Change the Depressed Brain with Meditation

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“Meditation isn’t a magic bullet for depression, as no treatment is, but it’s one of the tools that may help manage symptoms.” – Alice Walton

Depression is the most common mental illness affecting over 6% of the population. It is debilitating by producing any or all of a long list of symptoms including: feelings of sadness or unhappiness, change in appetite or weight, slowed thinking or speech, loss of interest in activities or social gatherings, fatigue, loss in energy, sleeplessness, feelings of guilt or anger over past failures, trouble concentrating, indecisiveness, anger or frustration for no distinct reason, thoughts of dying, death and suicide. The first line treatment is antidepressant drugs. But, depression can be difficult to treat. Of patients treated initially with drugs only about a third attained remission of the depression. After repeated and varied treatments including drugs, therapy, exercise etc. only about two thirds of patients attained remission. This leaves a third of all patients treated without success.

Mindfulness practices have been demonstrated to be beneficial for depression. They not only reduce depression levels in relatively normal people but also relieve depression in individual with major depression. They can even help in cases where drugs fail to relieve the depression. In addition, mindfulness practices can reduce the likelihood of a relapse after successful treatment for depression. In other words, mindfulness is an effective treatment either alone or in combination with drugs for depression.

In the last few decades it has become increasingly clear that the brain is very plastic and can be reshaped by what we do and what we experience. This has been called neuroplasticity. Contemplative practices have been shown to produce neuroplastic change altering the brain. They tend to increase the size, activity, and connectivity of areas of the brain that are important for attention, and emotion regulation while reducing the size, activity, and connectivity of areas of the brain that are involved in mind wandering and self-centered thinking, daydreaming, and rumination.

Mindfulness practices appear to take advantage of neuroplasticity to act upon the chemistry of the brain and brain electrical activity to help relieve depression. Hence, it makes sense that there should be further research on the effects of mindfulness on the brain and depression to better understand the mechanisms of action of mindfulness and potentially optimize treatment. In today’s Research News article “State and Training Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Brain Networks Reflect Neuronal Mechanisms of Its Antidepressant Effect”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1217282338295690/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4779536/

Yang and colleagues trained meditation naive college students for 8-weeks with a mindfulness program based upon a combination of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI) brain scans were performed before training and 40 days later both at rest and during meditation. The students emotional state and depression levels were also measured before and after training.

After mindfulness training there was a 45% reduction in depression, a 21% reduction in trait anxiety, and a small reduction in tension. The brain was also found to be changed at rest after training. The changes were many and diverse. But arguably the most interesting change was a reduction in the functional connectivity between the pregenual anterior cingulate and dorsal medical prefrontal cortex. The anterior cingulate cortex is part of what is called the default mode network that is activated during mind wandering and emotionality. It is involved in major depression and the loss of emotionality, so called flat affect, that characterizes depression. On the other hand, the dorsal medical prefrontal cortex is involved in focused attention, cognitive control, and emotion regulation. These results are very complex and must be interpreted cautiously. But, it appears that meditation training reduces the ability of areas involved in depression from affecting areas involved in thought and emotion. This is a potential route for mindfulness affects in relieving depression.

Regardless, it’s clear that mindfulness can change the depressed brain.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Study Summary

Yang, C.-C., Barrós-Loscertales, A., Pinazo, D., Ventura-Campos, N., Borchardt, V., Bustamante, J.-C., … Walter, M. (2016). State and Training Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Brain Networks Reflect Neuronal Mechanisms of Its Antidepressant Effect. Neural Plasticity, 2016, 9504642. http://doi.org/10.1155/2016/9504642

Abstract

The topic of investigating how mindfulness meditation training can have antidepressant effects via plastic changes in both resting state and meditation state brain activity is important in the rapidly emerging field of neuroplasticity. In the present study, we used a longitudinal design investigating resting state fMRI both before and after 40 days of meditation training in 13 novices. After training, we compared differences in network connectivity between rest and meditation using common resting state functional connectivity methods. Interregional methods were paired with local measures such as Regional Homogeneity. As expected, significant differences in functional connectivity both between states (rest versus meditation) and between time points (before versus after training) were observed. During meditation, the internal consistency in the precuneus and the temporoparietal junction increased, while the internal consistency of frontal brain regions decreased. A follow-up analysis of regional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex further revealed reduced connectivity with anterior insula during meditation. After meditation training, reduced resting state functional connectivity between the pregenual anterior cingulate and dorsal medical prefrontal cortex was observed. Most importantly, significantly reduced depression/anxiety scores were observed after training. Hence, these findings suggest that mindfulness meditation might be of therapeutic use by inducing plasticity related network changes altering the neuronal basis of affective disorders such as depression.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4779536/

Healthy Aging – Improve the Brain and Memory with Tai Chi

April 19, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

Healthy Aging – Improve the Brain and Memory with Tai Chi

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“Another great benefit of Tai Chi is that it’s accessible to people of all ages and fitness abilities. It’s the focus on the subtle movements that exercise the brain and boost cognitive abilities. First, it’s learning the precise movements of the ancient martial art form that will give your brain a boost. Then, it’s the continued focus linking the breath and the movements.” – Karl Romain

We all want to live longer. We celebrate the increasing longevity of the population. But, aging is a mixed blessing. The aging process involves a systematic progressive decline in every system in the body, the brain included. It cannot be avoided. Our mental abilities may also decline with age including impairments in memory, attention, and problem solving ability. These are called age related cognitive decline. This occurs to everyone as they age, but to varying degrees. Some deteriorate into a dementia, while others maintain high levels of cognitive capacity into very advanced ages. It is estimated that around 30% of the elderly show significant age related cognitive decline. But, remember that this also means that 70% of the elderly retain reasonable levels of cognitive ability. There is some hope, however, for those who are prone to deterioration as there is evidence that these cognitive declines can be slowed. For example, a healthy diet and a regular program of exercise can slow the physical decline of the body with aging. Also, contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, and tai chi or qigong have all been shown to be beneficial in slowing or delaying physical and mental decline with aging.

Using modern neuroimaging techniques, scientists have been able to view the changes that occur in the nervous system with aging. In addition, they have been able to investigate various techniques that might slow the process of neurodegeneration that accompanies normal aging. They’ve found that mindfulness practices reduce the deterioration of the brain that occurs with aging restraining the loss of neural tissue. Indeed, the brains of practitioners of meditation and yoga have been found to degenerate less with aging than non-practitioners.

There are some indications that physical and mental exercise can reduce the rate of cognitive decline and lower the chances of dementia. Tai Chi and Baduanjin are ancient eastern practices involving slow mindful movements. They are both a gentle exercise and a contemplative practice that improves mindfulness. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve cognitive processes while Tai Chi practice has been shown to slow age related cognitive decline. It would seem reasonable to hypothesize that Tai Chi and Baduanjin practices might decrease age related cognitive decline and the associated changes in the nervous system.

In today’s Research News article “Increased Hippocampus–Medial Prefrontal Cortex Resting-State Functional Connectivity and Memory Function after Tai Chi Chuan Practice in Elder Adults”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1212732788750645/?type=3&theater

or see below, or for full text see

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4754402/

Tao and colleagues investigated the effects of Tai Chi and Baduanjin practice on age related declines on memory and the neural systems involved in memory processes (Hippocampus and Medial Prefrontal Cortex). They randomly assigned 50-70 year-old participants to either Tai Chi practice, Baduanjin practice, or a no-practice control group. Both the Tai Chi and Baduanjin groups practiced one hour per day, 5-days per week, for 12 weeks.

They found that both Tai Chi and Baduanjin practice increased memory scores by about 25% while they were unchanged in the control group. They further found that both Tai Chi and Baduanjin practice increased the connectivity of the Hippocampus and Medial Prefrontal Cortex, indicating heightened communications between these memory related brain areas. In addition, the memory improvement was significantly positively associated with the increased connectivity, such that the greater the improvement in connectivity, the greater the improvement in memory. This is important in that it supports the conclusion that the changes in the brain are responsible for the improvements in memory.

It should be noted that the control group did not exercise. So, it cannot be determined if the improved memory and connectivity were due specifically to the mind-body aspects of Tai Chi and Baduanjin practices or due to the exercise provided by engaging in these gentle practices. It remains for future research to determine which aspect of the practices are responsible for the beneficial changes.

Regardless, the results are clear and exciting, Tai Chi and Baduanjin practice improves memory associated with improved connectivity between memory related brain areas in an aging population. In addition, Tai Chi and Baduanjin practices have the added benefit of being safe and gentle practices, with no known adverse effects. So, they are very appropriate for an aging population. Baduanjin practice does not involve the legs. So, it may be appropriate for aging groups who have difficulties with their hips, knees, ankles, fee, or legs. Finally, since they can be taught and practiced in groups and easily maintained at home, it is a very inexpensive intervention. This makes it almost ideal for aging individuals on fixed incomes.

So, improve the brain and memory with tai chi.

“Tai chi is often described as “meditation in motion,” but it might well be called “medication in motion.” There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice, which originated in China as a martial art, has value in treating or preventing many health problems. And you can get started even if you aren’t in top shape or the best of health.”– Harvard Women’s Health Watch

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Study Summary

Tao, J., Liu, J., Egorova, N., Chen, X., Sun, S., Xue, X., … Kong, J. (2016). Increased Hippocampus–Medial Prefrontal Cortex Resting-State Functional Connectivity and Memory Function after Tai Chi Chuan Practice in Elder Adults. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 8, 25. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00025

Abstract

Previous studies provide evidence that aging is associated with the decline of memory function and alterations in the hippocampal (HPC) function, including functional connectivity to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In this study, we investigated if longitudinal (12-week) Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin practice can improve memory function and modulate HPC resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC). Memory function measurements and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were applied at the beginning and the end of the experiment. The results showed that (1) the memory quotient (MQ) measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Chinese Revision significantly increased after Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin practice as compared with the control group, and no significant difference was observed in MQ between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups; (2) rs-FC between the bilateral hippocampus and mPFC significantly increased in the Tai Chi Chuan group compared to the control group (also in the Baduanjin group compared to the control group, albeit at a lower threshold), and no significant difference between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups was observed; (3) rs-FC increases between the bilateral hippocampus and mPFC were significantly associated with corresponding memory function improvement across all subjects. Similar results were observed using the left or right hippocampus as seeds. Our results suggest that both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin may be effective exercises to prevent memory decline during aging.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4754402/

Expand the Brain with Meditation

April 12, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“You have the capacity to heal the emotional dysfunctionality of your own brain. When you increase your awareness with mindfulness, you can transform your brain, create new circuits or change the way neurons talk to each other.” – Bhavika

There has accumulated a large amount of research demonstrating that meditation has significant benefits for psychological, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. Its positive effects are so widespread that it is difficult to find any other treatment of any kind with such broad beneficial effects on everything from mood and happiness to severe mental and physical illnesses. This raises the question of how meditation could do this.

The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. For example, the brain area that controls the right index finger has been found to be larger in blind subjects who use braille than in sighted individuals. Similarly, cab drivers in London who navigate the twisting streets of the city, have a larger hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, than predefined route bus drivers. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas. In other words, meditation practice appears to mold and change the brain, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits.

The seemingly simple behavior of meditation is actually quite complex. Adding to the complexity is that there are a variety of different meditation techniques. To begin to understand exactly how meditation works to produce its benefit, it is important to determine what works best and what doesn’t. So, there is a need to test and compare the effects of a variety of techniques and variations. There has been some work investigating the neuroplastic changes resulting from a number of different types of meditation techniques. But more work is needed.

In today’s Research News article “Increased Grey Matter Associated with Long-Term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study”

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Or see below, or for the complete text see:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0150757

Hernández and colleagues investigate the neuroplastic effects of “Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM). They state that SYM “shares some goals with some other meditation techniques such as Mindfulness meditation, Loving-kindness meditation or other Buddhist meditations i.e., to be fully conscious on the present moment, to reduce the wandering mind and to increase compassion and love.” However, in SYM the practitioner regularly experiences the state of mental silence or “thoughtless awareness.” This allows for an examination of the neural changes accompanying the unique state of thoughtless awareness. To investigate the neuroplastic changes produced by SYM, they compared MRI scans of the brains of expert meditators with 5 to 26 years of experience to non-meditator controls.

They found that the meditators had significantly more grey matter (cortex) in their brains than controls. Areas that were particularly enlarged were the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex, the right anterior insula, the right inferior temporal gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobe. These size increases suggest functional improvements. The insula is known to be involved in sensing internal states and emotions. The inferior temporal gyrus has been shown to be involved in alertness. The ventral lateral prefrontal cortex has been shown to be involved in emotional intelligence and attention. Hence, the expanded brain areas reflect expanded attention and alertness and regulation of emotions produced by Sahaja Yoga Meditation.

This makes sense as the mindfulness meditation component of SYM would be expected to develop alertness and attention while the Loving-kindness meditation component of SYM would be expected to develop emotional sensitivity and regulation. The results clearly demonstrate that extensive practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation, like other meditation practices expands the brains processing power particularly in regard to attention, alertness, and emotions. With these improvements in these important functions that are involved in virtually everything that a person does, it is no wonder that meditation has such widespread beneficial effects.

So, expand the brain with meditation.

“We can intentionally shape the direction of plasticity changes in our brain. By focusing on wholesome thoughts, for example, and directing our intentions in those ways, we can potentially influence the plasticity of our brains and shape them in ways that can be beneficial. That leads us to the inevitable conclusion that qualities like warm-heartedness and well-being should best be regarded as skills.” – Richie Davidson

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Study Summary

Hernández SE, Suero J, Barros A, González-Mora JL, Rubia K (2016) Increased Grey Matter Associated with Long-Term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0150757. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150757

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate regional differences in grey matter volume associated with the practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation.

Design: Twenty three experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty three non-meditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and their grey matter volume were compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry.

Results: Grey matter volume was larger in meditators relative to non-meditators across the whole brain. In addition, grey matter volume was larger in several predominantly right hemispheric regions: in insula, ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal and parietal cortices as well as in left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and left insula. No areas with larger grey matter volume were found in non-meditators relative to meditators.

Conclusions: The study shows that long-term practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with larger grey matter volume overall, and with regional enlargement in several right hemispheric cortical and subcortical brain regions that are associated with sustained attention, self-control, compassion and interoceptive perception. The increased grey matter volume in these attention and self-control mediating regions suggests use-dependent enlargement with regular practice of this meditation.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0150757

Mindfully Control Back Pain

April 8, 2016 psyjdc 1 Comment

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“MBSR is a practice that can help you “turn the volume down” on the perception of back pain by teaching you to look into the pain, and being with the experience and not resisting it so much. Looking into our emotional reactivity to it. Focusing on the present, rather than being bitter about the past or worried about the future about your back pain, helps you take ownership of the situation (i.e., accept your pain), and ultimately, find creative solutions for pain relief. It trains you to be in control of your mind, not for your mind to control you.” – Mark Neenan
Low Back Pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and affects between 6% to 15% of the population. It is estimated, however, that 80% of the population will experience back pain sometime during their lives. There are varied treatments for low back pain including chiropractic care, acupuncture, biofeedback, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, massage, surgery, opiate pain killing drugs, steroid injections, and muscle relaxant drugs. These therapies are sometimes effective particularly for acute back pain. But, for chronic conditions the treatments are less effective and often require continuing treatment for years and opiate pain killers are dangerous and can lead to abuse and addiction. Obviously, there is a need for safe and effective treatments for low back pain that are low cost and don’t have troublesome side effects.

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. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve emotion regulation producing more adaptive and less maladaptive responses to emotions. So, it would seem reasonable to project that mindfulness practices would be helpful in pain management. Indeed, these practices have been shown to be safe and beneficial in pain management in general and Yoga and mindfulness has been shown to specifically improve back pain. Mindfulness Based Stress Reductions (MBSR) programs contain both yoga and mindfulness practices. So, it would seem reasonable to project that MBSR practice would improve emotion regulation and thereby be beneficial for back pain.

In today’s Research News article “Brain and behavior changes associated with an abbreviated 4-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course in back pain patients”

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or see below.

Braden and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of a 4-week program of Mindfulness Based Stress Reductions (MBSR) for the treatment of low back pain. They randomly assigned patients with chronic low back pain to either an MBSR or reading control group. They found that only the MBSR group reported a significant decrease in low back pain and the somatic-affective aspects of depression following the MBSR training. In addition, they performed functional magnetic imaging of the brains of the patients, both before and after training, during a task designed to induce emotions. They found that after MBSR training there was increased activity in response to emotions in the subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex and the ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex. Both of these areas have been associated with emotion regulation processing.

Hence the results suggest that a 4-week MBSR training program can be effective for the relief of low back pain and the improvement in emotions. The results suggest that the improvements may have been due to changes in brain processing of emotions produced by the MBSR training. Unfortunately, at a one year follow up the reductions in pain and depression were not maintained. This suggests that an abbreviated program of 4 weeks of MBSR (the standard program is 8-weeks) may be able to improve the patients but not sufficient to produce lasting effects. It remains to be shown if the standard 8-week program can produce more lasting effects. Regardless, the findings provide support for further research into the utility of MBSR training for the treatment of chronic low back pain.

So, mindfully control back pain.

“Mindfulness soothes the circuits that amplify secondary pain and you can see this process happening in a brain scanner. In effect, mindfulness teaches you how to turn down the volume control on your pain. And as you do so, any anxiety, stress and depression that you may be feeling begins to melt away too. Your body can then relax and begin to heal.” – Danny Penman

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Study Summary

Braden BB, Pipe TB, Smith R, Glaspy TK, Deatherage BR, Baxter LC. Brain and behavior changes associated with an abbreviated 4-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course in back pain patients. Brain Behav. 2016 Feb 16:e00443. [Epub ahead of print]

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) reduces depression, anxiety, and pain for people suffering from a variety of illnesses, and there is a growing need to understand the neurobiological networks implicated in self-reported psychological change as a result of training. Combining complementary and alternative treatments such as MBSR with other therapies is helpful; however, the time commitment of the traditional 8-week course may impede accessibility. This pilot study aimed to (1) determine if an abbreviated MBSR course improves symptoms in chronic back pain patients and (2) examine the neural and behavioral correlates of MBSR treatment.

METHODS: Participants were assigned to 4 weeks of weekly MBSR training (n = 12) or a control group (stress reduction reading; n = 11). Self-report ratings and task-based functional MRI were obtained prior to, and after, MBSR training, or at a yoked time point in the control group.

RESULTS: While both groups showed significant improvement in total depression symptoms, only the MBSR group significantly improved in back pain and somatic-affective depression symptoms. The MBSR group also uniquely showed significant increases in regional frontal lobe hemodynamic activity associated with gaining awareness to changes in one’s emotional state.

CONCLUSIONS: An abbreviated MBSR course may be an effective complementary intervention that specifically improves back pain symptoms and frontal lobe regulation of emotional awareness, while the traditional 8-week course may be necessary to detect unique improvements in total anxiety and cognitive aspects of depression.

Alter the Brains Self-Related Processing with Mindfulness

April 6, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“Mindfulness and meditation are the two most effective brain trainers to support optimal prefrontal cortex functioning. The more you incorporate them into your daily experience, the more you will be training your brain to recalibrate, balance, and control.” – Michele Rosenthal

The nervous system is constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. For example, the brain area that controls the right index finger has been found to be larger in blind subjects who use braille than in sighted individuals. Similarly, cab drivers in London who navigate the twisting streets of the city, have a larger hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, than predefined route bus drivers. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas.

There are two primary brain areas that appear to be altered by mindfulness training, the prefrontal cortex, including the orbitofrontal cortex, and what is termed the default mode network, which includes the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, precuneus, inferior parietal cortex, and lateral temporal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is involved in attention, decision making, and cognitive processes while the default mode network is involved in mind wandering and self-referential thinking.

Self-referential thinking is an important process that I prevalent when the mind is wandering and appears to be reduced by mindfulness training. In today’s Research News article “Medial orbital gyrus modulation during spatial perspective changes: Pre- vs. post-8 weeks mindfulness meditation.” See

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1204026446287946/?type=3&theater

or see below.

Tomasino and colleagues further investigate the neural process in self-referential thinking and the area of the brain that underlie them. They studied the effects of 8-weeks of meditation training on the brain responses to tasks that involve referencing the self or involve non self-referenced thinking. Brian activity was measured with functional Magnetic Imaging (f-MRI). They found that when processing the self-referential thinking task, there was significant activations of the left and right medial orbital gyrus. This activation was greater after the meditation training than before. In addition, after training response speeds increased on the self-referential thinking task. They also found that the magnitude of the signal change was negatively related to Self-Directedness, such that the higher the level of self-directed thinking the lower the activation.

The orbitofrontal cortex area is normally activated in high level thinking and with attention. It is thus not surprising that the orbitofrontal cortex would be activated by processing information necessary to make decisions. It is, however, surprising that the response would be greater for self-related tasks than for non self-related tasks. Meditation training is known to reduce self-referential thinking. So, it would make sense that that this intensified activation of the orbitofrontal cortex to self-referential thinking would be negatively related to self-directedness after meditation training. But, it is surprising that the activation of this area by self-referential thinking would be intensified after meditation. It will remain for future research to disentangle these puzzling responses.

Regardless, alter the brains self-related processing with mindfulness.

“Meditation practice appears to have an amazing variety of neurological benefits – from changes in grey matter volume to reduced activity in the “me” centers of the brain to enhanced connectivity between brain regions.” – Alice Walton

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Study Summary

Tomasino B, Campanella F, Fabbro F. Medial orbital gyrus modulation during spatial perspective changes: Pre- vs. post-8 weeks mindfulness meditation. Conscious Cogn. 2016 Feb;40:147-58. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.01.006. Epub 2016 Jan 25.

Highlights

We used fMRI pre and following a 8-weeks mindfulness training (MT).
During fMRI subjects solved a own-body mental transformation task.
The own-body mental transformation task (vs. non-bodily) in the post (vs. Pre-MT) significantly increased activations in the left and right middle orbital gyrus.
The signal change correlated with changes in a self-maturity scale.
A brief mindfulness training caused increased activation in areas involved in self related processing.

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation exercises the ability to shift to an “observer perspective”. That means learning to observe internally and externally arising stimulations in a detached perspective. Both before and after attending a 8-weeks mindfulness training (MT) participants underwent an fMRI experiment (serving as their own internal control) and solved a own-body mental transformation task, which is used to investigate embodiment and perspective taking (and an non-bodily mental transformation task as control).

We found a stimulus × time-points interaction: the own-body mental transformation task (vs. non-bodily) in the post (vs. pre-MT) significantly increased activations in the medial orbital gyrus. The signal change in the right medial orbital gyrus significantly correlated with changes in a self-maturity personality scale.

A brief MT caused increased activation in areas involved in self related processing and person perspective changes, together with an increase in self-maturity, consistently with the aim of mindfulness meditation that is exercising change in self perspective.

Frontal Cortex Damage Increases Mystical Experiences

April 3, 2016 psyjdc 2 Comments

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“Push theories argue that activation of a single ‘God Spot’ causes mystical beliefs, suggesting that injuries to these spots would reduce mysticism. In contrast, pull theories argue that the suppression of our inhibitory functions opens up the brain to mystical experiences,” – Joseph Bulbulia

Spiritual experiences, be they called awakenings, mystical experiences, or enlightenments, involve a shift in how the individual perceives reality. This could be viewed as a spiritual revelation. But it could also be viewed as a change in the neural systems integrating and interpreting experiences. So, are spiritual awakenings revelations of a reality beyond physical reality or are they simply hallucinatory experience evoked by changes in the nervous system?

One way of investigating this question is to study the brain-spirituality connection. Modern neuroscience research employing sophisticated neuroimaging techniques has investigate this relationship and has revealed that there is a clear association between spirituality and the brain. Neuroimaging techniques that allow the measurement of the nervous system in an intact human have demonstrated that spirituality is associated with changes in the size, activity, and connectivity of the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain. So spirituality and changes in neural systems co-occur. But, this does not demonstrate a causal connection, whether spirituality alters the brain or brain alteration causes spirituality, or some third factor is responsible for both.

A better way to demonstrate if brain activity causes spiritual experiences is to investigate what happens to spirituality when the brain changes. One place to look at this is with accidental brain injuries incurred by humans. This affords an opportunity to glimpses associations between brain change and spirituality. In general people who have incurred damage to the right inferior parietal area show an increase in spirituality. So, brain alteration affects spirituality. But, increased spiritual beliefs and spiritual seeking are not the same thing as spiritual experiences. So, we cannot conclude that these changes in the brain are responsible for awakening experiences.

In today’s Research News article “Neural correlates of mystical experience”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1201966963160561/?type=3&theater or see below

Cristofori and colleagues study the effects of brain injury incurred by soldiers in the Vietnam war and mystical experiences with a matched group of uninjured Vietnam veterans. The neuroimaging technique of Computerized Axial Tomography (CT Scans) were used to map the areas of the brain damaged in the veterans. They found that one particular area, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) was associated with higher levels of mystical experiences. Veterans with damage to that area had significantly higher scores on the Mysticism Scale (M-Scale) than either intact veterans or veterans with damage to other brain areas. These results suggest that damage to the brain causes increased mystical experiences.

The prefrontal cortex in general, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) have been shown to be involved in executive function. Executive function regulates cognitive processes, including attention, working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, and problem solving as well as planning and execution. The results from the study suggest that damage to areas underlying these executive function increases mystical experiences. This in turn suggests that reducing higher level thinking induces more mystical experiences. Indeed, Cristofori and colleagues found that the in the brain injured veterans the greater the deficit in executive function, the higher the mysticism score.

These results support a theoretical model of mystical experiences proposed by de Castro in which executive function inhibits unprocessed sensory information from reaching consciousness. The model postulates that these raw sensory experiences are the basis of mystical experiences. So, brain damage which disrupts executive function would tend to increase the ability of these unprocessed experiences to reach consciousness.

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that frontal cortex damage increases mystical experiences.

“it will first be necessary for science to accept that its ability to understand subjective phenomena is radically limited by its current world-view and that this world-view or paradigm is long overdue for a radical transformation. What will aid enormously in this transformation is for scientists to begin the process of inner research or exploration of their own consciousness so that the states of mind being studied, such as mystical perception, become a part of their own experience. When the consciousness of the researchers starts to undergo a profound transformation, the old world-view or paradigm will correspondingly undergo a similar shift.” – Michael Persinger

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Study Summary

Irene Cristofori, Joseph Bulbulia, John H. Shaver, Marc Wilson, Frank Krueger, Jordan Grafman. Neural correlates of mystical experience. Neuropsychologia, Volume 80, 8 January 2016, Pages 212-220

Highlights

We investigated the causal role of brain region in mystical experience.
VLSM showed increased mystical experience associated to ip temporal cortexanddlPFC.
Patients with selective lesions to dlPFC reported increased mystical experience.
Executive functioningcontributes to the down-regulationof mystical experiences.

Abstract

Mystical experiences, or subjectively believed encounters with a supernatural world, are widely reported across cultures and throughout human history. Previous theories speculate that executive brain functions underpin mystical experiences. To evaluate causal hypotheses, structural studies of brain lesion are required. Previous studies suffer from small samples or do not have valid measures of cognitive functioning prior to injury. We investigated mystical experience among participants from the Vietnam Head Injury Study and compared those who suffered penetrating traumatic brain injury (pTBI; n=116) with matched healthy controls (HC; n=32). Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analysis showed that lesions to frontal and temporal brain regions were linked with greater mystical experiences. Such regions included the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(dlPFC) and middle/superior temporal cortex (TC). In a confirmatory analysis, we grouped pTBI patients by lesion location and compared mysticism experiences with the HC group. The dlPFC group presented markedly increased mysticism. Notably, longitudinal analysis of pre-injury data (correlating with general intelligence and executive performance) excludes explanations from individual differences. Our findings support previous speculation linking executive brain functions to mystical experiences, and reveal that executive functioning (dlPFC) causally contributes to the down-regulation of mystical experiences.

Blink Less with Long-Term Meditation

March 18, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

“The emotional effects of sitting quieting and going within are profound. The deep state of rest produced by meditation triggers the brain to release neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. Each of these naturally occurring brain chemicals has been linked to different aspects of happiness” – Chopra Center

Contemplative practices produce improvements to the practitioners’ ability to think (cognition), their ability to regulate emotions, and to their mental health. They also produce marked changes to the nervous system including the size, activity, and connectivity of structures in the brain. All of these brain structures rely on neurotransmitters for communications between their cells (neurons). These are special molecules that transmit the signals between neurons. Without them, the brain would cease to function.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is distributed throughout the brain and appears to be involved in a wide variety of brain functions. It is classified as a neuromodulator. That is, it alters the overall activity levels of widespread areas of the nervous system. As a result, it is involved in a wide variety of functions including pleasure, motor function, thinking, memory, motivation, arousal, and activation. In other words, its involved in most everything. Dysfunction in the dopamine system has been associated with a number of physical and mental diseases, including Parkinson’s Disease, Schizophrenia, and ADHD.

Dopamine, like most neurotransmitters is difficult to measure as it is released in miniscule quantities and is broken down very quickly. In living humans its activity can be indirectly measured by measuring the rate and pattern of eye blinks. It has been shown that dopamine is particularly involved in the control of the eyelid and blinking, with high blink rates associated with high levels of dopamine and low rates with low levels. In today’s Research News article “Effects of meditation practice on spontaneous eyeblink rate”

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Kruis and colleagues take advantage of this association of dopamine with eye blink rates to indirectly measure the effects of meditation on brain dopamine levels. They compared long-term meditators (at least 3-years of experience with meditation naïve participants. The naïve participants were then randomly assigned to an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training, and 8-week health education program, or a no-treatment control group.

They found that long-term meditators had significantly slower blink rates than meditation naïve participants and also they had a different pattern of blinks, with longer periods without eye blinks, interrupted by short periods of frequent blinks. It didn’t matter what type of meditation that they engaged in. The slower rate and different pattern of eye blinks are indicative of lower levels of dopamine in the brains of long-term-meditators. Eight-weeks of MBSR or health education did not change eye blink rates or pattern. This suggests that short-term meditation practice is insufficient to significantly alter dopamine levels.

The results are interesting and suggest that in addition to the known effects of meditation on brain structures it also appears to affect neurochemistry. In particular, the results suggest that meditation can change the overall levels of an important neuromodulator, dopamine. It can be speculated that this effects of long term meditation on a transmitter with widespread activity and function may, at least in part, be responsible for meditations widespread effects on physical and mental health of practitioners. It should be pointed out, however, that 8-weeks of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training is sufficient to produce many of the effects of meditation on physical and mental health. Since, Dopamine levels were not affected by 8-weeks of MBSR training the change in dopamine levels are probably not responsible for these effects. It remains for future research to further explore this tantalizing speculation.

So, blink less with long-term meditation.

“if you learn how to properly meditate, and commit to a daily practice, you will alter concentrations of various neurotransmitters, including dopamine. There is evidence in particular that mindfulness meditation is capable of increasing signaling in areas of the brain involved in emotional regulation and control of attention.” – Mental Health Daily

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Protect the Brain from Aging with Meditation

March 1, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

“Accumulating scientific evidence that meditation has brain-altering capabilities might ultimately allow for an effective translation from research to practice, not only in the framework of healthy aging but also pathological aging.” – Eileen Luders

The nervous system is a dynamic entity that changes in response to the experiences of the individuals and the demands they place upon it. This is a process called neuroplasticity. Contemplative practices place demands upon the brain and as a result produce neuroplastic changes increasing the size, activity, and connectivity of some structures while decreasing them in others (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/brain-systems/). In other words, contemplative practices appear to mold and change the brain.

Using modern neuroimaging techniques, scientists have been able to view the changes that occur in the nervous system with aging. In addition, they have been able to investigate various techniques that might slow the process of neurodegeneration that accompanies normal aging. They’ve found that mindfulness practices reduce the deterioration of the brain that occurs with aging restraining the loss of neural tissue (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/brain-systems/). Indeed, the brains of practitioners of meditation and yoga have been found to degenerate less with aging than non-practitioners.

The structural changes that occur in the brain with aging involve a decrease in both grey matter, the neuron cell bodies, and white matter, the axons that interconnect structures. There have been numerous studies of the changes in grey matter that occur with aging and with contemplative practices, but there has been little research into changes in white matter. In today’s Research News article “Effects of Long-Term Mindfulness Meditation on Brain’s White Matter Microstructure and its Aging”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1174947885862469/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712309/

Laneri and colleagues performed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on a group of adult long-term meditators and a comparable group who had never meditated. DTI measures the volume, connectivity, and integrity of white matter. They specifically investigated five areas of the white matter that are connected to areas that had previously been shown to be affected by meditation practice.

They found that four of the five areas investigated, Thalamus, Insula, Amygdala, and Hippocampus had significantly higher volume and activation in the meditators relative to the control participants. In addition, the meditators did not show the age related decline in volume and activation in all five structures that was apparent in the non-meditators. In other words, long-term meditation practice appears to spare the connections between key structures in the brain from age related declines. This supplements previous findings of increases in grey matter volume in these areas in meditators.

These results, together with previous studies of meditation effects on the brain suggest that meditation not only increases the size of neural areas but also the size and activation of their interconnections. Hence meditation appears to result in improved function in these areas. Importantly, these results suggest that meditation practice also helps to maintain the integrity of these structures during aging. These may be the neural changes underlying the protection that meditation produces from cognitive decline that occurs in aging.

Hence, meditation is an anti-aging practice. It may help to keep our nervous systems healthier for longer and as a result keep our mental abilities sharp for longer. So, protect the brain from aging with meditation.

“There is a natural and easy method to turn aging on its heels that few people know about. It is the simple practice of meditation.” – EOC Institute

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Meditate to Respond More Effectively to Self-Praise and Criticism

January 28, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

“If you’ve ever felt too depressed to solve a problem, it might be because your brain is having a hard time regulating your emotions. One solution? Mindfulness training.” – Ruth Buczynsk

Meditation is known to improve the physical and mental health of practitioners. To some extent, it does so by improving emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/). This improvement involves fully experiencing emotions, not suppressing them, and responding to them in a rational and adaptive fashion. In other words, meditators appear to be able to feel and work with their emotions responsibly, non-judgmentally, and with acceptance, and not react in ways that are harmful to themselves and others.

Emotion regulation is in part improved in meditators by helping them to take things less personally. Meditation tends to reduce self-referential thinking (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/self/). Mindfulness tends to reduce self-critical thinking and their emotional aftermaths and improve self-esteem. As a result, meditation tends to reduce responses to self-related thoughts, ideas, and stimuli. This improved emotion regulation contributes to many facets of the individual’s mental health.

Meditation is also known to alter the nervous system. Actions that are repeated often tend to produce changes in the nervous system in a process called neuroplasticity and meditation is no exception. It tends to increase the size, activity, and connectivity of structures in the nervous system that are involved in attention and emotion regulation, frontal cortex regions, and decrease the size, activity, and connectivity of structures involved in mind wandering, self-referential thinking, and stress, the so called default mode network (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/neuroplasticity/).

In today’s Research News article “Altered processing of self-related emotional stimuli in mindfulness meditators”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1155866777770580/?type=3&theater

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811915008794

Lutz and colleagues investigate emotional regulation responses in the nervous system of long term meditators (> a year of regular practice) in comparison to meditation naïve participants. As expected the meditators were higher in mindfulness especially in observing and non-reacting, self-compassion, and emotional awareness. The participants were then presented with personality descriptor adjectives that were either positive (attractive, handsome, funny) or negative (unattractive, unsightly, ugly) and recorded the responses of the nervous system to the stimuli.

Self-relevant items either positive or negative, but particularly positive, produced greater activation of the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex in the meditators. The mindfulness component of non-reacting was positively correlated with activation of the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex in the meditators but not the naïve participants. Finally, they found lower functional connectivity to posterior midline and parietal regions in the meditators compared to the naïve participants during both types of self-relevant items.

The meditators stronger activations of the frontal regions suggest that they have stronger self-awareness and focus on inner feelings. It also suggests that they have greater emotion regulation with non-reactive attitudes towards these experiences. Since the posterior structures of the default mode network in the nervous system are associated with self-referential thinking, the decreased connectivity to these regions in the meditators suggest that they have lesser self-focus than meditation naïve participants.

In sum, these results indicate that meditation produces changes in the brain that allows for greater emotion regulation and less thinking about self. These neural changes may in part account for the improved mental health in meditators. They are better able to cope with emotions and respond to them constructively and take everything less personally. So, meditation appears to change the brain making it better able to respond more constructively and less personally to emption laden events.

So, meditate to respond more effectively to self-praise and criticism.

“mindful attention does not inhibit initial evaluations insomuch as it limits the automatic expansion of initial evaluative reactions into activation of a broader set of implications about the self and the world.” – Norman Farb
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Meditate to Improve Attention by Changing the Brain

January 27, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

“meditation may increase our control over our limited brain resources. To anyone who knows what it’s like to feel scattered or overwhelmed, this is an appealing benefit indeed. Even though your attention is a limited resource, you can learn to do more with the mental energy you already have.” – Kelly McGonigal

Meditation practice has many psychological, cognitive, and physical benefits. It has been shown to improve attentional abilities so that we can better maintain our attention when needed and reduce the strong human tendency for mind wandering (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/attention/), the enemy of focused attention. This allows us to better attend to the present moment, what’s happening now, rather than be dominated by thought, memories, and plans for the future.

In the last few decades, scientists have discovered that the brain is far more malleable than previously thought. Areas in the brain can change, either increase or decrease in size, connectivity, and activity in response to changes in our environment or the behaviors we engage in. This process is referred to as neuroplasticity. Alterations in the brain can be produced by contemplative practices. The brain appears to change in response to meditation and other contemplative practices. Indeed, mindfulness practices have been shown to not only alter how we think and feel but also to alter the nervous system (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/neuroplasticity/).

In today’s Research News article “Increases in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and decreases the rostral prefrontal cortex activation after-8 weeks of focused attention based mindfulness meditation”

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Tomasino and colleagues investigate neuroplastic changes to the brain when individuals who have no experience with meditation engage in an 8-week meditation program. The participants’ brain activity during meditation was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI) before and after the meditation training. They found that at the end of training the participants showed greater activation of the right middle frontal gyrus and the left caudate/anterior insular cortex. They also found that the practice decreased activation in the rostral prefrontal cortex and in right parietal cortex. They further demonstrated that these altered brain activities were produced by the focused meditation component and not a body scan component of the practice.

The increased activity observed in the prefrontal areas makes perfect sense as meditation is an attentional practice and the prefrontal areas have been previously shown to be associated with attention. So, practicing attention alters the brain areas responsible for attention. The decreased activity observed in the rostral prefrontal cortex also makes perfect sense as focused attention is antithetical to mind wandering and the rostral prefrontal cortex has been shown to be involved in the “default mode network” that is activated during mind wandering. So, practicing attention also decreases activity in the brain areas responsible for its opposite, mind wandering. So, meditation practice was found to strengthen the activity of the exact areas of the brain that are known to be increased by attentional activity and reduced activity of the areas known to be increased during mind wandering.

Hence, meditation practice by naive individuals appears to alter their brains to better maintain attention and restrain mind wandering. The fact that the brain has been changes suggests that the improved attentional ability will be maintained even when the individuals are not actively meditating. This make the practice far more useful as it has more long-lasting effects.

So, meditate to improve attention by changing the brain.

“Meditation provides experiences that the mind can achieve no other way, such as inner silence and expanded awareness. And as the mind gains experience, the brain shows physical activity as well—sometimes profound changes. . . . the research has begun to show that meditation can also produce long-term structural changes in the brain. No longer is the “hard wiring” of neural circuits so dominant. The brain can alter its wiring in “soft” ways, thanks to a trait known as neuroplasticity, which allows new pathways and even new brain cells to appear.” – Deepak Chopra

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies