contemplative practice

Mindfulness Reduces Fatigue with Breast Cancer Patients Directly and Indirectly by Improving Psychological Health

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Mindfulness Reduces Fatigue with Breast Cancer Patients Directly and Indirectly by Improving Psychological Health

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Women who were more mindful tended to have lower symptoms of metastatic breast cancer, including pain severity and interference, fatigue, psychological distress, and sleep disturbance.” – Lauren Zimmaro

 

Because of great advances in treatment, many patients today are surviving cancer. But cancer survivors frequently suffer from anxiety, depression, mood disturbance, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep disturbance, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, loss of personal control, impaired quality of life, and psychiatric symptoms which have been found to persist even ten years after remission. Also, cancer survivors can have to deal with a heightened fear of reoccurrence. This is particularly true with metastatic cancer. So, safe and effective treatments for the symptoms in cancer and the physical and psychological effects of the treatments are needed.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to help with general cancer recovery . Mindfulness practice have been shown to improve the residual symptoms in cancer survivors. So, it’s reasonable to further explore the potential benefits of mindfulness practice to relieve fatigue in patients who have survived breast cancer.

 

In today’s Research News article “The relation between mindfulness and the fatigue of women with breast cancer: path analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7011601/), Ikeuchi and colleagues recruited adult women who had undergone surgery for breast cancer and 6 or more months had passed since their last cancer treatment. They completed self-report measures of fatigue, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the lower the levels of fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance and the higher the levels of anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance the higher the levels of fatigue. They then applied path modelling to examine the relationships of the variables. They found that high levels of mindfulness were not only directly associated with low levels of fatigue but also indirectly associated by way of high mindfulness being associated with low levels of anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance. These variables that were, in turn, associated with fatigue levels.

 

These results are correlational and as such caution must be exercised in inferring causation. Previous research, though, has demonstrated that mindfulness is causally related to lower levels of fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep. So, the present correlative results probably are due to these causal connections. Given this inference, then, the results suggest that mindfulness lowers fatigue in breast cancer patients by directly lowering fatigue and also by improving the psychological and physical health of the patients which also improves fatigue levels.

 

These results are important. After cancer treatment there are substantial and troubling residual physical and psychological symptoms. The findings suggest that mindfulness may be an important means to improve these symptoms and markedly improve the quality of life of patients who have been treated for breast cancer.

 

So, mindfulness reduces fatigue with breast cancer patients directly and indirectly by improving psychological health.

 

“mindfulness meditation can reduce stress and anxiety in the general population as well as in breast cancer survivors.” – Kathleen Doheny

 

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

 

Ikeuchi, K., Ishiguro, H., Nakamura, Y., Izawa, T., Shinkura, N., & Nin, K. (2020). The relation between mindfulness and the fatigue of women with breast cancer: path analysis. BioPsychoSocial medicine, 14, 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-020-0175-y

 

Abstract

Background

Although fatigue is a common and distressing symptom in cancer survivors, the mechanism of fatigue is not fully understood. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relation between the fatigue and mindfulness of breast cancer survivors using anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance as mediators.

Methods

Path analysis was performed to examine direct and indirect associations between mindfulness and fatigue. Participants were breast cancer survivors who visited a breast surgery department at a university hospital in Japan for hormonal therapy or regular check-ups after treatment. The questionnaire measured cancer-related-fatigue, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected from medical records.

Results

Two-hundred and seventy-nine breast cancer survivors were registered, of which 259 answered the questionnaire. Ten respondents with incomplete questionnaire data were excluded, resulting in 249 participants for the analyses. Our final model fit the data well (goodness of fit index = .993; adjusted goodness of fit index = .966; comparative fit index = .999; root mean square error of approximation = .016). Mindfulness, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance were related to fatigue, and mindfulness had the most influence on fatigue (β = − .52). Mindfulness affected fatigue not only directly but also indirectly through anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance.

Conclusions

The study model helps to explain the process by which mindfulness affects fatigue. Our results suggest that mindfulness has both direct and indirect effects on the fatigue of breast cancer survivors and that mindfulness can be used to more effectively reduce their fatigue. It also suggests that health care professionals should be aware of factors such as anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance in their care for fatigue of breast cancer survivors.

Trial registration

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7011601/

 

Improve Doctor’s Performance and Well-Being with Mindfulness

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Improve Doctor’s Performance and Well-Being with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Anyone whose work involves immense human suffering needs to be aware of their inner life. The nature of the work that physicians do makes [them] more vulnerable to negative emotions or making errors,” – Ronald Epstein

 

Stress is epidemic in the western workplace with almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. In high stress occupations, like healthcare, burnout is all too prevalent. Burnout is the fatigue, cynicism, emotional exhaustion, sleep disruption, and professional inefficacy that comes with work-related stress. It is estimated that over 45% of healthcare workers experience burnout. It not only affects the healthcare providers personally, but also the patients, as it produces a loss of empathy and compassion.

 

Improving the psychological health of doctors has to be a priority. Contemplative practices have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. Indeed, mindfulness has been shown to be helpful in treating and preventing burnout, increasing resilience, improving emotional regulation, and improving sleep. Hence, mindfulness may be a means to improve the performance and psychological health of doctors. Indeed, there have been a number of research studies on the topic. So, it makes sense to step back and summarize what has been found.

 

In today’s Research News article “The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on doctors’ well-being and performance: A systematic review.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7003865/), Scheepers and colleagues review and summarize the published research studies on the effects of mindfulness training on the performance and well-being of doctors. They report on 24 published studies.

 

They report that the published studies found that mindfulness-based trainings significantly improved the performance and well-being of doctors. This was true particularly for group based mindfulness trainings and for trainings such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) that contained multiple elements of mindfulness trainings. There are “five different elements: (i) integration of mindfulness theory; (ii) provision of didactic information on mindfulness; (iii) development of self‐awareness about thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations; (iv) promotion of attentive and behavioural self‐regulation and positive qualities (curiosity, joy, compassion), and (v) training of meditation practice.” These positive effects were reported across different educational and hospital settings and equally for residents and specialists.

 

The accumulating evidence makes a convincing case for the efficacy of mindfulness-based trainings to improve the performance and well-being of physicians. This should improve their impacts on their patients’ health and should reduce the likelihood of eventual burnout. Although, the review did not focus on mechanisms it is likely that mindfulness has these effects by improving the doctors’ ability to withstand stress and improve their ability to effectively deal with their emotions.

 

So, improve doctor’s performance and well-being with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness is especially suited to physicians, because it can help counteract the worrying, perfectionism and self-judgment that are so common among doctors.” – WellMD

 

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

 

Scheepers, R. A., Emke, H., Epstein, R. M., & Lombarts, K. (2020). The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on doctors’ well-being and performance: A systematic review. Medical education, 54(2), 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14020

 

Abstract

Objectives

The well‐being of doctors is at risk, as evidenced by high burnout rates amongst doctors around the world. Alarmingly, burned‐out doctors are more likely to exhibit low levels of professionalism and provide suboptimal patient care. Research suggests that burnout and the well‐being of doctors can be improved by mindfulness‐based interventions (MBIs). Furthermore, MBIs may improve doctors’ performance (eg in empathy). However, there are no published systematic reviews that clarify the effects of MBIs on doctor well‐being or performance to inform future research and professional development programmes. We therefore systematically reviewed and narratively synthesised findings on the impacts of MBIs on doctors’ well‐being and performance.

Methods

We searched PubMed and PsycINFO from inception to 9 May 2018 and independently reviewed studies investigating the effects of MBIs on doctor well‐being or performance. We systematically extracted data and assessed study quality according to the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI), and narratively reported study findings.

Results

We retrieved a total of 934 articles, of which 24 studies met our criteria; these included randomised, (un)controlled or qualitative studies of average quality. Effects varied across MBIs with different training contents or formats: MBIs including essential mindfulness training elements, or employing group‐based training, mostly showed positive effects on the well‐being or performance of doctors across different educational and hospital settings. Doctors perceived both benefits (enhanced self‐ and other‐understanding) and challenges (time limitations and feasibility) associated with MBIs. Findings were subject to the methodological limitations of studies (eg the use of self‐selected participants, lack of placebo interventions, use of self‐reported outcomes).

Conclusions

This review indicates that doctors can perceive positive impacts of MBIs on their well‐being and performance. However, the evidence was subject to methodological limitations and does not yet support the standardisation of MBIs in professional development programmes. Rather, health care organisations could consider including group‐based MBIs as voluntary modules for doctors with specific well‐being needs or ambitions regarding professional development.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7003865/

Reduce Alcohol-Related Choices to Alleviate Stress with Brief Meditation

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Reduce Alcohol-Related Choices to Alleviate Stress with Brief Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Meditation has a pretty long list of reputed benefits, including everything from lowered stress levels to more effective (and mood-boosting) runs. It can help curb your craving for cocktails.” –  Rachel Lapidos

 

Inappropriate use of alcohol is a major societal problem. In fact, about 25% of US adults have engaged in binge drinking in the last month and 7% have what is termed an alcohol use disorder. Alcohol abuse is very dangerous and frequently fatal. Nearly 88,000 people in the US and 3.3 million globally die from alcohol-related causes annually, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Drunk driving accounted for over 10,000 deaths; 31% of all driving fatalities. Excessive alcohol intake has been shown to contribute to over 200 diseases including alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis, cancers, and injuries. It is estimated that over 5% of the burden of disease and injury worldwide is attributable to alcohol consumption. These are striking and alarming statistics and indicate that controlling alcohol intake is an important priority for the individual and society

 

It has been found that mindfulness training has been successfully applied to treating alcohol abuse. It appears to increase the ability of the drinker to control alcohol intake. Stress appears to increase cravings for alcohol and mindfulness training has been shown to reduce responses to stress. Since, mindfulness appears to hold promise as a treatment for excessive alcohol intake, there is a need to examine the ability of meditation training in reducing alcohol-related choices in response to stress.

 

In today’s Research News article “Ultra-brief breath counting (mindfulness) training promotes recovery from stress-induced alcohol-seeking in student drinkers.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6959458/), Shuai and colleagues recruited university students who were not teetotalers. They viewed pairs of pictures of alcohol or food and were asked to choose one for enlargement. Then they were randomly assigned to listen to a 6-minute recording of either a passage from a book or breath counting instructions and counted their breaths. They then repeated the picture choice task but with loud and unpleasant industrial noise playing. They rated their subjective levels of happiness and annoyance before testing, after listening to the recordings, and at the end of the final picture choice session.

 

They found that the breath counting participants had a significant increase in happiness and decrease in annoyance following the breath counting while the control participants had a significant decrease in happiness and increase in annoyance. Also, the breath counting participants were significantly happier and less annoyed than the control participants after the stressful picture choice condition. Finally, they found that in the stressful condition both groups increased their choice of alcohol related pictures but the breath counting group decreased their choices of alcohol related pictures over time while the control group did not.

 

This is an interesting laboratory study. But it should be kept in mind that the findings may or may not apply to real-world alcohol seeking. But the findings suggest that a very brief session of breath counting increases happiness and decreases feelings of annoyance and makes the participants more resistant to stress reducing happiness and increasing annoyance and allows the participants to recover faster from stress effects on alcohol choices.

 

These results suggest that brief breath counting meditation improves mood and makes the participants recover faster from choosing alcohol-related following stress. These results may suggest how meditation improves drinkers’ ability to better control their intake. It does so by improving mood and decreasing the effect of stress on mood and alcohol intake.

 

So, reduce alcohol-related choices to alleviate stress with brief meditation.

 

“There are many practices and applications of meditation to stop drinking. Meditation teaches us that we don’t have to react to dispiriting thoughts and cravings. We learn that we have choices, and can choose to remain in the present moment while acknowledging the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that habitually trigger maladjusted behavior. We learn that letting go and self-acceptance are possible, and that they are enough.” – Mindworks

 

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

 

Shuai, R., Bakou, A. E., Hardy, L., & Hogarth, L. (2020). Ultra-brief breath counting (mindfulness) training promotes recovery from stress-induced alcohol-seeking in student drinkers. Addictive behaviors, 102, 106141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106141

 

Abstract

The therapeutic effect of mindfulness interventions on problematic drinking is thought to be driven by increased resilience to the impact of stress on negative mood and alcohol-seeking behaviour, but this claim needs empirical support. To address this hypothesis, the current study tested whether brief training of one component of mindfulness – breath counting – would reduce drinkers’ sensitivity to the effect of noise stress on subjective mood and alcohol-seeking behaviour. Baseline alcohol-seeking was measured by choice to view alcohol versus food thumbnail pictures in 192 student drinkers. Participants then received a 6-minute audio file which either trained breath counting or recited a popular science extract, in separate groups. All participants were then stressed by a loud industrial noise and alcohol-seeking was measured again simultaneously to quantify the change from baseline. Subjective mood was measured after all three stages (baseline, post intervention, post stress test). The breath counting group were instructed to deploy this technique during the stress test. Results showed that the breath counting versus control intervention improved subjective mood relative to baseline, attenuated the worsening of subjective mood produced by stress induction, and accelerated recovery from a stress induced increase in alcohol-seeking behaviour. Exploratory moderation analysis showed that this accelerated recovery from stress induced alcohol-seeking by breath counting was weaker in more alcohol dependent participants. Mindfulness therapies may improve problematic drinking by increasing resilience to stress induced negative mood and alcohol-seeking, as observed in this study. The weaker therapeutic effect of breath counting in more dependent drinkers may reveal limitations to this intervention strategy.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6959458/

 

Lower Opioid Cravings are Associated with Lower Depression, Higher Self-Regulation, and Higher Mindfulness

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Lower Opioid Cravings are Associated with Lower Depression, Higher Self-Regulation, and Higher Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness-based interventions could help people dependent on opioids increase their self-awareness and self-control over cravings and be less reactive to emotional and physical pain.” – Science Daily

 

Substance abuse and addiction is a terrible problem, especially opioid pain relievers. Opioid addiction has become epidemic and is rapidly increasing affecting more than 2 million Americans and an estimated 15 million people worldwide. In the U.S more than 20,000 deaths yearly were attributed to an overdose of prescription opioids, and another 13,000 deaths from heroin overdose. These statistics, although startling are only the tip of the iceberg. Drug use is associated with suicide, homicide, motor-vehicle injury, HIV infection, pneumonia, violence, mental illness, and hepatitis. It can render the individual ineffective at work, it tears apart families, it makes the individual dangerous both driving and not.

 

An effective treatment for addiction has been elusive. Most programs and therapies to treat addictions have poor success rates. Recent research is indicating that mindfulness has been found to be effective in treating addictions. One way that mindfulness may produce these benefits is by reducing cravings for opioids. It may also do so by affecting the ability of the addict to regulate their emotions. Indeed, mindfulness has been shown to improve emotional regulation.

 

In today’s Research News article “Autonomic and affective mediators of the relationship between mindfulness and opioid craving among chronic pain patients. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6355352/), Baker and Garland recruited non-cancer chronic pain patients who were taking opioid analgesics and had them complete self-report measures of mindfulness, opioid craving, and depression. They also measured their heart rates with an electrocardiogram (ECG) while looking at either neutral pictures or “opioid-related image (e.g., pills, pill bottles).” These data were analyzed to determine heart rate variability as a measure of the activity of the peripheral autonomic nervous system.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of heart rate variability while looking at opioid-related pictures. And the lower the levels of depression and opioid cravings. Also, the higher the levels of depression, the higher the levels of opioid cravings. Employing a multivariate path analysis, they found that mindfulness was not associated with lower opioid cravings directly, but indirectly via mindfulness’ associations with heart rate variability and depression. That is, they found that mindfulness was associated with higher heart rate variability which was in turn associated with lower opioid cravings and also with lower depression which was in turn associated with lower opioid cravings.

 

Heart rate variability is thought to measure the nervous systems adjustments to the physiology involved in regulating its physical responses to stimuli. In other words, it’s a measure of self-regulation. The present results suggest that mindfulness is associated with greater self-regulation and this is associated with lower cravings for opioids. The results also suggest that depression is associated with higher cravings for opioids and that mindfulness interrupts this by being associated with lower depression.

 

These results are correlative and as such causation cannot be determined. Nevertheless, prior research has demonstrated causal links between mindfulness and lower cravings and depression. So, the present results likely result from causal connections. The findings also suggest the mechanism whereby mindfulness may lower cravings by contributing to the ability to regulate physical responses to opioid-related stimuli and by reducing depression. These results provide more support for the use of mindfulness training as a treatment for addictions.

 

So, lower opioid cravings are associated with lower depression, higher self-regulation, and higher mindfulness.

 

“people suffering from opioid addiction and chronic pain may have fewer cravings and less pain when adding mindfulness to the traditional methadone treatment.” – Grace Bullock

 

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

 

Baker, A. K., & Garland, E. L. (2019). Autonomic and affective mediators of the relationship between mindfulness and opioid craving among chronic pain patients. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 27(1), 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000225

 

Abstract

Prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients is associated with self-regulatory deficits, affective distress and opioid cue reactivity. Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with enhanced self-regulation, lower distress, and adaptive autonomic responses following drug cue exposure. We hypothesized that dispositional mindfulness might serve as a protective factor among opioid-treated chronic pain patients. We examined heart rate variability (HRV) during exposure to opioid cues and depressed mood as mediators of the association between dispositional mindfulness and opioid craving. Data were obtained from a sample of chronic pain patients (N=115) receiving long-term opioid pharmacotherapy. Participants self-reported opioid craving and depression, and HRV was measured during an opioid-cue dot probe task. Dispositional mindfulness was significantly positively correlated with HRV, and HRV was significantly inversely associated with opioid craving. Dispositional mindfulness was significantly negatively correlated with depression, and depression was significantly positively correlated with opioid craving. Path analysis revealed significant indirect effects of dispositional mindfulness on craving through both HRV and depression. Dispositional mindfulness may buffer against opioid craving among chronic pain patients prescribed opioids; this buffering effect may be a function of improved autonomic and affective responses.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6355352/

 

Online Mindfulness Training Improves Clinical Anxiety and Depression

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Online Mindfulness Training Improves Clinical Anxiety and Depression

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“adding MMB [mindfulness training] to depression care led to greater reductions in depressive and anxious symptoms, higher rates of remission and higher levels of quality of life compared to patients receiving conventional depression care alone.” – Traci Pederson

 

Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive research to be effective in improving physical and psychological health and particularly with the physical and psychological reactions to stress. They have been shown to be very helpful in treating anxiety and depression. The vast majority of the mindfulness training techniques, however, require a certified trained therapist. This results in costs that many clients can’t afford. In addition, the participants must be available to attend multiple sessions at particular scheduled times that may or may not be compatible with their busy schedules and at locations that may not be convenient.

 

As an alternative, mindfulness training programs have been developed to be implemented over the internet. These have 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 which forms of online mindfulness trainings are most effective for inducing mindfulness and improving the treatment of anxiety and depression.

 

In today’s Research News article “Transdiagnostic internet-delivered CBT and mindfulness-based treatment for depression and anxiety: A randomised controlled trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044661/), Kladnitski and colleagues recruited online adults with a variety of either depression or anxiety disorders and randomly assigned them to receive either a 17-week internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness enhanced internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, internet-based mindfulness training, or treatment-as-usual. “The programs consisted of six comic-style, story-based lessons, downloadable lesson summaries, reflective worksheets, and extra support materials including frequently asked questions and troubleshooting of common difficulties.” They were measured before, during, and after treatment and 3 months later for psychological illnesses, anxiety, depression, psychological distress, and functional impairment.

 

They found compared to baseline and the treatment-as-usual control group, there were large and highly significant decreases in anxiety, depression, functional impairment and psychological distress. These improvements were present both at the end of treatment and at the 3-month follow-up. There were no significant differences between the effectiveness of the 3 interventions. There were no adverse events reported. At the 3-month follow-up 60% to 73% of the treated participants improved to the point that they no longer met the criteria for a clinical diagnosis of an anxiety or depressive disorder.

 

It is interesting that the 3 different treatments did not differ in effectiveness. Each has been previously been demonstrated to be effective in treating anxiety and depressive disorders and it appears that their efficacy is almost equivalent. This suggests that patients can self-select the treatment that most appeals to them, improving completion rates, compliance, and perhaps effectiveness.

 

These are exciting and important findings. It has been previously demonstrated that mindfulness training can alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression. The advance here is in demonstrating that therapy delivered over the internet is safe, effective, and lasting in treating anxiety or depressive disorders. Internet delivery of treatment can be implemented conveniently, at low cost. and over wide areas making the therapy available to large numbers of patients who previously could not access treatment.

 

So, online mindfulness training improves clinical anxiety and depression.

 

“Mindfulness and other meditations, particularly combined with cognitive therapy, work just as well for anxiety or depression as the medications do, but they don’t have those side effects,” – Daniel Goleman

 

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

 

Kladnitski, N., Smith, J., Uppal, S., James, M. A., Allen, A. R., Andrews, G., & Newby, J. M. (2020). Transdiagnostic internet-delivered CBT and mindfulness-based treatment for depression and anxiety: A randomised controlled trial. Internet Interventions, 20, 100310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2020.100310

 

Abstract

Aim

To examine the efficacy of transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT), mindfulness-enhanced iCBT, and stand-alone online mindfulness training compared with a usual care control group (TAU) for clinical anxiety and depression.

Method

Individuals (N = 158) with a DSM-5 diagnosis of a depressive and/or anxiety disorder were randomised to one of the three clinician-guided online interventions, or TAU over a 14-week intervention period. The primary outcomes were self-reported depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) severity at post-treatment. Secondary outcomes included adherence rates, functional impairment (WHODAS-II), general distress (K−10), and diagnostic status at the 3-month follow-up (intervention groups).

Results

All three programs achieved significant and large reductions in symptoms of depression (g = 0.89–1.53), anxiety (g = 1.04–1.40), and distress (g = 1.25–1.76); and medium to large reductions in functional impairment (g = 0.53–0.98) from baseline to post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. Intention-to-treat linear mixed models showed that all three online programs were superior to usual care at reducing symptoms of depression (g = 0.89–1.18) and anxiety (g = 1.00–1.23).

Conclusion

Transdiagnostic iCBT, mindfulness-enhanced iCBT and online mindfulness training are more efficacious for treating depression and anxiety disorders than usual care, and represent an accessible treatment option for these disorders.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044661/

 

Mindfulness Improves Depression in Real-World Healthcare Applications

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Mindfulness Improves Depression in Real-World Healthcare Applications

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Rather than try to avoid or eliminate sadness or other negative emotions, one learns to change their relationship with these emotions by practicing meditation and other mindfulness exercises.” – Psychology Today

 

Clinically diagnosed depression is the most common mental illness, affecting over 6% of the population. Major depression can be quite debilitating. Depression can be difficult to treat and is usually treated with anti-depressive medication. But, of patients treated initially with drugs only about a third attained remission of the depression. After repeated and varied treatments including drugs, therapy, exercise etc. only about two thirds of patients attained remission. But drugs often have troubling side effects and can lose effectiveness over time. In addition, many patients who achieve remission have relapses and recurrences of the depression. Even after remission some symptoms of depression may still be present (residual symptoms).

 

Being depressed and not responding to treatment or relapsing is a terribly difficult situation. The patients are suffering and nothing appears to work to relieve their intense depression. Suicide becomes a real possibility. So, it is imperative that other treatments be identified that can relieve the suffering. Mindfulness training is an alternative treatment for depression. It has been shown to be an effective treatment for depression and its recurrence and even in the cases where drugs fail. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was specifically developed to treat depression. MBCT involves mindfulness training, containing sitting, walking and body scan meditations, and cognitive therapy that attempts to teach patients to distinguish between thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behaviors, and to recognize irrational thinking styles and how they affect behavior.

 

There has been considerable research demonstrating that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective in treating depression. Most of the work has been done in controlled research situations. At this point an examination is needed of how effective MBCT is when employed routinely in healthcare settings.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in Real-World Healthcare Services.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6995449/), Tickell and colleagues extracted the data from 1554 participants in group Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programs. They obtained data on the patients sociodemographic status, depression levels and attendance at MBCT sessions.

 

On average the patients attended 6.37 of the 8 MBCT sessions. They report that after the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program there was significant reductions in depression with small to medium effect sizes. Of those participants who were clinically depressed 45% were recovered and 34% were reliably recovered after MBCT. There were no differences in improvement in depression for different ages or genders.

 

These results were not from highly controlled randomized clinical trials. Rather they were from real-world clinical applications of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for the treatment of depression. There is ample evidence from controlled trials that mindfulness training and MBCT in particular are effective in reducing depression. The strength of the current study is that it demonstrates that when MBCT is implemented by clinicians in typical treatment settings it is also effective in reducing depression.

 

So, mindfulness improves depression in real-world healthcare applications.

 

“Mindfulness and other meditations, particularly combined with cognitive therapy, work just as well for anxiety or depression as the medications do, but they don’t have those side effects,” – Daniel Goleman

 

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

 

Tickell, A., Ball, S., Bernard, P., Kuyken, W., Marx, R., Pack, S., Strauss, C., Sweeney, T., & Crane, C. (2020). The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in Real-World Healthcare Services. Mindfulness, 11(2), 279–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-1087-9

 

Abstract

Depression is common with a high risk of relapse/recurrence. There is evidence from multiple randomised controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrating the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for the prevention of depressive relapse/recurrence, and it is included in several national clinical guidelines for this purpose. However, little is known about whether MBCT is being delivered safely and effectively in real-world healthcare settings. In the present study, five mental health services from a range of regions in the UK contributed data (n = 1554) to examine the impact of MBCT on depression outcomes. Less than half the sample (n = 726, 47%) entered with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores in the non-depressed range, the group for whom MBCT was originally intended. Of this group, 96% sustained their recovery (remained in the non-depressed range) across the treatment period. There was also a significant reduction in residual symptoms, consistent with a reduced risk of depressive relapse. The rest of the sample (n = 828, 53%) entered treatment with PHQ-9 scores in the depressed range. For this group, 45% recovered (PHQ-9 score entered the non-depressed range), and overall, there was a significant reduction in depression severity from pre-treatment to post-treatment. For both subgroups, the rate of reliable deterioration (3%) was comparable to other psychotherapeutic interventions delivered in similar settings. We conclude that MBCT is being delivered effectively and safely in routine clinical settings, although its use has broadened from its original target population to include people experiencing current depression. Implications for implementation are discussed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6995449/

 

Improve Body Size, Endocrine Function, and Anxiety in Anxious Obese Children with Mindfulness

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Improve Body Size, Endocrine Function, and Anxiety in Anxious Obese Children with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is a promising tool to be used as an adjunctive therapy for childhood obesity, either because of its potential to decrease stress or because it could counter act the stressful condition imposed by a restrictive dietary regimen,” – Mardia López-Alarcón

 

Obesity has become an epidemic in the industrialized world. In the U.S. the incidence of obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above has more than doubled over the last 35 years to currently around 35% of the population, while two thirds of the population are considered overweight or obese (BMI > 25). Sadly, children and adolescents have not been spared with 1 in 5 school age children and young people (6 to 19 years) classified as obese.

 

Although the incidence rates have appeared to stabilize, the fact that over a third of the population is considered obese is very troubling. This is because of the health consequences of obesity. Obesity has been found to shorten life expectancy by eight years and extreme obesity by 14 years. This occurs because obesity is associated with cardiovascular problems such as coronary heart disease and hypertension, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and others.

 

Obviously, there is a need for effective treatments to prevent or treat obesity. But, despite copious research and a myriad of dietary and exercise programs, there still is no safe and effective treatment. Mindfulness is known to be associated with lower risk for obesity, alter eating behavior and improve health in obesity. This suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective treatment for overeating and obesity in children alone or in combination with other therapies. It would seem reasonable to attack the problem early in life with the children and adolescents. Hence, the benefits of mindfulness practice for obese children should be investigated.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness affects stress, ghrelin, and BMI of obese children: a clinical trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7040861/), López-Alarcón and colleagues recruited obese children and adolescents aged 10-17 years who scored high in anxiety levels and provided them with an 8-week, once a week for a half hour conventional nutritional intervention including recommendations for a 700 Kcal reduction in intake. They were then randomly assigned to receive either no further treatment or to receive an 8-week, once a week for 2 hours Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction-Eat Mindful program based upon the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program consisting on training in meditation, body scan, breathing exercises, mindful eating, and discussions of using mindfulness in everyday life. They were measured before and after the program and 8 weeks later for body size, perceived stress, and anxiety. Blood was drawn and assayed for insulin, cortisol, ghrelin, and leptin and a salivary sample was assayed for cortisol levels.

 

They found that in comparison to the baseline and the nutritional intervention only, the children and adolescents who received mindfulness training had significant reduction in anxiety levels of all forms, including phobias, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and separation anxiety. Also, there were significant reductions in body fat, cortisol, and ghrelin levels. In addition, at the 8- and 16-week follow-ups there were significant reductions in body size.

 

These are exciting results. Childhood obesity is major problem and the results of this study suggests that a mindfulness training program combined with a conventional nutritional intervention is safe and effective in improving the physical and psychological effects of obesity and in reducing body size. Mindfulness interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety in adults. But these programs have been found to have only small or mixed effectiveness in the treatment of adult obesity. But the present results suggest that mindfulness interventions may be particularly effective when applied to obese children and adolescents. A long-term follow up of these children is needed to determine the long-term effectiveness of mindfulness training.

 

So, improve body size, endocrine function, and anxiety in anxious obese children with mindfulness.

 

“We think mindfulness could recalibrate the imbalance in the brain connections associated with childhood obesity,” – Ronald Cowan

 

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

 

López-Alarcón, M., Zurita-Cruz, J. N., Torres-Rodríguez, A., Bedia-Mejía, K., Pérez-Güemez, M., Jaramillo-Villanueva, L., Rendón-Macías, M. E., Fernández, J. R., & Martínez-Maroñas, P. (2020). Mindfulness affects stress, ghrelin, and BMI of obese children: a clinical trial. Endocrine connections, 9(2), 163–172. https://doi.org/10.1530/EC-19-0461

 

Abstract

Childhood obesity is associated with stress. However, most treatment strategies include only dietary and physical activity approaches. Mindfulness may assist in weight reduction, but its effectiveness is unclear. We assessed the effect of mindfulness on stress, appetite regulators, and weight of children with obesity and anxiety. A clinical study was conducted in a pediatric hospital. Eligible children were 10–14 years old, BMI ≥95th percentile, Spence anxiety score ≥55, and who were not taking any medication or supplementation. Participants were assigned to receive an 8-week conventional nutritional intervention (CNI) or an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention plus CNI (MND-CNI). Anthropometry, body composition, leptin, insulin, ghrelin, cortisol, and Spence scores were measured at baseline and at the end of the intervention. Anthropometry was analyzed again 8 weeks after concluding interventions. Log-transformed and delta values were calculated for analysis. Thirty-three MND-CNI and 12 CNI children finished interventions; 17 MND-CNI children accomplished 16 weeks. At the end of the intervention, significant reductions in anxiety score (−6.21 ± 1.10), BMI (−0.45 ± 1.2 kg/m2), body fat (−1.28 ± 0.25%), ghrelin (−0.71 ± 0.37 pg/mL), and serum cortisol (−1.42 ± 0.94 µg/dL) were observed in MND-CNI children. Changes in anxiety score, ghrelin, and cortisol were different between groups (P < 0.05). Children who completed 16 weeks decreased BMI after intervention (−0.944 ± 0.20 kg/m2, P < 0.001) and remained lower 8 weeks later (−0.706 ± 0.19 kg/m2, P = 0.001). We concluded that mindfulness is a promising tool as an adjunctive therapy for childhood obesity. However, our findings need confirmation in a larger sample population.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7040861/

 

Mindful Nurses are Better Nurses

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Mindful Nurses are Better Nurses

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness practice helps nurses to be more fully present with their patients and themselves. The ability to pay attention to what is happening “right now,” in this room with this patient, and not be distracted by other demands and concerns, creates space to use your wisdom and knowledge effectively and with care for the dignity of each patient. Being more present to your own experience and habitual responses increases your ability to manage stress and enhances decision-making, well-being, and self-efficacy.” – Sandra Bernstein

 

In high stress occupations, like nursing, burnout is all too prevalent. Burnout is the fatigue, cynicism, emotional exhaustion, sleep disruption, and professional inefficacy that comes with work-related stress. It is estimated that over 45% of healthcare workers experience burnout. It not only affects the healthcare providers personally, but also the patients, as it produces a loss of empathy and compassion. Burnout, in fact, it is a threat to the entire healthcare system. Currently, over a third of healthcare workers report that they are looking for a new job. Hence, burnout contributes to the shortage of doctors and nurses.

 

It is beyond the ability of the individual to change the environment to reduce stress and prevent burnout. So, it is important that methods be found to reduce the individual’s responses to stress; to make the individual more resilient when high levels of stress occur and thereby make them better in their roles as healthcare providers. Mindfulness has been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress and improve well-being. Indeed, mindfulness has been shown to be helpful in treating and preventing burnout, increasing resilience, and improving sleep. Hence, mindfulness may be a means to reduce burnout and improve well-being, dedication, and compassion in nurses.

 

In today’s Research News article “The mediating role of cognitive and affective empathy in the relationship of mindfulness with engagement in nursing.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6947930/), Pérez-Fuentes and colleagues recruited Spanish nurses and had them complete measures of mindfulness, empathy, including measures of cognitive and affective empathy, and work engagement including measures of vitality, dedication and absorption.

 

A correlational analysis revealed that the higher the level of mindfulness the higher the level of work engagement including vitality, dedication and absorption and cognitive empathy, and the lower the level of affective empathy. A mediation analysis of these data revealed that mindfulness had direct associations and also indirect associations via cognitive empathy with higher work engagement including vitality, dedication and absorption. That is that mindfulness was directly associated with work engagement and also indirectly associated as a result of mindfulness being associated with higher cognitive empathy that was, in turn, associated with higher work engagement.

 

These findings are correlational and as such causation cannot be established. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that mindful nurses have greater levels of energy (vigor), feel greater challenge and enthusiasm for their work (dedication), have greater attention to and concentration on their work (absorption), and have a better intellectual understanding of the feelings of others (cognitive empathy). In addition, mindful nurses, because they have higher levels of cognitive empathy, have additionally higher levels of work engagement.

 

These findings suggest that mindfulness is an important contributor to the work engagement, vigor, and absorption of nurses. This suggests that mindful nurses are better nurses. Future research should attempt to determine causation by training the nurses in mindfulness and observing whether work engagement increases and burnout decreases as a result of the training.

 

So, mindful nurses are better nurses.

 

“Nursing is a high-stress profession that may be taking a toll on our nurses. Mindfulness-based programs can help nurses develop skills to manage clinical stress and improve their health; increase overall attention, empathy, and presence with patients and families; and experience work satisfaction, serenity, decreased incidental overtime, and reduced job burnout.” – Sue Penque

 

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

 

Pérez-Fuentes, M., Gázquez Linares, J. J., Molero Jurado, M., Simón Márquez, M., & Martos Martínez, Á. (2020). The mediating role of cognitive and affective empathy in the relationship of mindfulness with engagement in nursing. BMC public health, 20(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-8129-7

 

Abstract

Background

The work of health professionals is characterized by a high demand for psychological and emotional resources and high levels of stress. Therefore, the promotion of commitment and job well-being through strategies such as increased mindfulness, is important among nursing workers. Although mindfulness has shown positive effects in the health field, few studies have explored the mechanisms and processes underlying these results. We investigated the mediating role of empathy (cognitive/affective) in the effect of mindfulness on the dimensions of engagement in nursing professionals.

Methods

Sample was comprised of 1268 Spanish nurses between 22 and 62 years old, that completed the Utrecht Labor Engagement Scale and the adapted versions of Mindful Attention Awareness Scale and Basic Empathy Scale. The relationship between variables to be included in the regression analyses, bivariate correlations were carried out, and the descriptive statistics of these variables were also found. To estimate the mediation model was used, in this case for multiple mediation effects.

Results

Mindfulness is found to affect the Vigor and Dedication factors of engagement through cognitive empathy. While for the Absorption factor, the affective component of empathy also exerts a mediating role, although weaker than cognitive empathy. Cognitive empathy, as an individual factor, was shown to have a mediating effect between mindfulness and the factors of engagement in healthcare workers.

Conclusions

The level of mindfulness influences engagement of nursing professionals positively, and this result is mediated mainly by cognitive empathy. Both mindfulness and empathy are modifiable individual factors, so their intervention by designing and implementing specific programs, can increase the commitment and wellbeing of professionals generating benefits to workers and to their patients.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6947930/

 

Improve the Quality of Life of Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Mindfulness

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Improve the Quality of Life of Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness can improve quality of life and help people cope better with their MS. Various studies found that mindfulness decreased pain, stress, anxiety and depression.” – MS Trust

 

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a progressive demyelinating disease which attacks the coating on the neural axons which send messages throughout the body and nervous system. It affects about 2 million people worldwide and about 400,000 in the U.S. It is most commonly diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 50 years.  Unfortunately, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis. There are a number of approved medications that are used to treat MS but are designed to lessen frequency of relapses and slow the progression of the disease, but they don’t address individual symptoms.

 

Although there is a progressive deterioration, MS is not fatal with MS patients having about the same life expectancy as the general population. Hence, most MS sufferers have to live with the disease for many years. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.  Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a mindfulness training program that involves meditation, yoga, body scan, discussion. and daily practice at home.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Therapy on Quality of Life in Women with Multiple Sclerosis, Ahvaz, Iran.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6942645/), Kolahkaj and colleagues examine the ability of MBSR training to improve the quality of life of women with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). They recruited women with Multiple Sclerosis and randomly assigned them to receive either a 2-hour, once a week, for 8 weeks program of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or treatment as usual. They were measured before and after treatment and 2 months later for quality of life, pain, physical function, and mental and physical health.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the treatment as usual group, the patients who received Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) practice had significantly better general health, physical function, vitality, mental health, physical, social, and emotional quality of life, and bodily pain.

 

These results are quite striking and corroborate previous findings that mindfulness training can significantly improve the mental health and quality of life of patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Future research should include an active comparison condition such as exercise to eliminate potential bias effects. Nevertheless, the results clearly demonstrate that mindfulness training markedly improvove the physical and mental condition of women with Multiple Sclerosis.

 

So, improve the quality of life of Multiple Sclerosis patients with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness helped them begin to let go of the frustration that they can’t control [the disease],” They were able to accept their MS, reduce their stress, and hopefully, improve the quality of their lives.” – Ed Tobias

 

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

 

Kolahkaj, B., Zargar, F., & Majdinasab, N. (2018). The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Therapy on Quality of Life in Women with Multiple Sclerosis, Ahvaz, Iran. Journal of caring sciences, 8(4), 213–217. https://doi.org/10.15171/jcs.2019.030

 

Abstract

Introduction: Low quality of life is one of the most common symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) which can reduce satisfaction with life, as well as increase death ratio and neuro-mental problems. The present study aimed to determine the effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) therapy on the quality of life in women with Multiple sclerosis in the city of Ahvaz.

Methods: Forty eight patients who had referred to neurologists were selected by convenient sampling and were assigned into two groups (MBSR and control) randomly. The participants of the two groups answered the 36-item quality of life questionnaire. The experimental group was under treatment for 8 sessions while the control group did not receive any psychological treatment. Data were analyzed, using SPSSver.13 software by repeated measures analysis of variance.

Results: In the MBSR group, the mean subscales of QOL had more significant reduction compare to control group. Also the improvement of all subscales of mental and physical QOL continued after two months later in follow up stage.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that MBSR is useful for improving the quality of life in patients with MS.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6942645/

 

Improve Emotion Regulation and Attention with Zen Meditation

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Improve Emotion Regulation and Attention with Zen Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. And these benefits don’t end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and may help you manage symptoms of certain medical conditions.” – Mayo Clinic

 

Over the last several decades, research and anecdotal experiences have accumulated an impressive evidential case that the development of mindfulness has positive benefits for the individual’s mental, physical, and spiritual life. Mindfulness appears to be beneficial both for healthy people and for people suffering from a myriad of mental and physical illnesses. It appears to be beneficial across ages, from children to the elderly. And it appears to be beneficial across genders, personalities, race, and ethnicity. The breadth and depth of benefits is unprecedented. There is no other treatment or practice that has been shown to come anyway near the range of mindfulness’ positive benefits.

 

There is a vast array of techniques for the development of mindfulness. They include a variety of forms of meditation, yoga, mindful movements, contemplative prayer, and combinations of practices. Zen meditation has been practiced for centuries but has only recently been studied with empirical science.

 

In today’s Research News article “Zen meditation neutralizes emotional evaluation, but not implicit affective processing of words.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029852/), Lusnig and colleagues recruited adult experienced meditators and meditation naïve participants. The meditators engaged in a 90-minute Zen meditation session while the control group watched a neutral 90-minute documentary movie. They were measured before and after the session for attention, concentration, intelligence, and personality, and performed a lexical decision task to positive and negative emotion laden words, and neutral words varying in arousal level. They also reported the emotional valence of the words from -3 as very negative to +3 as very positive.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the comparison group after the single meditation session, the meditators rated the valence of the emotion laden words as more neutral and detected words significantly faster. The researchers interpreted these findings as indicative of meditation increasing attention (faster response times) and decreasing emotionality (neutralized valence ratings).

 

These findings are not surprising in that previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness practices improve attention and improve emotion regulation. They are surprising, however, in demonstrating that a single meditation session with experienced meditators is sufficient to activate these effects. It would have been interesting to also look at the effects of a meditation session on the meditation naïve participants to determine if the effects were due to meditation in general or to a difference in the effects of meditation on experienced versus naïve meditators.

 

So, improve emotion regulation and attention with Zen meditation.

 

“mindfulness meditation preaches accepting and letting go of negative emotions. Practicing this sort of behavior, scientists say, seems to improve meditators’ ability to control their emotions even when they’re not meditating. It seems to give meditators more emotional ballast, making them less easily swept up in the ups and downs of the present.” – Joseph Stromberg

 

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

 

Lusnig, L., Radach, R., Mueller, C. J., & Hofmann, M. J. (2020). Zen meditation neutralizes emotional evaluation, but not implicit affective processing of words. PloS one, 15(2), e0229310. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229310

 

Abstract

There is ample evidence that meditation can regulate emotions. It is questionable, however, whether meditation can down-regulate sensitivity to emotional experience in high-level cognitive representations such as words. The present study shows that adept Zen meditators rated the emotional valence of (low-arousal) positive and (high- and low-arousal) negative nouns significantly more neutral after a meditation session, while there was no change of valence ratings after a comparison intervention in the comparison group. Because the Zen group provided greater “openness to experience” and lower „need for achievement and performance” in the “Big Five” personality assessment, we used these scores as covariates for all analyses. We found no differential emotion effects of Zen meditation during lexical decision, but we replicated the slow-down of low-arousal negative words during lexical decision in both groups. Interestingly, Zen meditation elicited a global facilitation of all response times, which we discuss in terms of increased attentional resources after meditation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029852/