of death, as well as better mental health status.

Conclusion

Findings of the present study suggest that RS are significantly associated with mental health in older adults. People with high RS levels had a lower prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as reported greater life satisfaction and psychological well-being, better social relations, and more definite meaning in life. Data provided by an increasing number of longitudinal studies have supported most of these findings.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9133607/

 

Online Mindfulness Training Improves Psychological Well-Being

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Online Mindfulness Training Improves Psychological Well-Being

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“online mindfulness interventions may be effective at improving mental health in the general population.” – Neil Bailey

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to improve health and well-being in healthy individuals. It has also been found to be effective for a large array of medical and psychiatric conditions, either stand-alone or in combination with more traditional therapies. One of the primary effects of mindfulness that may be responsible for many of its benefits is that it improves the physiological and psychological responses to stress.

 

The vast majority of the mindfulness training techniques, however, require a trained teacher. The participants must be available to attend multiple sessions at scheduled times that may or may not be compatible with their schedules and at locations that may not be convenient. As an alternative, training over the internet has been developed. This has tremendous advantages in decreasing costs, making training schedules much more flexible, and eliminating the need to go repeatedly to specific locations. But the question arises as to the effectiveness of internet training in improving psychological well-being. The research has been accumulating and it makes sense to review and summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Mindfulness Exercise Guided by a Smartphone App on Negative Emotions and Stress in Non-Clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8825782/ ) Wu and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of mindfulness training with smartphone apps for improving the psychological well-being of healthy individuals.

 

They identified 8 published research studies that included a total of 574 participants. They report that the published research studies found that mindfulness training on a smartphone produced small to moderate but significant reductions in negative emotions, depression and anxiety in healthy individuals.

 

Hence, the use of smartphone mindfulness apps improves psychological well-being.

 

“Online mindfulness training can enhance mindfulness, well-being, self-perceptions of emotional intelligence, and workplace performance.” – Ruby Nadler

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Wu, J., Ma, Y., Zuo, Y., Zheng, K., Zhou, Z., Qin, Y., & Ren, Z. (2022). Effects of Mindfulness Exercise Guided by a Smartphone App on Negative Emotions and Stress in Non-Clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in public health, 9, 773296. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.773296

 

Abstract

Background

Studies have acknowledged that mindfulness exercise guided by a smartphone app has a positive impact on mental health and physical health. However, mindfulness guided by a smartphone app on mental health is still in its infancy stage. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis evaluating the effect of mindfulness intervention guided by a smartphone app on negative emotions and stress in a non-clinical population with emotional symptoms.

Methods

We searched major databases, namely, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang, to identify all of the relevant studies published in English or Chinese from their inception until November 9, 2021. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed with Cochrane risk-of-bias bias assessment tool. Two researchers independently conducted document retrieval, study selection, data extraction, and methodological quality evaluation.

Result

A total of eight studies were included in the study, with 574 subjects (experimental group: 348; control group: 226). A random effects model was selected to combine effect sizes. The results of the meta-analysis showed that mindfulness exercise guided by a smartphone app reduced negative emotions [standardized mean difference (SMD) = −0.232, 95% CI: −0.398 to −0.066, p = 0.006], depressive symptoms (SMD = −0.367, 95% CI: −0.596 to −0.137, p = 0.002), and anxiety symptoms (SMD = −0.490, 95% CI: −0.908 to −0.071, p = 0.022).

Conclusions

The findings indicate the potentially beneficial effect of mindfulness exercise guided by a smartphone app on symptoms of depression and anxiety among individuals in a non-clinical population with emotional symptoms. Considering the small number and overall methodological weakness of the included studies and lack of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the results should be interpreted with caution, and future rigorously designed RCTs are warranted to provide more reliable evidence.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8825782/

 

Mindfulness Reduces the Impact of Cyber-Ostracism on Adolescents

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Mindfulness Reduces the Impact of Cyber-Ostracism on Adolescents

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The current studies support the relevance of mindfulness in addressing the substantial problem of ostracism. Among other benefits, fostering mindfulness in a variety of contexts may help reduce personal and social costs associated with this type of incivility.” – Alex Ramsey

 

Humans are social animals. This is a great asset for the species as the effort of the individual is amplified by cooperation. In primitive times, this cooperation was essential for survival. But in modern times it is also essential, not for survival but rather for making a living and for the happiness of the individual. This deep need for positive social interactions heightens the pain of social rejection and ostracism. Cyber-ostracism is defined as the experience of being ignored and excluded by peers or groups on the Internet. “Ostracism, or being excluded and ignored, is a detrimental experience for the target of ostracism because it harms the target’s relational needs of belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control, along with worsening the target’s mood” (Jones et. Al. 2019).

 

Mindfulness has been found to increase prosocial behaviors such as altruism, compassion and empathy and reduce antisocial behaviors such as violence and aggression. Mindfulness affects the individual’s tendency to reject and ostracize others. There is a need to examine how mindfulness affects the effects of cyber-ostracism.

 

In today’s Research News article “Different Roles of Rumination and Mindfulness among Cyber-Ostracized Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834701/ ) Li and colleagues recruited adolescents from the 7ty to 9th middle school grades and had them complete a questionnaire at the beginning of the spring semester and 3 months later measuring cyber-ostracism, rumination, mindfulness, and psychological well-being.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the lower the levels of cyber-ostracism and rumination and the higher the levels of well-being and the higher the levels of cyber-ostracism the lower the levels of well-being and the higher the levels of rumination. Employing structural modelling they found that cyber-ostracism was associated with lower well-being directly and indirectly by increasing rumination which in turn decreased well-being. Mindfulness moderated both paths reducing both the direct and indirect paths between cyber-ostracism and psychological well-being.

 

Being ostracized on line damages the psychological well-being of adolescents. It hurts to be ignored and shunned, especially during the vulnerable teen years. But mindfulness can help and reduce the harm caused by the ostracism. This suggests that mindfulness practices may help adolescents weather difficulties in participating in online intercourse.

 

“Ostracism (i.e., the phenomenon of being rejected or neglected by an individual or a group) brings suffering to individuals. Mindfulness is conducive to emotional regulation and coping with stress, which may play a beneficial role in alleviating ostracism.” – Jing Chen

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Li, X., Mu, W., Wang, Y., Xie, P., Zhang, Y., & Liu, T. (2022). Different Roles of Rumination and Mindfulness among Cyber-Ostracized Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), 1222. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031222

 

Abstract

Previous research has confirmed the harmful effects of cyber-ostracism on adolescents. However, research that has investigated the effect of cyber-ostracism on adolescents’ psychological well-being and the underlying mechanisms of this influence remains scarce. Using a sample of 421 Chinese adolescents, this study examined the short-term effect of cyber-ostracism on adolescents’ psychological well-being, along with the mediating effect of rumination. Mindfulness is considered as a moderator influencing this underlying mechanism. Questionnaires regarding cyber-ostracism, rumination, and mindfulness were administered at the beginning of the spring semester. Psychological well-being was assessed three months later. The study found that cyber-ostracism significantly and negatively predicted adolescents’ psychological well-being. As shown by the mediation analysis, rumination partly mediated the effect of cyber-ostracism on adolescents’ psychological well-being. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that mindfulness played a moderating role in the relationship between cyber-ostracism and adolescents’ psychological well-being as well as the relationship between cyber-ostracism and rumination. Specifically, mindfulness would decrease the negative impact of cyber-ostracism on adolescents’ psychological well-being. This study uncovers the short-term effect of cyber-ostracism on adolescents’ psychological well-being and accentuates the underlying mechanisms of this effect, which has substantial implications for interventions and practices to reduce the detrimental effects of cyber-ostracism among adolescents.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834701/

 

Alter Memory Processes with Mindfulness

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Alter Memory Processes with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness training can improve working memory by overcoming proactive interference, which occurs when old information prevents the recall of new information.” – Sara Lazar

 

Humans have both an amazing capacity to remember. Our long-term store of information is virtually unlimited. Often the problem is retrieving that information when needed. Memory ability is so important to everyday human functioning that it is important to study ways to maintain or improve it. Mindfulness has been shown to improve working memory capacity.. But little is known about the components of memory that are affected by mindfulness training.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness and false memories: state and dispositional mindfulness does not increase false memories for naturalistic scenes presented in a virtual environment.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8885469/ ) Ayache and colleagues recruited college students and randomly assigned them to a mindfulness condition or a control condition. They were measured for mindfulness, depression, mood, and cognitive flexibility. The participants listened to a 15-minute audio instruction on mindfulness or a philosophical tale. Afterward they completed scales measuring sleepiness, mind wandering, focused attention, internal absorption, body awareness, and external absorption. They then completed a memory task involving watching a virtual scene with many elements including animals, fruits, vegetables, musical instruments, furniture, clothes, and tools. They were then presented with a number of items some of which were included in the scene and some that were not and asked to indicate whether they had seen them in the scene.

 

They found that in comparison to the control condition after mindfulness induction the participants had significantly higher levels of body awareness, focused attention, and sleepiness. The mindfulness group also had significant increases in memory sensitivity. Also, mindfulness non-reactivity levels were associated with better overall recall rates while acting with awareness was associated with false recognitions.

 

The findings are complex but suggest that brief mindfulness inductions can affect memory processes. To disentangle the various components more research is warranted.

 

“When you try to learn something new, it’s difficult to do it because you have all these past memories that interfere. It makes a lot of sense that mindfulness might improve that, because the tendency to attend to the present moment is a core concept of mindfulness.” – Jonathan Greenberg

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Ayache, J., Abichou, K., La Corte, V., Piolino, P., & Sperduti, M. (2022). Mindfulness and false memories: state and dispositional mindfulness does not increase false memories for naturalistic scenes presented in a virtual environment. Psychological research, 86(2), 571–584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01504-7

 

Abstract

Mindfulness attracted increased research interests in the last decade, reporting an overall beneficial effect of this practice on cognitive performances. Nevertheless, recently a possible detrimental impact of mindfulness has been underlined. While the effect of mindfulness on memory remains under-explored, recent studies have observed an increased false-memory susceptibility after mindfulness practice. A possible explanatory mechanism has been suggested, related to the nature of the studied material. For semantically related information, mindfulness would increase false memories; however, the addition of rich perceptual information could prevent this detrimental effect. The present study aimed to verify this hypothesis by testing the impact of state mindfulness induced by a short meditation session, and dispositional mindfulness on the production of false memory for pictorial material presented in a complex virtual environment. We employed a virtual reality version of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm (DRM), a classical protocol to induce false memories. Contrary to previous studies, we did not observe any effect of mindfulness on false or correct memories (free recall and recognition) after a short mindfulness practice session compared to a control condition. Nonetheless, we found a beneficial effect of mindfulness practice on memory sensitivity. Additionally, we reported a positive and negative effect of dispositional mindfulness on memory outcomes. While the Non-Reactivity facet was associated with overall better memory performances, we observed an association between the Acting with Awareness facet and an increased recollection of lures. We discuss these findings in line with a recent proposal on the link between mindfulness and episodic memory.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8885469/

 

Mindfulness is Associated with Resilience

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Mindfulness is Associated with Resilience

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindful people … can better cope with difficult thoughts and emotions without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down (emotionally). Pausing and observing the mind may (help us) resist getting drawn into wallowing in a setback.” – Tom Jacobs

 

Being mindful increases happiness, improves the ability to bounce back from difficulties, resilience, and reduces physiological and psychological responses to stress. These effects are well established. But it is not known how mindfulness, resilience, and attachment security interact.

 

In today’s Research News article “The role of mindfulness and attachment security in facilitating resilience.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8924741/ ) Yang and Oka recruited university students online and had them complete measures of mindfulness, attachment, and resilience.

 

They found that the higher the levels of both mindfulness and resilience the lower the levels of attachment insecurity, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance and that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of resilience. Further the relationship between mindfulness and resilience was affected by attachment avoidance such that the higher the levels of attachment avoidance the weaker the relationship between mindfulness and resilience.

 

Hence, being mindful is associated with being resilient but avoiding attachment weakens the relationship. This suggests the being able to form attachments is helpful in creating resilience. Further research is needed to establish whether there are causal relationships between the variables.

 

“The emotional soup that follows a stressful event can whip up negative stories about yourself or others that goes on and on, beyond being useful. Mindfulness reduces this rumination and, if practiced regularly, changes your brain so that you’re more resilient to future stressful events.” – Shamash Alidina

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Yang, F., & Oka, T. (2022). The role of mindfulness and attachment security in facilitating resilience. BMC psychology, 10(1), 69. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00772-1

 

Abstract

Background

In recent years, there has been growing interest in exploring ways to facilitate positive psychological dispositions, including resilience. The goal of the present study was to explore the possibility that trait mindfulness facilitates attachment security and thus enhances resilience.

Methods

We conducted two studies based on cross-sectional surveys. In Study 1, data of 207 students studying in Japan was collected. In Study 2, we used a different sample of 203 participants and different measurements to replicate the findings of Study 1.

Results

The results of Study 1 revealed that mindfulness positively predicted resilience, while attachment anxiety and avoidance were mediators between mindfulness and resilience. The results of Study 2 showed that mindfulness positively predicted resilience, and the mediating effect of attachment avoidance was significant, but the mediating effect of attachment anxiety was not significant.

Conclusions

It is possible to facilitate attachment security through cultivating trait mindfulness, and in this way, resilience could be enhanced. The effect of different components of mindfulness on attachment and resilience requires further studies.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8924741/