Mindfulness

Improve Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with Mindfulness

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Improve Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“As a clinical psychologist working at the VA, I found that veterans who also had a practice, whether it be meditation or mindful movement, had better outcomes,” – Dan Libby

 

Experiencing trauma is quite common. It has been estimated that 60% of men and 50% of women will experience a significant traumatic event during their lifetime. But only a fraction will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But this still results in a frightening number of people with 7%-8% of the population developing PTSD at some point in their life. For military personnel, it’s much more likely for PTSD to develop with about 11%-20% of those who have served in a war zone developing PTSD.

 

PTSD involves a number of troubling symptoms including reliving the event with the same fear and horror in nightmares or with a flashback. PTSD sufferers avoid situations that remind them of the event this may include crowds, driving, movies, etc. and may avoid seeking help because it keeps them from having to think or talk about the event. They often experience negative changes in beliefs and feelings including difficulty experiencing positive or loving feelings toward other people, avoiding relationships, memory difficulties, or see the world as dangerous and no one can be trusted. Sufferers may feel hyperarousal, feeling keyed up and jittery, or always alert and on the lookout for danger. They may experience sudden anger or irritability, may have a hard time sleeping or concentrating, may be startled by a loud noise or surprise.

 

Obviously, these are troubling symptoms that need to be addressed. There are a number of therapies that have been developed to treat PTSD. One of which, mindfulness training has been found to be particularly effective. The Mindfulness-based Stress reduction (MBSR) program involves meditation, yoga, body scan and group discussion. It has been found to improve the symptoms of PTSD.

 

In today’s Research News article “A Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8189576/ ) Davis and colleagues recruited veterans who were diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and randomly assigned them to receive 8 weeks of Mindfulness-based Stress reduction (MBSR) or Present-Centered Group Therapy (PCGT). PCGT was a control condition that contained many of the non-specific, social effects and expectations contained in MBSR, but discussions were on current events and everyday problems but not trauma. They were measured before and after treatment and 7 weeks later for PTSD symptoms, mindfulness, and health.

They found that at the 7-week follow up assessment both groups had significant reductions in PTSD severity as assessed in a clinical interview and increases in mindfulness and did not statistically differ. For both groups the greater the increase in mindfulness that occurred over treatment the greater the reductions in clinically assessed PTSD severity. On the other hand, there were significantly greater reductions in self-reported PTSD symptoms in the MBSR group.

 

It is surprising that Present-Centered Group Therapy (PCGT) produced such significant improvements. This demonstrates the power of non-specific factors in therapy. Factors such as “decreased isolation, shared support, shared positive experiences with other veterans with similar symptoms, experience of an atmosphere of safety, and awareness and objectivity of how PTSD affects one’s daily life” produce major improvements in PTSD. In most research the control condition doesn’t contain these components and as a result the intervention effects appear quite large.

 

But even with the strong control condition employed here, Mindfulness-based Stress reduction (MBSR) produced significantly greater improvements in the veterans self-assessments of their symptoms. One of the reasons that Present-Centered Group Therapy (PCGT) produced significant improvements is that it increased mindfulness. It has been previously found that increases in mindfulness produces improvements in the symptoms of PTSD. So, increasing mindfulness, no matter what technique accomplishes it, may be the key to improving the symptoms of PTSD.

 

So, improve Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with mindfulness.

 

“Both MBSR and present-centered group therapy appear to have beneficial effects in treating PTSD in veterans, with greater improvement observed in self-reported PTSD symptoms among the MBSR group.” – Mitch Mirkin

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Davis, L. L., Whetsell, C., Hamner, M. B., Carmody, J., Rothbaum, B. O., Allen, R. S., Al Bartolucci, A., Southwick, S. M., & Bremner, J. D. (2019). A Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Psychiatric research and clinical practice, 1(2), 39–48. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20180002

 

Abstract

Objective:

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often difficult to treat, and many patients do not achieve full remission. Complementary and integrative health approaches, such as mindfulness meditation, are intended to be integrated with evidence-based treatment. This study examined the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in the treatment of PTSD in U.S. military veterans.

Methods:

Veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD (N=214) were randomly assigned to either 90-minute group MBSR or present-centered group therapy (PCGT) for eight weeks. Follow-up assessments were obtained at baseline and weeks 3, 6, 9 (primary endpoint), and 16.

Results:

Both the MBSR and PCGT groups achieved significant improvement in PTSD as measured by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV), with no statistically significant differences between groups. However, compared with PCGT, the MBSR group showed a statistically significant improvement in PTSD on the self-reported PTSD Checklist for DSM-IV over the nine weeks. This difference was not maintained posttreatment, at week 16. Strengths of the study include its large sample size, multisite design, active control group, single-blind outcome ratings, fidelity monitoring, large minority representation, and randomized approach. The study was limited by its high attrition rate and low representation of women.

Conclusion:

Both MBSR and PCGT appear to have beneficial effects in treating PTSD in veterans, with greater improvement observed in self-reported PTSD symptoms in the MBSR group. No differences between groups were observed on the CAPS-IV scale.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8189576/

 

Mindfulness Makes Teachers Better Teachers

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Mindfulness Makes Teachers Better Teachers

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Most teacher training focuses primarily on content and pedagogy, overlooking the very real social, emotional, and cognitive demands of teaching itself. Luckily, learning and cultivating skills of mindfulness. . . can help us to promote the calm, relaxed, but enlivened classroom environment that children need to learn.” – Patricia Jennings

 

In a school setting, mindfulness not only affects teachers, but also the students. Mindfulness has been demonstrated to be helpful in reducing the psychological and physiological responses to stress and for treating and preventing burnout in schools. But the effects of mindfulness on elementary school teachers and their students need further exploration. Are mindful elementary school teachers better teachers?

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Teachers: a Study on Teacher and Student Outcomes.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060685/ ) de Carvalho and colleagues recruited primary school teachers and randomly assigned them to a no-treatment control or to receive 30 hours of mindfulness training delivered over 10 weeks. They were measured before and after training for mindfulness, emotion regulation, self-compassion, self-efficacy, mental health, and burnout. They were also observed in the classroom and rated for “flexibility and ability to adapt to classroom situations, cooperation among students, and group cohesion.” They also recruited parents and students of the teachers. The students measured teacher involvement with students, and the students’ positive and negative emotions, mental health, and emotion control. Finally, the parents rated their child’s social behavior.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the control group, after mindfulness training there were significant improvements in all teacher measurements including the classroom observation measurements. The students of the mindfulness trained teachers rated the teachers as having higher involvement with students and the students of these teachers also had better emotion regulation, higher positive emotions, lower negative emotions, higher well-being and parental ratings of social behavior.

 

It should be noted that the control teachers received no treatment whatsoever. This passive type of control does not allow for the conclusion that it was mindfulness training per se that was responsible for the improvements. Rather any kind of attention to the teachers might result in similar improvements. The study should be replicated comparing teacher mindfulness training to an active control condition such as teacher fitness training.

 

The findings for the teachers replicate previous findings that mindfulness training increases mindfulness, emotion regulation, self-compassion, self-efficacy, mental health, and reduces burnout. The results also demonstrate that teacher mindfulness training makes them more attentive to the needs of their students which improves the students’ emotional well-being and their interactions with others.

 

These findings are remarkable in that they demonstrate how teaching mindfulness to teachers affects the entire classroom system, altering the teachers’ behavior which in turn affects the students’ behavior and well-being. This further suggests that training elementary school teachers in mindfulness will improve the school experience for both the teachers and their students. This could lower teacher burnout while improving the emotional and social development of the children.

 

So, mindfulness makes teachers better teachers.

 

“We see mental health benefits. We see some behavioral benefits. Youth are more likely not to engage in conflict — more likely to walk away from contentious discussions. They express greater acceptance of themselves.” – Erica Sibinga

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

de Carvalho, J. S., Oliveira, S., Roberto, M. S., Gonçalves, C., Bárbara, J. M., de Castro, A. F., Pereira, R., Franco, M., Cadima, J., Leal, T., Lemos, M. S., & Marques-Pinto, A. (2021). Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Teachers: a Study on Teacher and Student Outcomes. Mindfulness, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01635-3

 

Abstract

Objectives

Teachers’ stress can affect their occupational health and negatively impact classroom climate and students’ well-being. This study aims to evaluate the proximal and distal effects of a mindfulness-based program, specially developed to promote teachers’ social-emotional competencies (SEC), across teachers, classroom climates, and students’ outcomes.

Methods

The study followed a randomized trial design with two data collection points (pretest and posttest). Participants in the experimental group (EG) included 123 elementary school teachers, their 1503 students, and these students’ parents (1494), while the control group (CG) comprised 105 elementary school teachers, their 947 students, and these students’ parents (913). A mixed data collection strategy was used that included teachers’ and students’ (self-) report, observational ratings of teachers’ classroom behaviors, and parents’ reports on students.

Results

After the intervention, EG teachers, compared to CG teachers, reported a significant increase in mindfulness and emotional regulation competencies, self-efficacy, and well-being and a decrease in burnout symptoms. Similarly, a significant improvement was found in EG teachers’ classroom behaviors related to students’ engagement. Additionally, significant improvements were also found in EG students’ perceptions of the quality of their teachers’ involvement in classroom relationships, self-reported effect, and social competencies perceived by their parents.

Conclusions

These findings further the knowledge on the role played by mindfulness-based SEC interventions in reducing teachers’ burnout symptoms and cultivating their SEC and well-being, in promoting a nurturing classroom climate and also in promoting the SEC and well-being of students.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060685/

 

Mindfulness Improve Social Media Control While Social Media Control Improves Mindfulness

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Mindfulness Improve Social Media Control While Social Media Control Improves Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“social media overuse is increasingly commonplace today, and it may have some serious repercussions to your physical and mental health.” – Kristeen Cherney

 

Over the last few decades, the internet has gone from a rare curiosity to the dominant mode of electronic communications. In fact, it has become a dominant force in daily life, occupying large amounts of time and attention. As useful as the internet may be, it can also produce negative consequences. “Problematic Internet Use” is now considered a behavioral addiction, with almost half of participants in one study considered “Internet addicts”, developing greater levels of “tolerance” and experiencing “withdrawal” and distress when deprived. This phenomenon is so new that there is little understanding of its nature, causes, and consequences and how to treat it.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be helpful with each of the components of addictions, decreasing cravings, impulsiveness, and psychological and physiological responses to stress, and increasing emotion regulation.  It is no wonder then that mindfulness training has been found to be effective for the treatment of a variety of addictions. It also has been found to be helpful in overcoming internet and smartphone addictions. But there is a need to further explore the effectiveness of mindfulness training on one form of internet addiction, social media addiction.

 

In today’s Research News article “The reciprocal relationships between social media self-control failure, mindfulness and wellbeing: A longitudinal study.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336798/ ) Du and colleagues recruited participants online between the ages of 16 to 60 years of age and had them complete measures of social media control, mindfulness, well-being, and life satisfaction. They completed the measures three times at four-month intervals.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness at all measurements the higher the levels of social media control, well-being, and life satisfaction at all measurements. They also found evidence that social media control at the first measurement was associated with better mindfulness at the second measurement which was, in turn, associated with better social media control at the third measurement.

 

These results are correlative and as such caution must be exercised in interpreting causation. But mindfulness training has been found in prior research to reduce internet addictions. In addition, the associations found between variables and other variables 4 months later prohibit a reverse causation explanation. So, the associations reported here may well be due to causal connections. Hence, it could be tentatively concluded that being able to control participation in social media improves mindfulness and mindfulness improves the individual’s ability to control their participation in social media.

 

This is potentially important as participation in social media often gets out of control to the point where it interferes in everyday activities to the detriment of the individual. It can even become an addiction. That being mindful can help keep it under control may be very helpful allowing attention to other life activities. Although it was not explored in the present study this suggests that mindfulness training may help make the individual resistant to losing control of participation in social media.

 

So, mindfulness improve social media control while social media control improves mindfulness.

 

“Social media addiction is becoming an increasing problem. . . One cure is mindfulness meditation. . . a powerful tool for kicking addictions ranging from drugs, to social media” – Elise Bialylew

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Du, J., Kerkhof, P., & van Koningsbruggen, G. M. (2021). The reciprocal relationships between social media self-control failure, mindfulness and wellbeing: A longitudinal study. PloS one, 16(8), e0255648. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255648

 

Abstract

This paper aims to shed light on the question whether, and how, social media self-control failure is related to mindfulness and wellbeing. Using a 3-wave longitudinal design, the present study among 594 daily social media users examined the reciprocal relationships between social media self-control failure and mindfulness, and between social media self-control failure and wellbeing (as assessed by subjective vitality and life satisfaction). Results of the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model showed that social media self-control failure has a time-invariant negative association with mindfulness and subjective vitality. No full reciprocal influence was found between social media self-control failure and mindfulness, yet part of this trajectory was observed, suggesting that social media self-control failure could impair mindfulness, which, in turn, might increase future social media self-control failure. For wellbeing, life satisfaction was found to predict subsequent drops in social media self-control failure.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336798/

 

Moderate the Effects of Routine Stressors on Police with Mindfulness

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Moderate the Effects of Routine Stressors on Police with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“While the practice of mindfulness is not a “silver bullet” for officer stress, it could be a potentially valuable tool in the fight going forward.” – John H. Kim

 

Policing is a very stressful occupation. It can result from threats to health and safety, boredom, responsibility for protecting the lives of others, continual exposure to people in pain or distress, the need to control emotions even when provoked, the presence of a gun, even during off-duty hours, and the fragmented nature of police work, with only rare opportunities to follow cases to conclusion or even to obtain feedback or follow-up information.

 

This stress can have serious consequences for the individual and in turn for society. Police officers have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. They have a high divorce rate, about second in the nation. They are problem drinkers about twice as often as the general population. This is a major problem as stress and the resultant complications can impact job performance, which sometimes involve life or death situations. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve the physiological and psychological responses to stress and it has been found to reduce burnout in first responders. It has also been shown to improve the psychological well-being of police officers. Hence, mindfulness may help police cope with the stress.

 

In today’s Research News article “Trait Mindfulness Moderates the Association Between Stressor Exposure and Perceived Stress in Law Enforcement Officers.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8339391/ ) Chen and colleagues recruited active police officers and had them complete measures of perceived stress in policing, police organizational stress, overall perceived stress, resilience, and mindfulness. They also completed a daily event log of various stressors encountered for one week.

 

Component analysis of the daily logs revealed three principal components of daily stressors encountered by police, acute/traumatic stressors, routine stressors, and interpersonal stressors. For all 3 components, the higher the level of the stressor, the higher the levels of overall stress as measured by the various stress measures. They also found that the higher the levels of mindfulness, the weaker the relationship between experienced routine stressors and overall stress.

 

These results are correlational and as such causation cannot be determined. But they suggest, not surprisingly, that the stressors that the police encounter in their everyday work are predictive of their overall stress levels. In addition, in mindful police routine stressors such as paperwork, service calls etc. tend to have less of an impact on their overall stress levels. In other words, mindfulness doesn’t appear to help with dealing with acute/traumatic or interpersonal stressors, but rather with the stress produced by their everyday work tasks. Since, these routine stressors occur in the majority of the workday, mindfulness may be helpful in reducing overall stress and potentially burnout in the police.

 

So, moderate the effects of routine stressors on police with mindfulness.

 

“Meditation is helping police officers to de-escalate volatile situations, improve community relations—and improve their own well-being.” – Jill Suttie 

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Chen, S., & Grupe, D. W. (2021). Trait Mindfulness Moderates the Association Between Stressor Exposure and Perceived Stress in Law Enforcement Officers. Mindfulness, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01707-4

 

Abstract

Objectives

To test the magnitude of the relationship between self-reported stressor exposure and perceived stress in police officers using a novel measure of daily work events, and whether dispositional mindfulness and resilience moderate this relationship.

Methods

A total of 114 law enforcement officers from a mid-sized Midwestern US city completed daily logs of job stressors and associated perceived stress, as well as additional self-report measures of perceived stress, trait mindfulness and resilience, and demographics and work information. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to cluster job stressors into a smaller number of components in a data-driven manner. Linear mixed-effects models were used to test the relationship between stressor exposure and perceived stress for each component, and the moderation of this relationship by trait mindfulness and resilience.

Results

The PCA categorized stressor exposure into three components: (1) acute or traumatic line-of-duty stressors, (2) routine daily stressors, and (3) interpersonal stressors. Results of mixed models showed robust positive relationships between self-reported stressor exposure and corresponding perceived stress across all 3 components. Dispositional mindfulness (but not resilience) moderated the association between stressor exposure and perceived stress for routine stressors, such that individuals with higher dispositional mindfulness showed a relatively attenuated relationship between exposure to routine daily stressors and resulting perceived stress.

Conclusions

Police officers high in dispositional mindfulness may experience daily routine stressors as less stressful, which can reduce the accumulation of general stress in the long term and which could help buffer against negative health outcomes associated with perceived stress.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8339391/

 

Mindfulness Training Improves Medical Students’ Mindfulness and Briefly Academic Success

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Mindfulness Training Improves Medical Students’ Mindfulness and Briefly Academic Success

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“medical students who participate in mindfulness based stress reduction programs see a decrease in anxiety and stress.  Reduction in outside noise combined with the discipline to remain present in the moment can also lead to more effective concentration.” – Brendan Murphy

 

There is a lot of pressure on medical students to excel. This stress might in fact be counterproductive as the increased pressure can actually lead to stress and anxiety which can impede the student’s physical and mental health, well-being, and academic performance. Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive research to be effective in reducing the physiological and psychological responses to stress and improving physical and psychological health. Indeed, these practices have been found to improve psychological health in college students. So, it would be expected that training in mind-body practices would reduce stress and improve the psychological health of medical students.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-based intervention helps preclinical medical students to contain stress, maintain mindfulness and improve academic success.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7934360/ ) Lampe and colleagues recruited preclinical medical students and offered them a midsemester mindfulness training. The course lasted 6-weeks and was an adapted version of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) consisting of meditation, yoga, and body scan training along with home practice and group discussion. They were measured before and after training and 6 months later for perceived stress, mindfulness, and academic test grades. They compared the students who participated in the course to those who did not.

 

They found that both before and after training the higher the students’ levels of mindfulness, the lower the levels of perceived stress. Neither mindfulness nor perceived stress were related to academic test grades. But after training the mindfulness group had significantly higher test grades and levels of mindfulness. 6 months later mindfulness remained significantly higher but there were no significant differences in test grades.

 

The study did not randomly assign participants but rather compared students who voluntarily chose to take a mindfulness course to those who chose not to. There were probably differences between the types of students who volunteered to those who didn’t. The results need to be interpreted with this in mind. Nevertheless, the results suggest, as has previous research, that mindfulness and perceived stress are inversely related. The results also suggest that training in mindfulness during medical education produces a lasting effect on mindfulness but only a transient improvement in academic performance. The improvement in mindfulness did not predict a lasting effect on academic performance. This suggests that more work is needed to identify how to intervene in medical education to reduce stress effects and improve students’ academic performances.

 

So, mindfulness training improves medical students’ mindfulness and briefly academic success.

 

“in medical students, higher empathy, lower anxiety, and fewer depression symptoms have been reported by students after participating in MSBR. . . mindfulness meditation may be used to elicit positive emotions, minimize negative affect and rumination, and enable effective emotion regulation.” – Michael Minichiello

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Lampe, L. C., & Müller-Hilke, B. (2021). Mindfulness-based intervention helps preclinical medical students to contain stress, maintain mindfulness and improve academic success. BMC medical education, 21(1), 145. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02578-y

 

Abstract

Background

Stress among students is on the rise during early medical school and has been implicated in poor academic performance. Several methods are being discussed to efficiently reduce stress, among them mindfulness-based interventions. We therefore set out to assess how stress, mindfulness, and academic performance are connected and if an intervention on mindfulness based stress reduction could alleviate stress among medical students and improve their academic achievements.

Methods

A non-randomized controlled trial including 143 medical students in their preclinical years was performed in 2019. The students completed two surveys – one in the first, the other in the third term – recording perceived stress and mindfulness via validated scales (PSS-10 and MAAS). In between both, 41 students participated in a voluntary mindfulness-based intervention including six two-hours courses. 86 students served as controls. Scholarly success was assessed via the scores achieved in six exams written during the observation period.

Results

Stress was inversely related with mindfulness and with the results of the most challenging exam. The intervention on mindfulness based stress reduction helped to contain stress and maintain mindfulness during the observation period and this effect lasted for at least six months beyond completion of the intervention. In contrast, beneficial effects on scholarly success were transient and only detectable at completion of the intervention.

Conclusion

Our observation of short- and intermediate term effects resulting from six individual interventions on mindfulness based stress reduction is encouraging and calls for alternative strategies to induce long-lasting impacts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7934360/

 

Improve Self-Compassion with Residential Mindfulness Programs Conducted Either Inside or Outdoors

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Improve Self-Compassion with Residential Mindfulness Programs Conducted Either Inside or Outdoors

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The power of nature to bring us immediately to the present must be primally wired into us.” – Christopher Willard

 

Modern living is stressful, perhaps, in part because it has divorced us from the natural world that our species was immersed in throughout its evolutionary history. Modern environments may be damaging to our health and well-being simply because the species did not evolve to cope with them. This suggests that returning to nature, at least occasionally, may be beneficial. Indeed, researchers are beginning to study nature walks or what the Japanese call “Forest Bathing” and their effects on our mental and physical health.

 

Mindfulness practices have been found routinely to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. People have long reported that walking in nature elevates their mood. It appears intuitively obvious that if it occurred in a beautiful natural place, it would greatly lift the spirits. But there is little systematic research regarding these effects. It’s possible that being in nature might increase mindfulness’ ability to improve mental and physical well-being.

 

In today’s Research News article “A Short Mindfulness Retreat for Students to Reduce Stress and Promote Self-Compassion: Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial Exploring Both an Indoor and a Natural Outdoor Retreat Setting.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/7/910/htm ) Djernis and colleagues recruited moderately to highly stressed university students and randomly assigned them to a 5-day residential program of either mindfulness training indoors, outdoors, or a no treatment control. The mindfulness training was based upon Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR) including meditation, yoga, body scan, and group discussion. The outdoor mindfulness training occurred in the university’s therapy garden. They were measured before and after the 5-days of training and 3 months later for self-compassion, perceived stress, mindfulness, connectedness to nature, and breath counting.

 

They found that mindfulness was significantly increased in the mindfulness training groups while self-compassion was significantly increased only in the mindfulness training groups at follow up. The outdoor mindfulness group only had a significant increase in connectedness to nature compared to the control group. They did not find a significant effect of group on perceived stress.

 

These results were somewhat disappointing, but the groups were small (17-21 participants) and many trends and non-significant differences were present. This suggests that a larger randomized controlled trial should be implemented. Indeed, increases in self-compassion and decreases in perceived stress have been routinely observed in previous research studies. Nevertheless, they did find that a residential mindfulness program increases self-compassion in stressed college students. Many previous studies have and that moving the training outside improves the participants feeling of connection to nature.

 

So, improve self-compassion with residential mindfulness programs conducted either inside or outdoors.

 

“People have been discussing their profound experiences in nature for the last several 100 years—from Thoreau to John Muir to many other writers,. Now we are seeing changes in the brain and changes in the body that suggest we are physically and mentally more healthy when we are interacting with nature.” – David Strayer

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Djernis, D.; O’Toole, M.S.; Fjorback, L.O.; Svenningsen, H.; Mehlsen, M.Y.; Stigsdotter, U.K.; Dahlgaard, J. A Short Mindfulness Retreat for Students to Reduce Stress and Promote Self-Compassion: Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial Exploring Both an Indoor and a Natural Outdoor Retreat Setting. Healthcare 2021, 9, 910. https:// doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9070910

 

Abstract

Here, we developed and examined a new way of disseminating mindfulness in nature to people without meditation experience, based on the finding that mindfulness conducted in natural settings may have added benefits. We evaluated a 5-day residential programme aiming to reduce stress and improve mental health outcomes. We compared an indoor and an outdoor version of the programme to a control group in a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT). Sixty Danish university students experiencing moderate to high levels of stress were randomised into a residential mindfulness programme indoors (n = 20), in nature (n = 22), or a control group (n = 18). Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale and the Self-Compassion Scale (primary outcomes) along with additional secondary outcome measures at the start and end of the program and 3 months after. Stress was decreased with small to medium effect sizes post-intervention, although not statistically significant. Self-compassion increased post-intervention, but effect sizes were small and not significant. At follow-up, changes in stress were not significant, however self-compassion increased for both interventions with medium-sized effects. For the intervention groups, medium- to large-sized positive effects on trait mindfulness after a behavioural task were found post-intervention, and small- to medium-sized effects in self-reported mindfulness were seen at follow-up. Connectedness to Nature was the only outcome measure with an incremental effect in nature, exceeding the control with a medium-sized effect at follow-up. All participants in the nature arm completed the intervention, and so did 97% of the participants in all three arms. Overall, the results encourage the conduct of a larger-scale RCT, but only after adjusting some elements of the programme to better fit and take advantage of the potential benefits of the natural environment.

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/7/910/htm

 

Mindfulness Increases Resiliency During a Pandemic

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Mindfulness Increases Resiliency During a Pandemic

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“These are trying times, but incorporating mindful practices into your daily routine can help calm anxiety and build healthy coping skills.” – Rae Jacobson

 

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. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the mental and physical health of the population. It has created intense stress both for frontline workers but also for people simply isolating at home. Mindfulness is known to decrease the psychological and physical responses to stress. So, mindfulness training may be helpful in coping with the mental and physical challenges resulting from the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Physical Activity and Mindfulness on Resilience and Depression During the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic..” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.700742/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1696300_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20210803_arts_A ) Antonini and colleagues used emails to recruit adults who were engaged in either exercise or mindfulness practice during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in Switzerland. They had them complete measures of resilience and depression at two different times during the lockdown.

 

They found that mindfulness practitioners had significantly lower resilience than exercisers and that had women had significantly lower resilience and greater depression than men. They also found that the resilience of the mindfulness group significantly increased from the first to the second measurement while the exercisers did not. But the depression of the exercise group significantly declined from the first to the second measurement while the mindfulness group did not. Overall, the higher the levels of resilience the lower the levels of depression at both measurement times.

 

These are interesting results but are correlational, so no conclusions regarding causation can be reached. The results suggest that resilience tends to counteract depression. They also suggest that mindfulness practitioners are initially less resilient during a stressful time than exercisers but that they increase in resilience as the lockdown continues. On the other hand, exercisers decrease in depression over the same period of time.

 

Dealing with a public health emergency lockdown can be extremely stressful and requires resilience in the face of the stress to effectively deal with it. Mindfulness appears to allow for a growth in resilience making the practitioners better able to cope. On the other hand, exercise appears to help with the depression resulting from the lockdown. Unfortunately, they did not look at mindfulness practitioners who were also exercisers to observe if the combination has additive benefits.

 

So, mindfulness increases resiliency during a pandemic.

 

“mindfulness meditation might be a viable low-cost intervention to mitigate the psychological impact of the COVID-19 crisis and future pandemics.” – Julie Lei Zhu

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Antonini Philippe R, Schwab L and Biasutti M (2021) Effects of Physical Activity and Mindfulness on Resilience and Depression During the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic. Front. Psychol. 12:700742. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.700742

 

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic generated a significant number of stressors that the Swiss population had to deal with. In order to cope with and adapt to such adversity, it is essential to have protective factors that allow for resilience. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness and physical activity on depression and resilience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative method was adopted asking participants who were engaged in physical activity or mindfulness to fill a battery of measures of depression and resilience and some demographic questions. The results showed that mindfulness practice strengthened the initial level of resilience of practitioners, suggesting that mindfulness meditation is a tool for coping with adversity during a potentially traumatic event. Conversely, physical activity practitioners maintained a stable resilience score over time, suggesting that exposure to adversity did not disrupt their state of biopsychospiritual homeostasis. Moreover, being physically active decreased the depression score over time. Regarding demographic variables, gender differences were observed in the average scores in the resilience scale and in the Depression Inventory.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.700742/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1696300_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20210803_arts_A

 

Mindfulness is Associated with Better Dementia Patient and Caregiver Outcomes

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Mindfulness is Associated with Better Dementia Patient and Caregiver Outcomes

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Research has shown preliminary but promising results for mindfulness-based interventions to benefit people with dementia and caregivers.” – Lotte Berk

 

Dementia is a progressive loss of mental function produced by degenerative diseases of the brain. Dementia patients require caregiving particularly in the later stages of the disease. Caregiving for dementia patients is a daunting intense experience that can go on for four to eight years with increasing responsibilities as the loved one deteriorates. This places tremendous psychological and financial stress on the caregiver. Hence, there is a need to both care for the dementia patients and also for the caregivers. Mindfulness practice for caregivers has been shown to help them cope with the physical and psychological demands of caregiving. In addition, mindfulness training has been found to help protect aging individuals from physical and cognitive declines.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Effect of Baseline Patient and Caregiver Mindfulness on Dementia Outcomes.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8324319/ ) Innis and colleagues recruited patients with dementia and their caregivers and both were measured for cognitive function, functional activities, health related quality of life, verbal learning, memory, executive function, visual ability, mindfulness, resilience, vulnerability, and Apolipoprotein E. In addition, “caregivers completed ratings of care confidence, care preparedness, burden, mood, and appraisals of caregiving”.  Finally, a subset of participants underwent brain scanning with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

 

They found that participants without dementia had significantly higher levels of mindfulness than those with even mild dementia. They also found that the higher the level of patient mindfulness the lower the caregiver ratings of patient dementia, the higher the ratings of health-related quality of life, and the lower the rated patient impairment, cognitive complaints, anxiety, and depression. In addition, the higher the patient’s level of mindfulness the higher the levels of cognition, verbal learning, memory, visuospatial ability, and resilience and the lower the levels of vulnerability. Finally, the found that the association of patient mindfulness on cognitive ability was mediated by resilience and vulnerability.

 

These results are based upon correlations and thus causation cannot be determined. Nevertheless, the associations are clear. The degree of mindfulness of dementia patients is associated with better cognitive ability, emotional health, and resilience and lower levels of vulnerability. These latter relationships appear to be the intermediaries between the patient’s mindfulness and their cognitive ability. It has been shown that mindfulness training in normal individuals produces improvements in resilience. This suggests that mindfulness may help protect against cognitive decline by improving the patient’s resilience and lessening their vulnerability to the effects of aging. This further suggests the possibility that mindfulness training might help to ameliorate the cognitive decline associated with dementia. It remains for future research to explore these possibilities.

 

So, mindfulness is associated with better dementia patient and caregiver outcomes.

 

“Alzheimer’s disease patients who practice mindfulness may have better outcomes than those who do not.” – Josh Baxt

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Innis, A. D., Tolea, M. I., & Galvin, J. E. (2021). The Effect of Baseline Patient and Caregiver Mindfulness on Dementia Outcomes. Journal of Alzheimer’s disease : JAD, 79(3), 1345–1367. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-201292

 

Abstract

Background:

Mindfulness is the practice of awareness and living in the present moment without judgment. Mindfulness-based interventions may improve dementia-related outcomes. Before initiating interventions, it would be beneficial to measure baseline mindfulness to understand targets for therapy and its influence on dementia outcomes.

Objective:

This cross-sectional study examined patient and caregiver mindfulness with patient and caregiver rating scales and patient cognitive performance and determined whether dyadic pairing of mindfulness influences patient outcomes.

Methods:

Individuals (N = 291) underwent comprehensive evaluations, with baseline mindfulness assessed using the 15-item Applied Mindfulness Process Scale (AMPS). Correlation, regression, and mediation models tested relationships between patient and caregiver mindfulness and outcomes.

Results:

Patients had a mean AMPS score of 38.0 ± 11.9 and caregivers had a mean AMPS score of 38.9 ± 11.5. Patient mindfulness correlated with activities of daily living, behavior and mood, health-related quality of life, subjective cognitive complaints, and performance on episodic memory and attention tasks. Caregiver mindfulness correlated with preparedness, care confidence, depression, and better patient cognitive performance. Patients in dyads with higher mindfulness had better cognitive performance, less subjective complaints, and higher health-related quality of life (all p-values<0.001). Mindfulness effects on cognition were mediated by physical activity, social engagement, frailty, and vascular risk factors.

Conclusion:

Higher baseline mindfulness was associated with better patient and caregiver outcomes, particularly when both patients and caregivers had high baseline mindfulness. Understanding the baseline influence of mindfulness on the completion of rating scales and neuropsychological test performance can help develop targeted interventions to improve well-being in patients and their caregivers.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8324319/

 

Change the Experience of Music with Mindfulness

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Change the Experience of Music with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Music and meditation both allow a fuller and richer experience of our emotions: They stop our incessant and often negative mental chatter and offer us an opportunity to inhabit the present moment more fully and meaningfully.” –  Darin McFadyen

 

Mindfulness practice has been shown to improve emotion regulation. Practitioners demonstrate the ability to fully sense and experience emotions but respond to them in more appropriate and adaptive ways. In other words, mindful people are better able to experience yet control their responses to emotions. This is a very important consequence of mindfulness. Humans are very emotional creatures and these emotions can be very pleasant, providing the spice of life. But when they get extreme, they can produce misery and even mental illness.

 

Music also evokes emotions. These appear to be somewhat different from those evoked in everyday life and so they are given a different term “aesthetic emotions”. These are one of the reasons that music is so universally popular. Mindfulness has been shown to improve the appreciation of music. It is not known, however, is mindfulness changes the emotional appreciation of music; aesthetic emotions.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Musical Aesthetic Emotion Processing.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648062/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1689544_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20210727_arts_A ) Liu and colleagues recruited college students who did not have any musical training or mindfulness meditation training. They were measured for mindfulness and positive and negative emotions and randomly assigned to either no further training or to receive a 10-minute mindfulness meditation training. After the training they listened to “15 music clips (duration 1 min) from the Chinese classical folk instrumental musical works” in a randomized order. Five of which were happy, 5 sad, and 5 calm. After each clip the students completed Likert scales of the recognition, experience, tension, beauty, and liking of the clips and the emotions experienced by the students when listening to the clips.

 

They found that in comparison to the control group, the group that received brief mindfulness meditation training were significantly less accurate in identifying the emotion portrayed in the clips, experienced significantly less emotion in themselves while listening to the clips, experienced reduced body awareness, and experienced a faster passage of time while listening to the music. The mindfulness training group also found the clips significantly more beautiful than the control group.

 

The brief mindfulness meditation reduced the recognition of the emotion of the music and the magnitude of the emotional responses to it. This is likely due to the ability of mindfulness to improve emotion regulation, allowing them to experience the emotion but not overly respond to it. Mindfulness also increased the experience of the beauty of the music, perhaps as a result to mindfulness increasing their attention to the music itself. The faster musical time perception experienced and lower body awareness by the mindfulness group may also be due to the increased attention to the music.

 

These are interesting results that suggest that mindfulness influences the effect of music on the listener, reducing emotional intensity, body awareness and time perception while listening, but increasing the perceived beauty of the music. Mindfulness appears to alter the aesthetic emotional appreciation of the music.

 

So, change the experience of music with mindfulness.

 

“Combining music with meditation can deepen the positive effects of both, and bring you greater stress relief.” – Elizabeth Scott

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Liu X, Liu Y, Shi H and Zheng M (2021) Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Musical Aesthetic Emotion Processing. Front. Psychol. 12:648062. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648062

 

Mindfulness meditation is a form of self-regulatory training for the mind and the body. The relationship between mindfulness meditation and musical aesthetic emotion processing (MAEP) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of temporary mindfulness meditation on MAEP while listening to Chinese classical folk instrumental musical works. A 2 [(groups: mindfulness meditation group (MMG); control group (CG)] × 3 (music emotions: calm music, happy music, and sad music) mixed experimental design and a convenience sample of university students were used to verify our hypotheses, which were based on the premise that temporary mindfulness meditation may affect MAEP (MMG vs. CG). Sixty-seven non-musically trained participants (65.7% female, age range: 18–22 years) were randomly assigned to two groups (MMG or CG). Participants in MMG were given a single 10-min recorded mindfulness meditation training before and when listening to music. The instruments for psychological measurement comprised of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Self-report results showed no significant between-group differences for PANAS and for the scores of four subscales of the FFMQ (p > 0.05 throughout), except for the non-judging of inner experience subscale. Results showed that temporary mindfulness meditation training decreased the negative emotional experiences of happy and sad music and the positive emotional experiences of calm music during recognition and experience and promoted beautiful musical experiences in individuals with no musical training. Maintaining a state of mindfulness while listening to music enhanced body awareness and led to experiencing a faster passage of musical time. In addition, it was found that Chinese classical folk instrumental musical works effectively induced aesthetic emotion and produced multidimensional aesthetic experiences among non-musically trained adults. This study provides new insights into the relationship between mindfulness and music emotion.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648062/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1689544_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20210727_arts_A

 

Mindfulness Practice at Home is Related to Improved Distress in Cancer Survivors

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Mindfulness Practice at Home is Related to Improved Distress in Cancer Survivors

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Cancer and its treatment can be stressful for people with cancer and their caregivers. Relaxation techniques and other mind/body practices can help calm your mind and sharpen your ability to focus. These techniques offer creative ways to reduce stress caused by cancer and maintain inner peace.” Rachel Barnhart

 

A cancer diagnosis has a huge impact on most people. Feelings of depression, anxiety, and fear are very common and are normal responses to this life-changing experience. These feeling can result from changes in body image, changes to family and work roles, feelings of grief at these losses, and physical symptoms such as pain, nausea, or fatigue. People might also fear death, suffering, pain, or all the unknown things that lie ahead. So, coping with the emotions and stress of a surviving cancer is a challenge and there are no simple treatments for these psychological sequelae of cancer.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to help with cancer recovery and help to alleviate many of the residual physical and psychological symptoms, including fatigue, stress,  sleep disturbance, fear, and anxiety and depression. Most mindfulness training programs include daily practice at home. Although it is assumed that home practice is important for the effectiveness of the intervention, it is not known how important home practice is to the effects of mindfulness practice on the physical and psychological well-being of cancer survivors.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review of Participants’ Adherence to Home Practice.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8200136/ ) Baydoun and colleagues review and summarize the published research studies of the relationship of home practice to the physical and psychological effects of mindfulness practice on cancer survivors.

 

They identified 21 published research studies that included a total of 1811 participants. They report that these published studies found that on average participants reported 23.5 minutes of daily home mindfulness practice, which was about 60% of what was recommended in the studies. They also report that the greater the amount of home practice by cancer survivors the greater the reduction in psychological distress.

 

These results suggest that adherence to recommended home practice is substantially less than recommended in the studies. But adherence is related to the psychological benefits obtained by cancer survivors. It has been assumed that home practice was important and this study suggests that it is indeed important. This suggests that future research protocols should include methods to optimize the amount of home mindfulness practice.

 

In addition, the results are correlative and as such causation cannot be determined. It is possible that people who tend to adhere to home practice recommendations are also the types of people who benefit the most from mindfulness-based interventions. So, future studies should manipulate the amount of home practice to determine causal relationships between this practice and the benefits obtained.

 

So, mindfulness practice at home is related to improved distress in cancer survivors.

 

“Cancer and its treatment can be stressful—for you and your caregivers. Practicing mindfulness and relaxation can help calm your mind, reduce stress, and sharpen your ability to focus.” – American Cancer Society

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are aalso available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Baydoun, M., Moran, C., McLennan, A., Piedalue, K. L., Oberoi, D., & Carlson, L. E. (2021). Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review of Participants’ Adherence to Home Practice. Patient preference and adherence, 15, 1225–1242. https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S267064

 

Abstract

Background

Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have demonstrated efficacy for alleviating psychological distress in cancer survivors, little is known about the extent to which participants adhere to assigned home practice. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize and appraise the literature on rates and correlates of adherence to mindfulness home practice among cancer survivors.

Methods

Four databases (PubMed, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, PsycInfo, and CINAHL) were searched for studies published before October 15, 2020. Articles were included if they evaluated the benefits of an MBI program for adults with cancer.

Results

Twenty-one studies (N=1811 participants) meeting the inclusion criteria were identified (randomized controlled trials (n=13), non-randomized controlled designs (n=2), single-group studies (n=6)). The pooled adherence rate for participants’ home practice was 60% of the assigned amount, which equated to 27 min per day during the intervention period. There was some evidence for a relationship between home practice of mindfulness techniques and improvements in mood, stress, anxiety, depression, and fear of cancer recurrence (correlation coefficients ranged from 0.33 to 0.67). Factors including marital status, mood disturbance at baseline, intervention modality, and personality traits were evaluated in relation to adherence to home practice, but the current literature was inadequate to evaluate whether a relationship exists.

Conclusion

Adherence to mindfulness home practice among cancer survivors is suboptimal, and most of the correlates of adherence studied to date are non-modifiable. More research is warranted to scrutinize the role of home practice in mindfulness-based interventions, including assessment of modifiable factors influencing adherence to improve benefits for this population.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8200136/