Anxiety

Ease Caregiver Problems with Mindfulness

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“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.” ― Peggi Speers

 

Providing needed care for others, particularly loved ones can be very satisfying and rewarding. It may be an opportunity to provide care for someone who provided care for you. It may be an opportunity to express your love for another in a tangible way. It can be a joyful experience. But, particularly over time, caregiving can wear the caregiver out and the stress and sacrifices required begin to take their toll. As a result caregivers experience high levels of anxiety and depression, sleeplessness, physical exhaustion, weakening of the immune system can occur, opening the caregiver up to diseases, burnout, and feelings of hopelessness. All of which leads to an increase in the mortality rate of caregivers.

 

Dementia is a progressive loss of mental function produced by degenerative diseases of the brain. Dementia patients require caregiving particularly in the later stages of the disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, mixed dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. For Alzheimer’s disease alone, in 2008 there were an estimated 9.9 million caregivers providing 8.5 billion hours of care at a value of $94 Billion dollars.

 

Caring for an individual with dementia can be particularly challenging. Over time dementia will lead to loss of memory, loss of reasoning and judgment, personality and behavioral changes, physical decline, and death.  If this isn’t bad enough, a little appreciated consequence is that few insurance programs cover dementia care outside of the hospital. So, medical expenses can produce extra financial strain on top of the loss of income for the caregiver.

 

Dementia is particularly difficult for caregivers and can produce higher levels of stress than other forms of caregiving. The memory and personality changes in the patient may take away all those characteristics that make the loved one identifiable, unique, and endearing, producing psychological stress in the caregiver. The feelings of hopelessness can be overwhelming regarding the future of a patient with an irreversible terminal degenerative illness. In addition, caregivers often experience an anticipatory grief associated with a feeling of impending loss of their loved one.

 

Obviously, there is a need to care for caregivers, for all types of caregiving but particularly for dementia caregivers. They play an essential and often irreplaceable role. So, finding ways to ease the burden is extremely important. Mindfulness practice for caregivers has been shown to help them cope with the physical and psychological demands of caregiving (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/caregiving/). In today’s Research News article “Feasibility of Central Meditation and Imagery Therapy for Dementia Caregivers”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1139767462713845/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106977/

Jain and colleagues provided an 8-week meditation and guided imagery mindfulness program to caregivers for family members with dementia. The practice resulted in significant reductions in the caregiver’s levels of anxiety and depression. It reduced levels of insomnia and increased mindfulness. These improvements were still evident three months later. On a more subtle level the caregivers reported qualitative shifts in their relationships with the dementia patients, including greater understanding and compassion, improved ability to manage their day-to-day caregiving, and reduced arguing.

 

Mindfulness practice focuses the individual on the present moment. This reduces worries about the future and ruminations about problems in the past. This is very helpful for dementia caregivers making them better able to attend to what is needed now and to spend less time catastrophizing, feeling remorse, or experiencing anticipatory grief. Mindfulness practice is also known to reduce the psychological and physical responses to stress. This would obviously be helpful for the caregiver. Finally, mindfulness practice is known to improve emotion regulation so that the caregiver can allow themselves to feel and experience their emotions but at the same time respond to them in a constructive and productive way. This has to be very helpful in dealing with the sometimes overwhelming emotions consequent upon dementia caregiving.

 

The Jain and colleagues study was a pilot program and as such had only a small group of participants and no control group. The results are exciting enough that it is certainly justified to launch a major randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of mindfulness training to ameliorate the negative consequences of dementia caregiving.

 

So, ease caregiver problems with mindfulness.

 

“Many caregivers share that they often feel alone, isolated, and unappreciated. Mindfulness can offer renewed hope for finding support and value for your role as a caregiver…It is an approach that everyone can use. It can help slow you down some so you can make the best possible decisions for your care recipient. It also helps bring more balance and ease while navigating the caregiving journey.”  ― Nancy L. Kriseman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Religion-Spirituality Improve Mental Health

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Spirituality Mental Health Goncalves2

 

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley

 

Religion and spirituality have been promulgated as solutions to the challenges of life both in a transcendent sense and in a practical sense. On a transcendent level western religions promise a better life in an afterlife while eastern practices promise an escape from suffering and the cycle of birth and death. On a more mundane level western religions promise feelings of self-control, compassion, and fulfillment while eastern practices promise greater happiness and mindfulness.

 

What evidence is there that these claims are in fact true? The transcendent claims are untestable with the scientific method. But, the practical claims are amenable to scientific analysis. There have been a number of studies of the influence of religiosity and spirituality on the physical and psychological well-being of practitioners (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/spirituality/religiosity/) mostly showing positive benefits. In today’s Research News article “Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1138180826205842/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595860/

Gonçalves and colleagues review the published literature on the effects of randomized controlled trials of religious and spiritual practices on psychological health. In these studies the spiritual practices involved ”themes such as moral values, belief in a ‘high power’, coping and transcendence, and others in the form of therapeutic models, audiovisual resources and meditation. Religious approaches explored the beliefs and specific traditions of Catholics, Jews and Muslims, conducted in pastoral services and therapeutic models.” The studies compared the results of the interventions to the results of secular therapy, disease education, or wait list controls.

 

They found that religious or spiritual interventions produced significant improvements in psychological health, particularly in anxiety levels. The interventions that included meditation or psychotherapy were especially effective. These results, summarizing the literature on active interventions that were either religious or spiritual in orientation, clearly show that these practices have mental health benefits in comparison to secular interventions. It is important to note that in these studies groups were randomly assigned and active interventions employed. It is thus reasonable to conclude that the religious or spiritual practices were the cause of improved mental health. Hence, scientific analysis was able to confirm some practical psychological benefits of religious and spiritual practices.

 

So, engage in religious and/or spiritual practices to improve mental health.

 

“The world sometimes feels like an insane asylum. You can decide whether you want to be an inmate or pick up your visitor’s badge. You can be in the world but not engage in the melodrama of it; you can become a spiritual being having a human experience thoroughly and fully.” – Deepak Chopra

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Stop Being Angry, Anxious, and Depressed over Fibromyalgia with Mindfulness

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Mindfulness fibromyalgia Amutio2

“Fibromyalgia is not a cookie-cutter illness. Each of us is different and unique. There is no cure or control over this, hence each day we must continuously adapt to our disease state.” – Dear Fibromyalgia

 

Fibromyalgia is a mysterious disorder whose causes are unknown. It is very common affecting over 5 million people in the U.S., about 2% of the population with about 7 times more women affected than men. It is characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance, and fatigue that lead to psychological distress. Fibromyalgia may also have morning stiffness, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, headaches, including migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disturbances, thinking and memory problems, and painful menstrual periods. The symptoms are so severe and debilitating that about half the patients are unable to perform routine daily functions and about a third have to stop work. Although it is not itself fatal, suicide rates are higher in fibromyalgia sufferers.

 

Many studies have linked fibromyalgia with depression. In fact, people with fibromyalgia are up to three times more likely to be depressed at the time of their diagnosis than someone without fibromyalgia. In addition, the stress from pain and fatigue can cause anxiety and social isolation. As a result, many patients experience intense anger regarding their situation. The emotions are understandable, but can act to amplify the pain. Hence, controlling the emotions may reduce the perceived pain.

 

Mindfulness practices have been shown to be effective in reducing pain from fibromyalgia (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/05/reduce-fibromyalgia-pain-with-mindfulness/). This may occur directly or indirectly by reducing emotions or both. Since mindfulness has been shown to improve emotion regulation, it would seem reasonable that this could be a route of effectiveness. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness training for reducing anger, anxiety, and depression in fibromyalgia patients”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1135018156522109/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4290530/

Amutio and colleagues investigate the effects of a 7-week, 2-hour per week mindfulness practice on the heightened emotions that accompany fibromyalgia. Results were compared to those obtained from a wait-list control group. It was found that the mindfulness training significantly reduced anger, anxiety, and depression at the end of training and these improvements were maintained three months later.

 

These are exciting results and suggest that mindfulness training is effective for the heightened emotions associated with fibromyalgia. It is unfortunate that Amutio and colleagues did not measure levels of pain. So, it is impossible to ascertain whether the emotional reductions also produced pain reductions. But, even if the mindfulness program only affects emotions, that by itself would be a significant contribution to the patients’ well-being.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to improve emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/) which allows the individual to experience the emotions fully but to respond to them in a constructive, productive fashion, thus taking away the amplifying effect of the emotions on pain. Mindfulness training also improves the individual’s ability to focus on the present moment and this has been shown to reduce rumination and catastrophizing (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/) which can produce anxiety and depression. These would also amplify the pain. Regardless of the mechanism it is clear the mindfulness training can be beneficial in controlling the emotional sequela of fibromyalgia pain.

 

So, stop being angry, anxious, and depressed over fibromyalgia with mindfulness.

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.” ― Haruki Murakami

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Age Healthily – Beat Increased Worry and Decreased Cognitive Ability with Mindfulness

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“Aging has a wonderful beauty and we should have respect for that.” – Eartha Kitt

 

Worry and anxiety are associated with aging. These increases in the elderly can occur for very logical reasons. The elderly have to cope with increasing loss of friends and family, deteriorating health, as well as concerns regarding finances on fixed incomes. All of these are legitimate sources of worry. But, no matter how reasonable, the increased worry and anxiety add extra stress that can impact on the elderly’s already deteriorating physical and psychological health. So, clearly ameliorating the worry and anxiety could be highly beneficial to the well-being of the elderly.

 

Cognitive decline is also a problem with aging. There are reductions in memory ability, crystalized intelligence, reasoning and problem solving, attention, and processing speed that normally occur even with healthy aging. These changes can be slowed by reducing stress, improving health, and staying mentally active. One way to do this is with contemplative practices. Indeed, a variety of these practices have been shown to be helpful with the mental and physical changes associated with aging (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/aging/).

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for older adults with worry symptoms and co-occurring cognitive dysfunction”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1132072886816636/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4136987/

Lenze and colleagues tested the ability of a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to reduce worry and anxiety and the mental decline in individuals over 65-years of age who had significant difficulties with worry and anxiety. They found that the MBSR program produced improvements in both cognitive abilities and worry and anxiety. In particular, the MBSR program improved memory ability, verbal fluency, speed of processing, and the ability to screen out interference during processing. They also found a large, clinically significant reduction in worry and anxiety severity and a large significant increase in mindfulness after the MBSR training in the elderly participants. Further they found that the participants continued to practice mindfulness techniques six and twelve months after the endo of formal training.

 

These are very promising results and suggest that mindfulness training might be an effective program to assist with successful, healthy aging. It has been shown that mindfulness training reduces the physical and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). This by itself could be responsible to the positive effects of MBSR on the elderly. But mindfulness practice has also been shown to reduce worry (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/worry/) and anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/) directly, which could also account for, the results with the elderly. This, however, may be a subcategory of mindfulness effects as mindfulness has been shown to improve emotion regulation in general (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/). Finally, mindfulness training has been shown to help protect the aging brain from deterioration (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-protect-the-brain-with-yoga/) which might be the primary mechanism for the reduction in cognitive decline in the elderly. Regardless of the mechanism mindfulness training should be recommended to assist the elderly in aging healthily.

 

So, beat increased worry and decreased cognitive ability with mindfulness.

 

“No one can avoid aging, but aging productively is something else.” – Katharine Graham

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Women Behind Bars Benefit from Mindfulness Training

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“Prison is quite literally a ghetto in the most classic sense of the world, a place where the U.S. government now puts not only the dangerous but also the inconvenient—people who are mentally ill, people who are addicts, people who are poor and uneducated and unskilled.” — Piper Kerman

“Two hundred women, no phones, no washing machines, no hair dryers–it was like Lord of the Flies on estrogen.” — Piper Kerman

 

Prison is an extremely difficult environment for anyone, but especially for women. The prison population is by far majority male, but 18% are female. These women are different from their male counterparts in that they are much more likely to have experienced poverty, intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, and/or other forms of victimization often linked to their offending behavior. They are also much more likely to have co-occurring disorders—in particular, substance abuse problems interlinked with trauma and/or mental illness. In addition, they often struggle with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

 

So, incarcerated women need to be treated differently, including mental health services, to help them move toward rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society. Education, job training, psychotherapy, addiction treatment etc. can obviously be helpful. In addition, mindfulness training may also be very helpful. It has been found to be beneficial for the treatment of mental health problems in general (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/mental-health/) and for the treatment for substance abuse (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/addiction/). In addition contemplative practice has been found to be helpful for prisoners (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/prison/). So, it makes sense that mindfulness training may be beneficial especially for incarcerated women.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Impact of a Mindfulness Based Program on Perceived Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Sleep of Incarcerated Women”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1121590894531502/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586693/

Ferszt and colleagues had incarcerated women participate in a 12-week Mindfulness Based Program called Path to Freedom. They found that the intervention produced a decrease in perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. In addition, the women who participated were consistently positive about the program and many who did not participate, but heard of the program through word of mouth, asked to be included in future programs.

 

It is not surprising that mindfulness training reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. There are  extensive research findings demonstrating its effectiveness for these issues (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/ regarding stress and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/ regarding anxiety and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/ regarding depression).

 

These are encouraging results. Stress, anxiety, and depression are difficult issues for incarcerated women. The presence of these issues can interfere with other programs designed to help in rehabilitation. In addition, they can be problematic for the women in adjusting to everyday life after release. So, relief of stress, anxiety, and depression may be very beneficial for their eventual success in prison and their reintegration into society.

 

So, mindfulness is beneficial for women behind bars as it is for women in all circumstances.

 

“The women I met in Danbury helped me to confront the things I had done wrong, as well as the wrong things I had done. It wasn’t just my choice of doing something bad and illegal that I had to own; it was also my lone-wolf style that had helped me make those mistakes and often made the aftermath of my actions worse for those I loved.”  — Piper Kerman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Be Less Dependent upon Others with Mindfulness

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“Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.” – Erich Fromm
The human being is a social animal. We need other people as the oft quoted saying goes “no man is an island.” But people vary greatly in how much they need other people. Some people are very independent and do not have a strong need to rely upon and be with others, while other people are very dependent on others for comfort and support. High interpersonal dependency is frequently related to low self-esteem, depression, and social anxiety. This can reach a level of a pathological dependence where the individual is totally dependent on others and has an impaired sense of self.

 

An extreme level of dependency on other people is diagnosed as dependent personality disorder. This disorder occurs in about 0.6% of the population and is characterized by an inability to make decisions alone, a need for constant reassurance, feelings of uncomfortableness and helplessness when alone, unrealistic fears of being abandoned, and excessive effort to be supported by others. The individual who is so dependent will want to pass over the responsibly for their life to other people as much as possible. They will also tend to feel helpless if other people are not around to offer guidance and support, and will not disagree with others for fear of loss of that support. Needless to say, the individual cannot function effectively and some form of therapy is needed.

 

Mindfulness training would in theory be helpful for interpersonal dependency. This follows from the ability of mindfulness to help improve emotion regulation, reduce depression, worry, and anxiety, and improve reappraisal skills. In today’s Research News article “The Application of Mindfulness for Interpersonal Dependency: Effects of a Brief Intervention”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1119616148062310/?type=3&theater

McClintock and Anderson first induced a dependency mood in undergraduate students who were high in interpersonal dependency. This induction greatly increased anxiety and negative emotions in the students. They then treated the students with either a brief (20 min) mindfulness training or a similar control condition that required concentration and imagination but not mindfulness. They found that the brief mindfulness training significantly increased mindfulness, and decreased anxiety and negative emotions. They further found that the mindfulness facet of decentering was completely responsible for the effectiveness of the mindfulness training.

 

These results are very interesting and suggest that mindfulness training may be an effective treatment for interpersonal dependence. They further suggest that the mindfulness facet of decentering is responsible for the effectiveness. Decentering involves a change from personally identifying with thoughts and feelings to relating to one’s experience in a wider field of awareness. In other words mindfulness training produces a reduction in the personalization of experience. This allows the individual to interpret experience as not always about themselves, providing objectivity in interpreting experience. Since interpersonal dependence relies upon the individual interpreting experience as reflective of their personal ineffectualness and worthlessness, the reinterpretation allowed by decentering would be quite beneficial.

 

Obviously, much work needs to be done to demonstrate that mindfulness training is effective for dependent personality disorder in clinical application and over a longer period of time. But the present results suggest the more intensive investigation is warranted.

 

So, practice mindfulness and be less dependent on others.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Yoga Improves Stress Responses and Mood

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“Yoga has a sly, clever way of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety.” – Baxter Bell

 

Depression and anxiety are great scourges on humankind. They affect millions of people worldwide decreasing productivity and increasing misery. The exact etiology of these disorders is unknown. But, modern research is slowly unraveling the mystery. One promising line of inquiry is investigating the linkage of depression and anxiety with the physiological responses to stress including stress hormone responses and the inflammatory response. Depression has been long known to be associated with increased stress hormone activity and increased inflammatory response. This raises the question as to what role the stress response plays in the development of depression.

 

The most common treatment for depression is antidepressant drugs. They are effective for some people and are also known to reduce the stress response and inflammation. But, they are not effective for everyone and they can have some unpleasant side effects. So, alternative treatment for depression and anxiety that are safe, effective and with few side effects are needed.

 

Yoga practice has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/03/keep-up-yoga-practice-for-anxiety-and-depression/) and to reduce stress and anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/). Yoga has also been shown to reduce inflammation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/11/reduce-inflammation-with-yoga/) and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/27/control-inflammation-with-mind-body-practices/) and immune system balance (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/healthy-balance-through-yoga/). So, it would seem that the practice of yoga is potentially an alternative to antidepressant drug treatment for depression.

 

In today’s Research News article “A systematic review of randomised control trials on the effects of yoga on stress measures and mood”

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Pascoe and colleagues review 24 randomized controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of yoga practice for depression and anxiety and their linkages to the stress and inflammatory responses. They found that the published literature provided evidence that yoga practice reduces depression and anxiety and the stress and inflammatory responses.

 

In particular, Pascoe and colleagues report that the evidence suggests that yoga practice reduces anxiety and depression and at the same time reduces the nervous systems responses to stress as indicated by reductions in heart rate and blood pressure and by reductions in the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. There was also reported to be a decrease in cytokine levels suggesting a decrease in the inflammatory response. Hence, yoga practice appears to be effective for anxiety and depression and reduces the associated stress and inflammatory responses.

 

Since, changes in depression and anxiety occurred at the same time as changes in stress and inflammatory responses, it strengthens the case of a causal link between the two. More research is need to further investigate this promising linkage.

 

So, yoga practice is a safe and effective treatment for anxiety and depression while reducing stress and inflammation.

 

“The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren’t enough.” – Amy Weintraub

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Be Open or Focused in Meditation to Reduce Anxiety

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“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”  ― Amit Ray

 

Anxiety is normal and everyone experiences occasional anxiety. But, frequent or very high levels of anxiety are considered anxiety disorders and can be quite debilitating. Unfortunately anxiety disorders are epidemic in modern society, being the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults, 18% of the population. They are more common in women accounting for 60% of anxiety disorders. Symptoms can include feelings of panic, fear, and uneasiness, problems sleeping, cold or sweaty hands and/or feet, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, an inability to be still and calm, dry mouth, and numbness or tingling in the hands or feet.

 

It has been estimated that one out of every three absences at work are caused by high levels of anxiety. Also, it has been found to be the most common reason for chronic school absenteeism. In addition, people with an anxiety disorder are three-to-five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than non-sufferers, making it a major burden on the healthcare system.

 

Anxiety disorders 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. Although, psychological therapy can be effective it is costly and not available to large numbers of sufferers. So, there is a need to investigate alternative treatments.

 

Contemplative practices appear to be a viable alternative. Mindfulness has been shown to be associated with low anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/25/buffer-yourself-from-neuroticism-with-mindfulness/) and mindfulness training (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/the-mindfulness-cure-for-social-anxiety/) and yoga practice (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/03/keep-up-yoga-practice-for-anxiety-and-depression/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/) have been shown to reduce anxiety. Additionally, meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety by altering neural activity (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/13/get-the-brain-to-reduce-anxiety-with-meditation/).

 

It is clear that meditation can be effective. But there are multiple forms of meditation. They fall into two general categories, open monitoring meditation (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/25/beginning-meditation-getting-started-4-open-monitoring-meditation/) and focused meditation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/23/208/). It is important to investigate which of these forms might be most effective to help optimize the use of meditation practice in treating anxiety disorders.

 

In today’s Research News article “Evaluating psychological interventions in a novel experimental human model of anxiety”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1111031562254102/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4406751/

Ainsworth and colleagues compare the effectiveness of a single 10 minute session of open monitoring or focused meditation in reducing anxiety in a laboratory manipulation designed to evoke feelings of anxiety. They found that both meditation types reduced subjective anxiety but not physiological indicators of anxiety. Open monitoring meditation appeared to be better at reducing anxiety than focused meditation.

 

Meditation, in general has been shown to increase emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/) allowing the individual to feel the emotion but keep its intensity at manageable levels and being able to respond appropriately and effectively to the emotion. This effect of meditation may be responsible for its ability to reduce anxiety. In addition, anxiety is due to worry about a potential future negative occurrence. Thus the focus on the present moment that occurs in meditation may also be helpful in reducing anxiety.

 

Open monitoring meditation allows for a broad spectrum of sensations, feelings, emotions etc. to enter awareness than focused meditation that attempts to restrict attention on a small group of sensations. This wider scope of the contents of awareness may be useful in dealing with anxiety allowing the individuals to be more sensitive to their physical and mental state. This would allow them to be better prepared to deal with the wide scope of physical and mental activities associated with anxiety.

 

Regardless, both forms of meditation are effective in reducing anxiety. So, meditate to reduce anxiety.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Genes, Mindfulness, Anxiety, and Depression

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“Of course, genes can’t pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and the brain is the seat of our drives, temperaments and patterns of thought.” – Steven Pinker
There are large differences between people in both their physical and psychological characteristics, including their levels of mindfulness, anxiety, and depression. Some of the differences are the result of environmental influences. But, many people still differ considerably even though they have lived in similar environments and had similar experiences. In addition, many of these characteristics seem to be present right at birth. These facts support the notion that both the genes and the environment determine human characteristics.

 

Indeed, there is evidence that our level of mindfulness is in part inherited and transmitted with the genes but is also affected by the environment (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/we-are-born-to-be-mindful/). It has also been shown that depression and our overall levels of anxiety are to a large extent inherited factors that also are affected by the environment. This taken together with the fact that mindfulness training is an effective treatment for depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/19/this-is-the-brain-on-meditation-major-depressive-disorder/), and anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/13/get-the-brain-to-reduce-anxiety-with-meditation/) raises the question of to what extent are the genes and environment underlying mindfulness also related to the genes and environment underlying depression and the genes and environment underlying anxiety.

 

In today’s Research News article “A Multivariate Twin Study of Trait Mindfulness, Depressive Symptoms, and Anxiety Sensitivity.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1104498792907379/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413043/

Waszczuk and colleagues investigated the genetic and environmental determination of mindfulness, anxiety, and depression using a twin model including identical and fraternal twins. They found that low mindfulness was associated with high levels of anxiety and depression. They also found that there were significant influences of both heredity and environment on all three characteristics. In addition, they found that common genetic influences explained most of the association between low mindfulness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety sensitivity. In other words, not only was depression and anxiety related to low mindfulness, and that each of the characteristics were influenced by heredity, but also the relationship between them was also influenced by heredity.

 

It is important to keep in mind that although heredity was found to be an important contributor to each of these characteristics and their relationships, there were also significant environmental contributors. Hence, although biology, influenced by the genes is an important determinant, the environment is also. This suggests that environmental interventions such as mindfulness training could alter these characteristics and their relationships.

 

These are interesting and important observations. They go a long way toward explaining why people are so different in their inherent levels of mindfulness, anxiety and depression. They also help us to understand why different people may respond differently to mindfulness training for anxiety and depression.

 

So, develop mindfulness to assist your genes in fighting anxiety and depression.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Medical School Mindfulness  

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“It has been suggested that inadequate self-care and ineffective coping styles are often established during medical training; they may persist after training and be self-destructive in the long-run. Therefore, introducing students to self-regulation skills along with other self-care approaches during medical school may improve their personal health and professional satisfaction not only during residency but also beyond.”  – William McCann

 

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

 

Obviously there is a need to either lower stress levels in medical education or find methods to assist medical students in dealing with the stress. One promising possibility is mindfulness training. It has been shown to reduce stress in students (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/10/burnout-burnout-with-mindfulness/), to help with the negative consequences of stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/destress-with-mindfulness/) and to reduce burnout in medical professionals (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/10/burnout-burnout-with-mindfulness/). So, it would seem reasonable to suspect that mindfulness would be helpful in assisting medical students cope with the stress of their training.

 

In today’s Research News article “The relationships among self-care, dispositional mindfulness, and psychological distress in medical students”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1103098249714100/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4481049/

Slonim and colleagues demonstrate that the higher the level of mindfulness in medical students the lower their distress levels including levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. They also found that higher levels of self-care, in particular spiritual growth, were associated with lower levels of distress.  Finally, they showed that high levels of mindfulness strengthened the relationship between self-care and lower distress levels.  That is, the higher the mindfulness level the greater the impact of self-care on lowering distress. So, mindfulness not only directly lowers depression, anxiety, and stress in medical students but also magnifies the positive effects of self-care on these symptoms of distress.

 

Mindfulness may assist medical students by increasing present moment awareness. This reduces patterns of automatic, mindless, and judgmental thinking which can mitigate the impact of the situation on the individual. So, the student can attribute how they’re feeling and acting to the situation rather than to some personal failing.

 

Mindfulness is known to increase emotion regulation allowing the student to more accurately interpret what they’re feeling and respond to it appropriately. This also reduces the impact of strong negative emotional responses to thoughts and emotions their levels of depression and anxiety. So, mindful students experience their emotional reactions, recognize their causes, and adjust to them in an adaptive way.

 

Finally, mindfulness has been demonstrated to directly reduce symptoms of stress and the individual’s responses to stress. This occurs both by altering the physical and hormonal responses to stress and by reducing the negative spiral of stress, where the fact of stress induces more stress. This dramatically improves the students’ ability to cope with the stressful demands of medical education, perform at a higher level and make burnout less likely.

 

So, be mindful and be better equipped to deal with stressful educational experiences.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies