Adolesence

Reduce Psychological Symptoms of Trauma with Mindfulness

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Reduce Psychological Symptoms of Trauma with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Focusing on the present moment? Those with OCD rarely do that. Instead they either find themselves immersed in the world of “what ifs,” worrying about everything that might go wrong, or agonizing over things they think might have already gone wrong. Lots of thinking about the future and the past. Not so much about the present.” – Janet Singer

 

Trauma leaves in its wake a syndrome of posttraumatic symptoms which can haunt the victims for the rest of their lives. These include persistent recurrent re-experiencing of the traumatic event, including flashbacks and nightmares, loss of interest in life, detachment from other people, increased anxiety and emotional arousal, including outbursts of anger, difficulty concentration, and jumpiness, startling easily. Unfortunately, experiencing trauma is quite common. It has been estimated that over half of adults will experience a significant traumatic event during their lifetime. It’s been estimated that of adolescents, 8% have been exposed to sexual assault, 17% physical assault, and 39% had witnessed violence. This is tragic unto itself, but childhood trauma can continue to affect mental and physical health throughout the individual’s life.

 

How individuals cope with trauma helps determine the effects of the trauma on their mental health. Trying to avoid thinking about or being in touch with internal experiences, experiential avoidance, disallows the individual from confronting the experiences and could exacerbate the negative effects of the trauma. On the other hand, experiencing the feelings and thoughts completely would allow for better coping. This would be provided by mindfulness. Indeed, mindfulness has been found to be effective for relieving trauma symptoms. In today’s Research News article “Effects of Traumatic Experiences on Obsessive-Compulsive and Internalizing Symptoms: The Role of Avoidance and Mindfulness.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5654743/ ), Kroska and colleagues investigate the roles of mindfulness and experiential avoidance on psychiatric symptoms of trauma in adolescents.

 

They recruited troubled students from an alternative High School and had them complete measurements of childhood trauma, experiential avoidance, mindfulness, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. They also recruited college students and had them complete the same measure and additional measures of internalizing, including anxiety and depression. They then performed a statistical analysis of the responses including a mediation analysis.

 

They found that with the troubled youths, experiential avoidance was associated with greater obsessive-compulsive symptoms. They found that childhood trauma was associated with lower levels of mindfulness, while high levels of mindfulness were associated with lower levels of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Hence, for the troubled youths, experiential avoidance was associated with greater psychiatric symptoms while mindfulness was associated with lower symptoms and that childhood trauma tended to impair mindfulness.

 

With the college students they found that childhood trauma was associated with both greater experiential avoidance and with lower mindfulness, especially the observing facet of mindfulness. In addition, obsessive-compulsive symptoms were associated with higher levels of avoidance and lower levels of mindfulness. In looking at internalizing, anxiety and depression, a similar pattern emerged. Childhood trauma was associated with both greater experiential avoidance and with lower mindfulness and internalizing symptoms were associated with higher levels of avoidance and lower levels of mindfulness.

 

These results suggest that childhood trauma is associated with higher levels of psychiatric symptoms including both obsessive-compulsive and internalizing symptoms and that these associations of childhood trauma are mediated by higher levels of experiential avoidance and lower levels of mindfulness. This further suggests the nature of the mechanisms for trauma effects on mental health, with trauma acting through increasing avoidance and decreasing mindfulness to impair mental health.

 

These findings may help to improve therapeutic interventions for the treatment of the symptoms of trauma. They suggest that treatments targeted at increasing mindfulness and lowering experiential avoidance would produce great mental health benefits for survivors of childhood trauma.

 

“Our results suggest that mindfulness may provide some resilience against the poor adult health outcomes that often result from childhood trauma,” – Robert Whitaker

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available at the Contemplative Studies Blog http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/

They are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Kroska, E. B., Miller, M. L., Roche, A. I., Kroska, S. K., & O’Hara, M. W. (2018). Effects of Traumatic Experiences on Obsessive-Compulsive and Internalizing Symptoms: The Role of Avoidance and Mindfulness. Journal of Affective Disorders, 225, 326–336. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.039

 

Abstract

Background

Trauma exposure is associated with adverse psychological outcomes including anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. Adolescence is increasingly recognized as a period of vulnerability for the onset of these types of psychological symptoms. The current study explored the mediating roles of experiential avoidance and mindfulness processes in the association between retrospective reports of childhood trauma and current internalizing and OC symptoms in adolescents.

Method

A group of at-risk adolescents (N =51) and a group of college students (N =400) reported on childhood trauma, experiential avoidance, mindfulness, anxiety, depressive, and OC symptoms. Mediation analyses were performed to examine the mechanistic roles of avoidance and mindfulness in the association between trauma and internalizing and OC-specific symptoms.

Results

In the group of at-risk adolescents, experiential avoidance and mindfulness both significantly mediated the association between childhood trauma and OC symptoms. In the college student sample, experiential avoidance mediated the association between trauma and OC symptoms. Experiential avoidance, as well as the observe, act with awareness, and nonjudgmental facets of mindfulness all significantly mediated the association between trauma and internalizing symptoms.

Limitations

The group of at-risk adolescents was small, and the college student group was demographically homogeneous. All data was self-report and cross-sectional.

Conclusion

The current study demonstrated that experiential avoidance and mindfulness processes may be the mechanisms through which the association between trauma and obsessive-compulsive and trauma and internalizing symptoms exist in adolescents. These findings provide potential targets for clinical intervention to improve outcomes for adolescents who have experienced trauma.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5654743/

Improve Pain Responding in Adolescents with Mindfulness

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Improve Pain Responding in Adolescents with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness was a significant predictor of both real-world and experimental pain outcomes. Adolescents who were more mindful tended to experience less interference in their day-to-day life as a result of pain. Additionally, . . . more mindful adolescents reported less intense pain and a higher level of pain tolerance.” – Mark Petter

 

We all have to deal with pain. It’s inevitable, but hopefully it’s mild and short lived. For a wide swath of humanity, however, pain is a constant in their lives. At least 100 million adult Americans have chronic pain conditions. Sadly, about a quarter to a third of children experience chronic pain. It has to be kept in mind that pain is an important signal that there is something wrong or that damage is occurring. This signals that some form of action is needed to mitigate the damage. This is an important signal that is ignored at the individual’s peril. So, in dealing with pain, it’s important that pain signals not be blocked or prevented. They need to be perceived. But, methods are needed to mitigate the psychological distress produced by chronic pain.

 

The most common treatment for chronic pain is drugs. These include over-the-counter analgesics and opioids. But opioids are dangerous and prescription opioid overdoses kill more than 14,000 people annually. The use of drugs in adolescents is even more complicated and potentially directly harmful or could damage the developing brain. So, there is a great need to find safe and effective ways to lower the psychological distress and improve adolescents’ ability to cope with the pain.

 

Pain involves both physical and psychological issues. The stress, fear, and anxiety produced by pain tends to elicit responses that actually amplify the pain. So, reducing the emotional reactions to pain may be helpful in pain management. There is an accumulating volume of research findings to demonstrate that mind-body therapies have highly beneficial effects on the health and well-being of humans. These include meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, hypnosis, acupuncture, and deep breathing exercises. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve emotion regulation producing more adaptive and less maladaptive responses to emotions. Indeed, mindfulness practices are effective in treating pain in adults. But there is very little systematic study of the application of these practices for the treatment of chronic pain in adolescents.

 

In today’s Research News article “I Learned to Let Go of My Pain”. The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Adolescents with Chronic Pain: An Analysis of Participants’ Treatment Experience.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5742755/ ), Ruskin and colleagues recruited adolescents between the ages of 12 to 18 years who suffered from chronic pain. They provided the adolescents with an 8-week program or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) modified for adolescents, including meditation, yoga, and body scan, but with reduced expectation for home practice and shortened sessions. One week after the end of the program the youths were asked about their satisfaction with the program and participated in focus groups to provide feedback, evaluations, and suggestions regarding the program. The groups discussions were transcribed and a content analysis performed.

 

The participants rated their satisfaction program at 8.29 out of 10, suggesting a high degree of satisfaction. Ruskin and colleagues found that the “Qualitative analysis of focus group transcripts revealed six main themes: Mindfulness Skills, Supportive Environment, Group Exercises, Empowerment, Program Expectations, and Logistics.”

 

In terms of the mindfulness category the participants reported that the program improved their awareness of the present moment, their ability to let go of their pain, their ability to cope with the emotions produced by the pain, and increased their overall emotional well-being and happiness. In addition, they reported that the mindfulness skills transferred to other aspects of their life such as work, and became a part of how they normally viewed the world.

 

In terms of the supportive environment, the participants reported that the group developed a sense of openness and trust, provided emotional support and made them feel less alone. They also reported that being able to discuss their pain issues with others who were also suffering was very beneficial. In terms of the group exercises, the participants reported that the “weather report”, reporting on their current state with the group was very helpful, that focusing on the pain in meditation was helpful. In terms of empowerment, the participants felt that the program did not actually ease their pain but empowered them to take actions to cope with it and not let it interfere with their activities. In terms of the program expectations, they reported that they had great misconceptions of mindfulness at the beginning believing it to be uninteresting and dumb and some reported that they thought the program would actually lower their pain levels. Finally,

in terms of the logistics, the meeting room was too sterile and needed to be decorated in a more interesting fashion, there needed to be more meetings, and they liked working with other adolescents with chronic pain.

 

Hence, the participants viewed the program very positively as improving their ability to appreciate and stay in the present moment and better cope with the emotional and practical consequences of their pain. That the practice was conducted in a group of other adolescents with chronic pain was viewed as an important and helpful characteristic of the program. In other words, they were pleased and felt the program was helpful to them in dealing with their pain.

 

These results must be interpreted carefully. They should be viewed as constructive feedback on the program and nothing more. More empirical evidence is needed to reach firm conclusions regarding the programs efficacy. But, the results are suggestive that more systematic studies are warranted as mindfulness training may be very helpful to adolescents in coping with chronic pain.

 

 “Mindful meditation can have profound effects for those who suffer from chronic pain. This simple practice seems to be able to change a patient’s perception of pain, making it less intense. . . . consistent meditation helped patients locate and turn down the “volume knob” on sensations. Often pain sufferers are unable to focus on anything but their pain, which increases their perception of it.” – Pain Doctor

 

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

 

Danielle Ruskin, Lauren Harris, Jennifer Stinson, Sara Ahola Kohut, Kathryn Walker, Erinn McCarthy. I Learned to Let Go of My Pain”. The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Adolescents with Chronic Pain: An Analysis of Participants’ Treatment Experience. Children (Basel) 2017 Dec; 4(12): 110. Published online 2017 Dec 15. doi: 10.3390/children4120110

 

Abstract

Chronic pain can lead to significant negative outcomes across many areas of life. Recently, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been identified as potentially effective tools for improved pain management among adolescents living with pain. This study aimed to explore the experience of adolescents who participated in an eight-week mindfulness group adapted for adolescents with chronic pain (MBI-A), and obtain their feedback and suggestions on group structure and content. A mixed method design was used employing qualitative data from focus groups and data from a satisfaction questionnaire. Focus group data were transcribed and analyzed using inductive simple descriptive content analysis. Of the total participants (n = 21), 90% (n = 19) provided feedback by completing satisfaction questionnaires and seventeen (n = 17) of those also participated across two focus groups. Analysis of the focus group transcripts uncovered six themes: mindfulness skills, supportive environment, group exercises (likes and dislikes), empowerment, program expectations, and logistics. Participants reported positive experiences in the MBI-A program, including support received from peers and mindfulness skills, including present moment awareness, pain acceptance, and emotion regulation. Group members suggested increasing the number of sessions and being clearer at outset regarding a focus on reduction of emotional suffering rather than physical pain.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5742755/

Improve Children’s Absorption of Micronutrients with Yoga

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Improve Children’s Absorption of Micronutrients with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Aside from the physical benefits of yoga, yoga teaches teens techniques for coping with the unique issues they’re faced with everyday—insecurity about their changing bodies, the enormous pressure to fit in, stressful schedules, and uncertainty about their beliefs and their futures.” – Erica Rodefer

 

Yoga practice has been shown to have a large number of beneficial effects on the psychological, emotional, and physical health of the individual and is helpful in the treatment of mental and physical illness. The acceptance of yoga practice has spread from the home and yoga studios to its application with children in schools. Studies of these school programs have found that yoga practice produces a wide variety of positive psychosocial and physical benefits. Teachers also note improvements in their students following yoga practice. In addition, school records, academic tests, and physiological measures have shown that yoga practice produces improvements in student grades and academic performance.

 

In developing countries nutritional deficiencies are common. Many children, even those who receive sufficient calories from food are often lacking in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). This lack can impair growth and school performance. So, it would be helpful for the health and well-being of children in developing countries, if a safe and effective method could be developed to promote the absorption of the micronutrients in their food. In today’s Research News article “Effect of yoga practices on micronutrient absorption in urban residential school children.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509603/, Verma and colleagues examine if yoga practice can improve micronutrient absorption in school age children in India.

 

They recruited 11 to 15-year old boy and girl students from an urban residential school in India and randomly assigned them to yoga practice or a no practice control condition. Both groups continued with an active schedule of extracurricular activities including sports and dance. Yoga practice was conducted 6 days per week for 1-hour per day for 12 weeks and consisted of chanting, postures, and breathing exercises. The students were measured before and after the training for height and weight and blood samples were collected and serum Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Magnesium (Mg), and Copper (Cu) were measured.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the control group, the children who practiced yoga had significant increases in serum Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, and Copper. It is assumed that since the body cannot produce these micronutrients that the increases must have occurred due to increased absorption of the micronutrients from the food. But, intake of food was not measured and it is possible that the higher serum levels were due to greater food intake in the yoga group. There is, however, evidence that yoga practice can improve digestion. So, it is likely that increased absorption from improved digestion as a result of yoga practice was responsible. If this is true then yoga practice may be a safe and effective means of improving the nutritional status of children in developing countries.

 

So, improve children’s absorption of micronutrients with Yoga.

 

“Mindfulness has been shown to help students have better relationships and more positive behaviors and help them perform better at school. A recent study found it can help students improve their memory. Mindfulness has also been shown to improve teens’ physical health and their mental health.” – Kelly Wallace

 

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

 

Verma, A., Shete, S., Kulkarni, D., & Bhogal, R. S. (2017). Effect of yoga practices on micronutrient absorption in urban residential school children. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 29(7), 1254–1258. http://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.29.1254

 

Abstract

[Purpose] This study was conducted with a view to find out the effect of yoga practices on micronutrient absorption in urban residential school children. [Subjects and Methods] The study population comprised 66 urban school children aged 11–15 years staying in a residential school in Pune City, Maharashtra, India. A stratified random sampling method was used to divide the students into experimental and control groups. There were 33 students in experimental group and 33 students in control group. Both experimental and control groups were assessed for the status of zinc, copper, iron and magnesium at the baseline and at the end of 12 weeks of yoga training. The study participants of experimental group underwent yoga training for 12 weeks, for one hour in the morning for six days a week. The control group did not undergo any yoga training during this time period. [Results] The experimental group participants showed significant improvement in micronutrient absorption as compared to control group. [Conclusion] The findings of this study indicate that yoga practices could improve micronutrient absorption in urban residential school children.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509603/

Mindfulness is Associated with Reduced Inflexibility and Psychopathology in Adolescents

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Mindfulness is Associated with Reduced Inflexibility and Psychopathology in Adolescents

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“As present-moment focused, mindfulness, acceptance, and defusion interventions alter the context, behavioral flexibility emerges and, with it, increased sensitivity to context, including that aspect of context we call consequences.” – Kelly Wilson

 

Adolescence should be a time of mental, physical, social, and emotional growth. It is during this time that higher levels of thinking, sometimes called executive function, develops. These executive functions are an important foundation for success in the complex modern world. But, adolescence can be a difficult time, fraught with challenges. During this time the child transitions to young adulthood; including the development of intellectual, psychological, physical, and social abilities and characteristics. There are so many changes occurring during this time that the child can feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with all that is required.

 

Making these profound changes successfully requires a good deal or flexibility, adapting and changing with the physical, psychological, and social changes of adolescence. In today’s Research News article “Inflexible Youngsters: Psychological and Psychopathological Correlates of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youths in Nonclinical Dutch Adolescents.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5605724/, Muris and colleagues examined the relationships between mindfulness, inflexibility and mental health in adolescents. They recruited youths aged 12 to 16 years and had them complete measures of mindfulness, psychological inflexibility, thought suppression self-compassion, self-worth, self-efficacy, somatization, psychopathological symptoms, anxiety, depression, and aggression.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the lower the levels of inflexibility, thought suppression, somatization, anxiety, depression, emotional problems, aggression, oppositional conduct, and the higher the levels of self-worth and self-efficacy. They also found that psychological inflexibility was inversely related to the same variables, with higher levels of inflexibility associated with higher levels of thought suppression, somatization, anxiety, depression, emotional problems, aggression, oppositional conduct, and the lower the levels of self-worth and self-efficacy. In other words, mindfulness was associated with positive mental health while inflexibility was associated with negative mental health in these youths.

 

They further investigated the effectiveness of psychological inflexibility to affect the mental health of the adolescents while holding mindfulness mathematically constant. They found that each had independent contributions to the levels of anxiety and depression, with mindfulness associated with lower values and inflexibility associated with higher values. So, mindfulness and psychological inflexibility appear to be independently associated with emotional health in adolescents.

 

It is important to keep in mind that this study was correlational and did not manipulate the levels of any variables. So, causal connections cannot be determined between the variables. The associations though suggest that both mindfulness and psychological flexibility are important contributors to the psychological development of adolescents. It will be interesting to investigate in future research whether training in mindfulness and flexibility will help to promote healthy mental health in youths.

 

“While psychological inflexibility was most strongly associated with Neuroticism , as expected, mindfulness demonstrated the strongest association with consciousness, a trait reflecting impulse control abilities and attention to detail.” – Robert Latzman

 

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

 

Muris, P., Meesters, C., Herings, A., Jansen, M., Vossen, C., & Kersten, P. (2017). Inflexible Youngsters: Psychological and Psychopathological Correlates of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youths in Nonclinical Dutch Adolescents. Mindfulness, 8(5), 1381–1392. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0714-1

 

Abstract

The present study examined psychological and psychopathological correlates of psychological inflexibility as measured by the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) in two independent samples of nonclinical Dutch adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (Ns being 184 and 157). Participants completed a survey containing the AFQ-Y and scales assessing mindfulness, thought suppression, self-compassion, self-worth, self-efficacy, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms. In both samples, the AFQ-Y was found to be a reliable measure of psychological inflexibility that correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other psychological constructs. Most importantly, AFQ-Y scores correlated positively with internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and in most cases, these associations remained significant when controlling for other measures. These findings suggest that psychological inflexibility is an important factor in youth psychopathology that needs to be further investigated in future research.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5605724/

Improve Emotions of Ethnically Diverse At-Risk Students with Mindfulness

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Improve Emotions of Ethnically Diverse At-Risk Students with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“There is plenty of evidence available now that demonstrates the value of teaching mindfulness to young people, and many of the benefits of mindfulness are skills and dispositions that are especially helpful in the context of education. Mindfulness practices help children improve their ability to pay attention, by learning to focus on one thing (e.g., breath, sound) while filtering out other stimuli. Mindfulness also provides kids with skills for understanding their emotions and how to work with them.” – Sarah Beach

 

Adolescence should be a time of mental, physical, social, and emotional growth. It is during this time that higher levels of thinking, sometimes called executive function, develops. These executive functions are an important foundation for success in the complex modern world. But, adolescence can be a difficult time, fraught with challenges. During this time the child transitions to young adulthood; including the development of intellectual, psychological, physical, and social abilities and characteristics. There are so many changes occurring during this time that the child can feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with all that is required. These difficulties can be markedly amplified by negative life events during childhood.

 

At-risk youth confront unique pressures that have been linked to poor psychosocial outcomes, impaired academic performance, and maladaptive behaviors such as substance use and delinquency. These risk factors may include language barriers, low SES, parents’ own involvement in high risk or illegal behavior, restrictive or neglectful parenting, and home environments that expose children to alcohol and substance abuse. Mindfulness training has been found to be helpful for adolescents and also to improve performance in school. So, it is possible that mindfulness training would be helpful for at-risk adolescents.

 

In today’s Research News article “A School-Based Mindfulness Pilot Study for Ethnically Diverse At-Risk Adolescents.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4809539/pdf/nihms652885.pdf, Bluth and colleagues recruited adolescents who were attending an alternative high school for troublesome and at-risk students. They were randomly assigned to receive either and 11-week class of mindfulness training or substance abuse training. The mindfulness training included body scan, sitting meditation, lovingkindness practice, walking meditation and mindful movement. The substance abuse training consisted of lectures designed to help adolescents address drug use and co-occurring life problems. The students were measured before and after the trainings for class attendance, retention, program acceptability, mindfulness, self-compassion, social connectedness, anxiety, depression, and perceived stress.

 

At the beginning of the mindfulness training there was considerable resistance and acting out. But, by the end of training the students responded that the class was helpful and wanted it to continue. They also found that the mindfulness training produced significant improvements in the students’ depression and anxiety levels. Mindfulness training has in the past been repeatedly shown to help relieve depression and anxiety. But, it is an important finding that it can do so in these difficult to treat at-risk adolescents. So, the study showed that mindfulness training was feasible and acceptable to these at-risk adolescents and produced improvements in their negative emotions.

 

The results are encouraging. These troubled youths are extremely difficult to work with and treat and that was reflected in the negative behaviors at the beginning of the class. But, by the end of the class the students found the mindfulness training useful and there were fairly large improvements in anxiety and depression. There were trends for other improvements and a larger future trial may be able to demonstrate other benefits of the mindfulness training. Although it was clear that mindfulness training is not a panacea for troubled youths, it can be helpful and provide space for them to destress and explore their inner lives.

 

So, improve emotions of ethnically diverse at-risk students with mindfulness.

 

“But a growing body of evidence suggests that mindfulness practice could be beneficial to teens, helping them cultivate empathy, as well as skills for concentration and impulse control. In short, mindfulness can help adolescents navigate the challenges of adolescence.” Sarah Beach

 

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

 

Bluth, K., Campo, R. A., Pruteanu-Malinici, S., Reams, A., Mullarkey, M., & Broderick, P. C. (2016). A School-Based Mindfulness Pilot Study for Ethnically Diverse At-Risk Adolescents. Mindfulness, 7(1), 90–104. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-014-0376-1

 

Adolescence is a transitional period marked by rapid physical, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive developmental changes. In addition to these normative development changes, adolescents also face a multitude of contextual stressors such as academic pressures at school, changing relationships with peers, and all too often, unstable family life characterized by divorce, frequent moves, income and occupational changes, and disruptions in family routines. Up to a quarter of adolescents suffer from depression or anxiety disorders, and an even larger proportion struggle with subclinical symptoms. Anxiety and depression during this stage can lead to impaired academic, social, and family functioning, and have long-term adverse outcomes.

Given the need to better understand both the implementation and potential benefit of mindfulness programs for at-risk youth, we conducted a randomized pilot study to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of such an intervention with ethnically diverse, primarily Hispanic youth enrolled in an alternative high school. We specifically examine intervention effects on psychosocial wellbeing and school performance relative to the control group, a class which focused on substance abuse prevention.

this study contributes to the literature by confirming the feasibility and acceptability of a mindfulness intervention with this population, and expands our knowledge on what works.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4809539/pdf/nihms652885.pdf

Improve Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance with Yoga

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Improve Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“school-based yoga cultivates competencies in mind-body awareness, self-regulation, and physical fitness. And classroom teachers benefit as well. Taken together, these competencies may lead to improvements in students’ behavior, mental state, health, and performance, as well as teacher resilience, effectiveness and overall classroom climate.“ – Bethany Butzer

 

Yoga practice has been shown to have a large number of beneficial effects on the psychological, emotional, and physical health of the individual and is helpful in the treatment of mental and physical illness. The acceptance of yoga practice has spread from the home and yoga studios to its application with children in schools. Studies of these school programs have found that yoga practice produces a wide variety of positive psychosocial and physical benefits. These include improved mood state, self-control, aggression and social problems, self-regulation, emotion regulation, feelings of happiness and relaxation, self-esteem, social and physical well-being, self-concept, tolerance, nonviolence, truthfulness, overall, general, and social self-esteem, positive health, self-adjustment, and working-memory capacity, ability to focus, control behavior under stress, greater kinesthetic awareness, stress reduction and management, and social cohesion, focus, perseverance, and positive relationships. They have also shown that the yoga practice produces lower levels of anxiety, depression, general distress, physical arousal, and hostility, rumination, and intrusive thoughts, and alcohol use.

 

Teachers also note improvements in their students following yoga practice. These include improved classroom behavior and social–emotional skills, concentration, mood, ability to function under pressure, social skills, and attention and lower levels of. Hyperactivity and performance impairment. In addition, school records, academic tests, and physiological measures have shown that yoga practice produces improvements in student grades and academic performance, cortisol concentrations, micronutrient absorption, flexibility, grip strength, abdominal strength, respiratory muscle strength, heart rate variability, and stress reactivity.

 

Although yoga practice has been demonstrated to have great benefits for school children, the studies, in general, were carried out in schools in middle class areas. It is unknown whether yoga practice could have the same benefits with poor, inner city, children. In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” (See summary below). Frank and colleagues recruited 6th and 9th grade students from an inner city middle school and randomly assigned them to receive either yoga practice or no treatment. The yoga practice occurred for 30 minutes per day for 3 to 4 days per week in the Fall semester and included breathing exercises, yoga postures, and meditation. The students were measured before and after the semester for school engagement, attitudes toward violence, positive and negative emotions, responses to stress, and somatization. In addition, the students’ academic and behavioral records from the school were inspected.

 

They found that the yoga group, compared to the no treatment group, had significantly fewer unexcused absences, fewer detentions, and higher levels of school engagement, primary and secondary coping, emotion regulation, positive thinking, and cognitive restructuring with medium to large effect sizes. Hence the students who engaged in yoga practice during the semester had markedly improved school behavior, ability to cope with stress, and control emotions and thoughts.

 

These are remarkable results. Engagement in yoga practice in school had multiple and significant behavioral and psychological benefits for these middle school students. These results strongly suggest that a larger scale randomized controlled trial with an active control group, e.g. exercise, and longer-term follow-up, should be performed. These results are especially significant as they occurred with inner city, poor, students who are generally highly stressed. This is where the need is great. Yoga practice may be a tremendous asset to these students in coping with the demands of the school environment. This should translate in future years into superior performance and eventual success in school.

 

So, improve adolescent mental health and school performance with yoga.

 

“Aside from the physical benefits of yoga, yoga teaches teens techniques for coping with the unique issues they’re faced with everyday—insecurity about their changing bodies, the enormous pressure to fit in, stressful schedules, and uncertainty about their beliefs and their futures.” – Erica Rodefer

 

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

 

Frank, J.L., Kohler, K., Peal, A., Bose, B. Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 544. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0628-3

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a yoga-based social-emotional wellness promotion program, Transformative Life Skills (TLS), on indicators of adolescent emotional distress, prosocial behavior, and school functioning. Participants included 159 students attending an inner-city school district who were randomly assigned to treatment or business-as-usual comparison conditions. Results suggested that students who participated in the TLS program demonstrated significant reductions on unexcused absences, detentions, and increases in school engagement. Significant concurrent improvements in primary engagement stress-coping strategies and secondary engagement stress-coping strategies were noted as well. Specifically, significant increases in student emotion regulation, positive thinking, and cognitive restructuring in response to stress were found. No effects were found for measures of somatization, suspensions, academic grades, or general affect. Student report of treatment acceptability indicated that the intervention was generally well-received and strategies were perceived as socially valid by most participants. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Improve Anxiety in Adolescents with Mindfulness

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Improve Anxiety in Adolescents with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness also helps us to get to know our real self which is never a bad thing! People suffering from social anxiety are often marred by an exaggerated perception of their shortcomings which leads them to believe that they are inadequate and that everybody must be noticing. Practicing mindfulness based cognitive therapy will help them to reestablish a more realistic self-image.” – Kyle MacDonald

 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults, or 18% of the population. Anxiety Disorders affects about 3.1% of the U.S. population. Severe anxiety affects about 6% of adolescents. Physically, anxiety sufferers will often show excessive fatigue, irritability, muscle tension or muscle aches, trembling, feeling twitchy, being easily startled, trouble sleeping, sweating, nausea, diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome, and headaches.

 

Anxiety disorders in adults have generally been treated with drugs. It has been estimated that 11% of women in the U.S. are taking anti-anxiety medications. But, there are considerable side effects and these drugs are often abused. The drugs are also not appropriate for children and adolescents with developing nervous systems. So, there is a need to develop alternative treatments. Recently, it has been found that mindfulness training can be effective for anxiety disorders. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to be effective in treating anxiety in adults. Mindfulness training has also been shown to produce changes in the nervous system. It is not known, however, what changes in the nervous system underlie the effect of MBCT on anxiety.

 

In today’s Research News article “Neural Function Before and After Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Anxious Adolescents at Risk for Developing Bipolar Disorder.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4876535/, Strawn and colleagues examine the effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on the nervous systems of youth with high levels of anxiety. They recruited children and adolescents, aged 9 to 16 years, who were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and who were at risk for developing bipolar disorder. They were treated with a 12-week program of MBCT. Before and after the treatment they were measured for anxiety, clinical symptoms, and mindfulness and also underwent functional Magnetic Resonance (f-MRI) brain scans while performing a continuous processing task with emotional and neutral distractors.

 

They found that following MBCT there was a significant increase in activity of the insula, lentiform nucleus, and thalamus, and anterior cingulate cortex with the presentation of emotional pictures. So, MBCT produces changes in the brains of children and adolescents similar to those seen in adults. They also found that the greater the reduction in anxiety resulting from MBCT the greater the decrease in activity of the insula and anterior cingulate cortex.

 

The insula and the anterior cingulate cortex have been shown to be involved in emotional processing and MBCT is aimed at altering the thought processes revolving around the interpretations of emotions. So, the changes in the functional activity of these structures following MBCT are commensurate with the changes in emotionality. Hence, MBCT appears to change the brains of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders to improve emotional processing.

 

It should be noted that this was a pilot study with a very small number of participants and no control group. So, the findings must be interpreted with caution. But the findings are sufficiently interesting to justify conducting a larger randomized clinical trial in the future.

 

“If you have unproductive worries, you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. ‘You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,‘” – Elizabeth Hoge

 

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

 

Strawn, J. R., Cotton, S., Luberto, C. M., Patino, L. R., Stahl, L. A., Weber, W. A., … DelBello, M. P. (2016). Neural Function Before and After Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Anxious Adolescents at Risk for Developing Bipolar Disorder. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 26(4), 372–379. http://doi.org/10.1089/cap.2015.0054

 

Abstract

Objective: We sought to evaluate the neurophysiology of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for children (MBCT-C) in youth with generalized, social, and/or separation anxiety disorder who were at risk for developing bipolar disorder.

Methods: Nine youth (mean age: 13 ± 2 years) with a generalized, social, and/or separation anxiety disorder and a parent with bipolar disorder completed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a continuous processing task with emotional and neutral distractors (CPT-END) prior to and following 12 weeks of MBCT-C.

Results: MBCT-C was associated with increases in activation of the bilateral insula, lentiform nucleus, and thalamus, as well as the left anterior cingulate while viewing emotional stimuli during the CPT-END, and decreases in anxiety were correlated with change in activation in the bilateral insula and anterior cingulate during the viewing of emotional stimuli (p < 0.05, uncorrected; p < 0.005 corrected; cluster size, 37 voxels).

Conclusions: MBCT-C treatment in anxious youth with a familial history of bipolar disorder is associated with increased activation of brain structures that subserve interoception and the processing of internal stimuli—functions that are ostensibly improved by this treatment.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4876535/

Improve Sleep Problems in Adolescents with Mindfulness

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Improve Sleep Problems in Adolescents with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“By taking this mindful attitude, sleep is facilitated by simply being aware of the moment-to-moment experience of relaxing into the bed, without judging or being critical of that experience, so that the mind can gently slip into sleep.“ – John Cline

 

Modern society has become more around-the-clock and more complex producing considerable pressure and stress on the individual. The advent of the internet and smart phones has exacerbated the problem. This stress may be amplified for adolescents. Adolescence can be a difficult time, fraught with challenges. During this time, the child transitions to young adulthood; including the development of intellectual, psychological, physical, and social abilities and characteristics. There are so many changes occurring during this time that the child can feel stressed and overwhelmed and unable to cope with all that is required.

 

The resultant stress can impair sleep. It is estimated that 14% of adolescents experience insomnia and 5.3% meet the diagnostic criteria for a sleep disorder. Insomnia is more than just an irritant. Sleep deprivation is associated with decreased alertness and a consequent reduction in performance of even simple tasks, decreased quality of life, increased difficulties with memory and problem solving, and increased likelihood of accidental injury including automobile accidents. It also can lead to anxiety about sleep itself. This is stressful and can produce even more anxiety about being able to sleep. About 4% of Americans revert to sleeping pills. But, these do not always produce high quality sleep and can have problematic side effects, including potential addiction. So, there is a need to find better methods to treat insomnia. Contemplative practices have been reported to improve sleep amount and quality and help with insomnia. The importance of insomnia underscores the need to further investigate safe and effective alternatives to drugs for adolescents.

 

In today’s Research News article “The SENSE Study: Treatment mechanisms of a cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based group sleep improvement intervention for at-risk adolescents.” (See summary below) Blake and colleagues recruited adolescents (mean age 14.5 years) from schools who had clinically significant anxiety and sleep disorder. They randomly assigned them to receive either 7 weekly 90-minute group sessions of a mindfulness-based sleep improvement program or study skills education. The sleep improvement intervention employs a cognitive behavioral approach, incorporating sleep education, sleep hygiene, stimulus control, and cognitive restructuring, with added mindfulness, savoring, and anxiety specific components. Participants were encouraged to continue practice at home. The adolescents were measured before and after treatment for sleep (actiwatch and self-report), anxiety, and pre-sleep arousal.

 

They found that after the intervention, in comparison to the study skills education group, the mindfulness-based sleep improvement group had significantly improved sleep, measured objectively with actiwatch or subjectively with self-report, better sleep hygiene awareness, lower anxiety, pre-sleep somatic arousal, and less pre-sleep cognitive arousal. Using a sophisticated statistical technique, they found that the improvements in sleep and anxiety were produced as a result of the improvements in pre-sleep somatic arousal, and pre-sleep cognitive arousal.

 

These are exciting results, particularly as the effect sizes were moderate to large and anxiety and sleep disruption are so prevalent in adolescents. This suggests that the mindfulness-based group sleep improvement intervention produces big improvements in a significant problem for adolescents. They further suggest that these improvements were mediated by improvements in pre-sleep arousal levels. So, the mindfulness-based group sleep improvement intervention appears to relax the adolescents so that they can sleep better. Mindfulness training has been shown to reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress, reduce anxiety levels, and improve emotion regulation. So, these effects on arousal are not unexpected. But, the findings clearly suggest that improvements in mindfulness are very important to reduce anxiety and improve sleep in adolescents.

 

So, improve sleep problems in adolescents with mindfulness

 

“Mindfulness delivered improvements to sleep—including reduced insomnia, improved sleep quality, increased sleep time, and better sleep efficiency—that were comparable to sleep medication.” – Michael Breus

 

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

Matthew Blake, Orli Schwartz, Joanna M. Waloszek, Monika Raniti, Julian G. Simmons, Greg Murray, Laura Blake, M.Teach., Ronald E. Dahl, M.D., Richard Bootzin, Dana L. McMakin, Paul Dudgeon, John Trinder, Nicholas B. Allen. The SENSE Study: Treatment mechanisms of a cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based group sleep improvement intervention for at-risk adolescents. Sleep 2017 zsx061. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsx061

 

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this study was to test whether a cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based sleep intervention could improve sleep and anxiety on school nights in a group of at-risk adolescents. We also examined whether benefits to sleep and anxiety would be mediated by improvements in sleep hygiene awareness and pre-sleep hyperarousal.

METHOD:

Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial conducted with 123 adolescent participants (Female=60%; Mean Age=14.48) who had high levels of sleep problems and anxiety symptoms. Participants were randomized into a sleep improvement intervention (n=63) or active control ‘study skills’ intervention (n=60). Pre-and-post intervention, participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS), Sleep Beliefs Scale (SBS), and Pre-Sleep Hyperarousal Scale (PSAS), and wore an actiwatch and completed a sleep diary for five school nights.

RESULTS:

The sleep intervention condition was associated with significantly greater improvements in actigraphy-measured sleep onset latency (SOLobj), sleep diary measured sleep efficiency (SEsubj), PSQI, SCAS, SBS, and PSAS, with medium-large effect sizes. Improvements in the PSQI and SCAS were specifically mediated by the measured improvements in PSAS that resulted from the intervention. Improvements in SOLobj and SEsubj were not specifically related to improvements in any of the putative treatment mechanisms.

CONCLUSION:

This study provides evidence that pre-sleep arousal but not sleep hygiene awareness is important for adolescents’ perceived sleep quality, and could be a target for new treatments of adolescent sleep problems.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28431122

Decrease Alcohol Intake and Related Consequences in Teens with Mindfulness

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Decrease Alcohol Intake and Related Consequences in Teens with Mindfulness

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

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

 

Alcohol abuse often develops during adolescence and especially at college. Four out of five college students drink alcohol and about half of those consume alcohol through binge drinking. About 25% of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall. More than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem. This drinking has widespread consequence for not only the students but also the college communities, and families. More than 690,000 students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. More than 97,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape. 599,000 students receive unintentional injuries while under the influence of alcohol. Significantly, 1,825 college students die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries and between 1.2% and 1.5% of students indicate that they tried to commit suicide within the past year due to drinking or drug use.

 

These facts are sobering and clearly highlight the need to explore methods to control excessive alcohol intake. Students often use protective behavioral strategies to increase self-control while drinking and help reduce negative alcohol-related consequences, these include adding extra ice to the drink, avoiding taking shots, or trying to out-drink companions. These strategies, when employed appear to be successful in helping to control drinking and its consequences. Another potential method to control alcohol intake and its consequences is mindfulness as it has been shown to assist in the control of alcohol intake and in recovery from alcohol addiction .

 

So, it would make sense to further explore the relationship of mindfulness and protective behavioral strategies on alcohol intake and its negative consequences in college students. In today’s Research News article “Trait mindfulness and protective strategies for alcohol use: Implications for college student drinking.” (See summary below), Brett and colleagues recruited male and female college students who we 18 years of age or older and reported recent alcohol use. The students completed on-line measurements for mindfulness, alcohol use, protective behavioral strategies, and alcohol related consequences.

 

The researchers found that higher levels of mindfulness were associated with higher levels of protective behavioral strategies which, in turn, were associated with lower levels of alcohol intake by the students. High levels of mindfulness were also associated with higher levels of protective behavioral strategies which, in turn, were associated with lower levels of alcohol related consequences, with a small but significant negative direct relationship of mindfulness on alcohol related consequences. They also found that the relationship between protective behavioral strategies and lower alcohol related consequences was greatest in students with low levels of mindfulness.

 

These results suggest that mindfulness is primarily associated with lower alcohol intake and lower alcohol related consequences indirectly by promoting protective behavioral strategies. So mindful students were more likely to engage in strategies such as adding extra ice to the drink, avoiding taking shots, or trying to out-drink companions and this, in turn, produced lower level of negative consequences produced by the alcohol intake.

 

It should be kept in mind that these results are correlational and as such causation cannot be determined. It remains for future research to manipulate mindfulness and determine if protective behavioral strategies are increased and negative alcohol related consequences and alcohol intake are reduced. Prior research, however, has shown that mindfulness training reduces alcohol consumption. This, taken together with the current results suggest that mindfulness may be responsible for eliciting engagement in protective strategies dampening alcohol intake and the negative consequences of excessive intake.

 

So, decrease alcohol intake and related consequences in teens with mindfulness.

 

“teaching teens about the brain and how mindfulness affects it can help create an understanding and desire to practice. Mindfulness also helps with impulse control, a concept with which many teenagers struggle.” – Courtney Howard

 

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

Brett EI, Leffingwell TR, Leavens EL. Trait mindfulness and protective strategies for alcohol use: Implications for college student drinking. Addict Behav. 2017 Apr 8;73:16-21. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.04.011

 

Highlights

  • The current study examined PBS and mindfulness as they relate to alcohol outcomes.
  • PBS mediated the relationship between mindfulness and alcohol outcomes.
  • Mindfulness moderated the relationship between PBS use and alcohol consequences.
  • Interventions targeting those low in mindfulness may be effective in reducing consequences.

Abstract

Introduction

The use of Protective Behavioral Strategies (PBS) has been strongly linked with decreased experience of alcohol-related consequences, making them a potential target for intervention. Additionally, mindfulness is associated with decreased experience of alcohol-related consequences. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a model of PBS as a mediator of the effect of mindfulness on alcohol-related consequences. Additionally, mindfulness as a moderator of the relationship between PBS and alcohol use and consequences was examined.

Methods

College students (N = 239) at a large South Central university completed self-report measures of demographics, alcohol use and consequences, use of PBS, and trait mindfulness.

Results

Results indicated that both higher levels of mindfulness and using more PBS predicted decreased alcohol-related consequences and consumption, with PBS mediating both relationships (p < 0.01). Those with higher levels of mindfulness were more likely to use PBS, with individuals using more PBS experiencing fewer alcohol-related consequences and consuming fewer drinks per week. Mindfulness moderated the relationship between PBS and consequences, with a significantly stronger negative relationship for those with lower levels of mindfulness.

Conclusions

Individuals who are higher in trait mindfulness are more likely to use PBS, which leads to a decrease in the experience of alcohol-related consequences. Furthermore, for individuals lower in mindfulness, low PBS use may lead to increased experience of alcohol consequences. Interventions that incorporate PBS may be most beneficial for students who are low in mindfulness and unlikely to engage in drinking control strategies.

Improve Adolescents Psychological Health Self-Compassion and Mindfulness

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Improve Adolescents Psychological Health Self-Compassion and Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness increases empathy and compassion for others and for oneself, and that such attitudes are good for you. To me, that affirms that when we practice mindfulness, we are simultaneously strengthening our skills of compassion—evidence that mindfulness isn’t simply about sharpening attention.” – Shauna Shapiro

 

There is a widespread problem in the west that many people don’t seem to like themselves. The self-dislike sometimes means that the individual dislikes every aspect of themselves; but most frequently people only don’t like certain aspects of themselves. Often it is there physical appearance, their school achievement, their career, their social behavior, etc. Making matters worse, they tend to overlook their strengths and discount them, focusing instead in the parts that they find problematic. This self-dislike is characteristic of depression. The antidote to self-dislike is self-compassion. Self-compassion is “treating oneself with kindness and understanding when facing suffering, seeing one’s failures as part of the human condition, and having a balanced awareness of painful thoughts and emotions” – Kristin Neff. Self-compassion has been demonstrated to be associated with better mental health.

 

These issues of self-dislike can be magnified during adolescence, which is often fraught with challenges. During this time the child transitions to young adulthood; including the development of intellectual, psychological, physical, and social abilities and characteristics. There are so many changes occurring during this time that the child can feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with all that is required. This can produce problems with the adolescents’ self-concepts as they find that they are unable to measure up to their own and society’s unrealistic demands. Under these conditions, self-compassion is greatly needed, but sorely lacking. Methods that could help to improve the development of self-compassion could be very helpful for the child in navigating the difficult adolescent years.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to help to develop self-compassion. So, perhaps mindfulness training combined with self-compassion training could be helpful to adolescents in navigating this difficult period. In today’s Research News article “Making Friends with Yourself: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study of a Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Adolescents.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4838201/

Bluth and colleagues perform a pilot study examining the effectiveness of a mindful self-compassion program to promote well-being in adolescents. They recruited a diverse group of 14-17-year old adolescents and randomly assigned them to either receive a weekly 90-minute mindful self-compassion program for 6 weeks or a wait-list control condition. The program consisted of a set of exercises designed to promote self-discovery of mindfulness and self-compassion and incorporated homework. They were measured before and after the program on mindfulness, positive and negative emotions, self-compassion, life satisfaction, perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and social connectedness. In addition, each of the 6 training sessions were recorded for qualitative analysis. Following the completion of the program the wait-list controls were provided the 6-week mindful self-compassion program and measured afterward.

 

They found from qualitative analysis of the recordings that the program was feasible and acceptable with good attendance and compliance with homework assignments and the program produced significant improvements in self-compassion and mindfulness. Importantly they found that after completion of the program there were significant decreases in anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and negative emotions with moderate effect sizes. In addition, they found that the higher the levels of self-compassion produced by the program the lower the levels of anxiety and perceived stress and the higher the levels of life satisfaction. They also found that the higher the levels of mindfulness produced by the program the lower the levels of depression and anxiety. These are impressive and exciting pilot results. The study should be repeated in a larger randomized controlled trial with active control groups to firm up the conclusions as the pilot study makes a strong case for the need for such a trial.

 

The results suggest that a mindful self-compassion program is an effective means to raise self-compassion and mindfulness in adolescents and as a result improve the psychological well-being of the teens. Mindfulness training has been previously shown to reduce anxiety, depression, and perceived stress and improve emotion regulation and self-compassion in adults. This study demonstrates that mindfulness training is also effective in adolescents. These benefits of mindfulness training may greatly facilitate the positive growth and development of the adolescents, steering them away from many of the traps in the teen years and toward a healthy transition into adulthood.

 

So, improve adolescents’ psychological health self-compassion and mindfulness.

 

“With self-compassion, research points to increased life satisfaction and optimism, social connectivity, personal responsibility, and emotional resilience. It also lowers risk of depression, anxiety, thought suppression (or, conversely, thought rumination), and perfectionism.” – Lee Suckling

 

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

Bluth, K., Gaylord, S. A., Campo, R. A., Mullarkey, M. C., & Hobbs, L. (2016). Making Friends With Yourself: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study of a Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Adolescents. Mindfulness, 7(2), 479–492. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0476-6

 

Abstract

The aims of this mixed-method pilot study were to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary psychosocial outcomes of “Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens” (MFY), an adaptation of the adult Mindful Self-Compassion program. Thirty-four students age 14–17 enrolled in this waitlist controlled crossover study. Participants were randomized to either the waitlist or intervention group and administered online surveys at baseline, after the first cohort participated in the intervention, and after the waitlist crossovers participated in the intervention. Attendance and retention data were collected to determine feasibility, and audio recordings of the 6-week class were analyzed to determine acceptability of the program. Findings indicated that MFY is a feasible and acceptable program for adolescents. Compared to the waitlist control, the intervention group had significantly greater self-compassion and life satisfaction and significantly lower depression than the waitlist control, with trends for greater mindfulness, greater social connectedness and lower anxiety. When waitlist crossovers results were combined with that of the first intervention group, findings indicated significantly greater mindfulness and self-compassion, and significantly less anxiety, depression, perceived stress and negative affect post-intervention. Additionally, regression results demonstrated that self-compassion and mindfulness predicted decreases in anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and increases in life satisfaction post-intervention. MFY shows promise as a program to increase psychosocial wellbeing in adolescents through increasing mindfulness and self-compassion. Further testing is needed to substantiate the findings.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4838201/