Depression

Improve Emotions in MS with Mindfulness

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By Dr. John M. de Castro

 

“Mindfulness practice appears to be a safe, drug-free approach to coping with stress and anxiety, which may in turn help reduce your MS symptoms.” – Amit Sood

 

“Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most widespread disabling neurological condition of young adults around the world. more than 400,000 people in the United States and about 2.5 million people around the world have MS. About 200 new cases are diagnosed each week in the United States. The most common early symptoms of MS are: fatigue vision problems tingling and numbness vertigo and dizziness muscle weakness and spasms problems with balance and coordination.” – Healthline

 

MS is a progressive demyelinating disease which attacks the coating on the neural axons which send messages throughout the body and nervous system. It is most commonly diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 50 years.  Unfortunately, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis.  There are a number of approved medications that are used to treat MS but are designed to lessen frequency of relapses and slow the progression of the disease, but they don’t address individual symptoms. Although there is a progressive deterioration, MS is not fatal with MS patients having about the same life expectancy as the general population. Hence, most MS sufferers have to live with the disease for many years. So, quality of life becomes a major issue. There is a thus a critical need for safe and effective methods to help relieve the symptoms of MS and improve quality of life.

 

Quality of life with MS is affected by fatigue, cognitive decrements, physical impairment, depression, and poor sleep quality. But, the emotional symptoms are the most problematic with clinically significant depression present in 50% of MS sufferers and anxiety in about a third of MS sufferers. Since mindfulness has been previously shown to improve depression, sleep quality, cognitive impairments, and emotion regulation, it would seem likely that mindfulness would affect the quality of life in MS patients.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Anxiety, Depression and Stress in Women with Multiple Sclerosis”

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733502/

Kolahkaj and Zargar compared MS patients who were randomly assigned to receive either Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or treatment as usual. They were compared prior to the intervention, after and two months later. They found that MBSR produced clinically significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and stress that were maintained two months after the end of active treatment.

 

The size and endurance of the effectiveness of MBSR is striking. But, it should be remembered that the control condition did not receive any active intervention, only receiving treatment as usual. Hence, the effectiveness of MBSR could be due to a number of contaminants including expectancy effects, experimenter bias effects, attention effects, etc. or social effects as MBSR is conducted in groups. It remains for future research to compare MBSR to other active interventions. In addition, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) involves meditation, body scan, and Hatha yoga. It is a potent combination. But, it leaves the question open as to which of the components is effective against the various symptoms of MS. Once again, future research is needed to begin to separate out effective from ineffective components.

 

MBSR is known to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. Since MS produces considerable stress in the sufferers, reducing the responses to stress may be a very important component of MBSR’s effectiveness for depression and anxiety. Also the yoga component of MBSR may be helpful in helping the MS sufferers to better deal with the effects of MS on motor movements and this may reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Both meditation and yoga are known to improve emotion regulation, allowing the patient to better experience their emotions, yet respond to them adaptively and positively. This could markedly reduce anxiety, depression, and in turn, stress.

 

Regardless of the mechanism, it is clear that Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) produces marked improvement in the levels of anxiety, depression, and stress of MS patients. So, improve emotions in MS with mindfulness.

 

“I dissolved into a spiral of negative thinking. But since I started to practise mindfulness, I can control my negative thoughts and fears about the future. My stress levels are the lowest they’ve ever been and I’m back at work full-time.

I think mindfulness is even having a physical effect on the progression of the disease – my disability progression continues to be slow, even though I’ve been diagnosed for five years now.” – Gareth Walker

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Improve Gastrointestinal Disorders with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

 “The functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are a group of more than 20 chronic and hard to treat medical conditions of the gastrointestinal tract that constitute a large proportion of the presenting problems seen in clinical gastroenterology.” – Jennifer Wolkin

 

Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders are the most common disorders of the gastrointestinal tract in the general population. The most common disorder in this group is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders can involve the esophagus, stomach and/or intestines and are disorders of function (how these structures work), not structural or biochemical abnormalities. Estimates vary, but about 25% of people in the United States have one of these disorders. The conditions account for about 40% of GI problems seen by doctors and therapists.

 

The cause(s) of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders are not known. But, emotion dysregulation is suspected to be involved. It is clear that psychological stress exacerbates the illnesses and anxiety amplifies the symptoms. This suggests that mindfulness or the lack thereof may be involved as mindfulness is known to be helpful in reducing the psychological and physical responses to stress and mindfulness is known to improve emotion regulation. In addition, contemplative practice has been shown to improve the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. So, it would make sense to further investigate the relationship of mindfulness to emotion regulation, stress, and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.

 

In today’s Research News article “Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Mindfulness in Psychological and Somatic Symptoms of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1178359818854609/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733315/

Mazaheri investigated the relationships between gastrointestinal symptoms, emotions, emotion regulation, and mindfulness in patients diagnosed with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. They found that the higher the levels of either depression, anxiety, or stress the greater the GI symptoms and that the lower the levels of emotion regulation the greater the symptoms. Significantly, they found that high levels of mindfulness were associated with lower levels of GI symptoms, depression, anxiety, and stress and with higher levels of emotion regulation.

 

The results support the contention that an inability to regulate emotions and stress are an important factor in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. In addition, they suggest that mindfulness is not only associated with lower levels of emotion and psychological stress but also with a greater ability to regulate these emotions. It should be noted that the results of this study are strictly observational and correlational and as such no conclusion about causation can be reached. But, the results give strong support to the need to perform a randomized controlled trial where mindfulness is trained and its effects on emotion regulation and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders are measured.

 

With the caveat that causation hasn’t been established, it can be speculated that mindfulness training may be a safe and effective method for both the prevention and treatment of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Mindfulness’ ability to improve emotion regulation may help the individual to be able to better experience emotions but respond to them in an effective and adaptive manner, lessening their impact. It remains for future research to investigate this exciting possibility.

 

So, improve gastrointestinal disorders with mindfulness.

 

“patients with heightened GI-specific anxiety may benefit from participation in a mindfulness programme as an adjunct to their usual clinical care.” – D. J. Kearney

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Age Healthily: Improve Cellular Health with Mindfulness

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“Simply responding to the physical symptoms of disease might make sense for treating an acute infection or fixing a broken leg, but to beat chronic age-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia, we will need to embrace the fuzzy, subjective domain of the mind.” – Jo Marchant

 

Aging seems inevitable. But, different species age at different rates. Everyone knows for example that dogs’ life span is about 1/6th of the human life span. This suggests that there must be some biological mechanism that regulates aging. Recent genetic research is starting to uncover that mechanism. It has been found that the genes, coded on the DNA molecule, govern cellular processes in our bodies. One of the most fundamental of these processes is cell replication. Cells are constantly turning over. Dying cells or damaged are replaced by new cells. The cells turn over at different rates but most cells in the body are lost and replaced between every few days to every few months. Needless to say were constantly renewing ourselves.

 

As we age the tail of the DNA molecule called the telomere shortens. When it gets very short cells have a more and more difficult time reproducing and become more likely to produce defective cells. On a cellular basis this is what produces aging. As we get older the new cells produced are more and more defective. The shortening of the telomere occurs each time the cell is replaced. So, slowly as we age it gets shorter and shorter. This has been called a “mitotic clock.” This is normal. But, telomere shortening can also be produced by oxidative stress, which can be produced by psychological and physiological stress. This is mediated by stress hormones and the inflammatory response. So, chronic stress can accelerate the aging process. In other words, when we’re chronically stressed we get older faster.

 

Fortunately, there is a mechanism to protect the telomere. There is an enzyme in the body called telomerase that helps to prevent shortening of the telomere. It also promotes cell survival and enhances stress-resistance.  Research suggests that processes that increase telomerase activity tend to slow the aging process by protecting the telomere.  One activity that seems to increase telomerase activity and protect telomere length is mindfulness practice (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/12/04/retreat-for-longevity/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-yoga-and-cellular-aging/). Hence, engaging in mindfulness practices may protect the telomere and thereby slow the aging process.

 

In today’s Research News article “Telomerase activity and its association with psychological stress, mental disorders, lifestyle factors and interventions: A systematic review”

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Deng and colleagues review the published scientific literature on factors that influence telomerase activity. They report that chronic, long-term, psychological stress but not acute, short-term, stress reduced telomerase activity. They also report that Major Depressive Disorder is associated with reduced telomerase activity. Importantly, they find that diet, exercise, and mindfulness practices all increase telomerase activity. In particular, they found that “physical exercise, diet micronutrient supplementation, mindfulness meditation, Qigong practice or yoga mediation resulted in increase in telomerase activity.”

 

These are very exciting outcomes and suggest that mindfulness practices might contribute to longevity by reducing cellular aging. How might these very different practices increase telomerase activity? All of these mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). Since, chronic stress has been shown to reduce telomerase activity and in turn accelerate cellular aging, it would seem reasonable to conclude that practices that reduce stress responses would protect the individual from the deleterious effects of stress and increase telomerase activity. There may be other mechanisms involved, but this would seem to be the obvious one.

 

These findings suggest that mindfulness practices may improve longevity by protecting us from the damaging effects of chronic stress. By making us more mellow, we age slower.

 

So, age healthily: improve cellular health with mindfulness.

 

“it is possible that greater presence of mind promotes a healthy biochemical milieu and, in turn, cell longevity,” – Elizabeth Blackburn

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Get College Students out of the Dumps with Mindfulness

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“College is a great time in a young person’s life. You get to grow in many aspects; socially, academically and even spiritually. . . . Yes, college can be one of the best times, but it also comes with some of the worst times in your life. The constant stress of classes, exams, organization obligations, friend drama and family issues can completely break a person. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed and overworked, that we feel absolutely hopeless.” – Mariah Nicole Wild

 

Depression is a common mental illness. 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. This can be difficult at any point in life, but for college students with the intense demands on them, it can be devastating. Depression in college students is extremely common with 36.4% of reporting some level of depression. Depression is the number one reason students drop out of school. It also can lead to other symptoms including suicide Indeed, suicide is the third leading cause of death among college students.

 

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is most commonly treated with drugs, but they can have problematic side effects and are not always effective. So, there is a need for alternative treatments for Major Depressive Disorder. Behavioral Activation (BA) has been shown to be effective for depression. It involves behavioral strategies to increase positive reinforcement and the encouragement of activities that produce pleasure and feelings of accomplishment in the patient’s life. Mindfulness training is another alternative treatment for depression. It has been shown to be an effective treatment and is also effective for the prevention of its reoccurrence (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/).

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-based therapy and behavioral activation: A randomized controlled trial with depressed college students”

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McIndoo and colleagues randomly assigned college students who suffered from Major Depressive Disorder to either Behavioral Activation, Mindfulness training, or to a wait list control group who did not receive treatment. Treatment occurred in one hour weekly sessions for four weeks. They found that both the Behavioral Activation and Mindfulness Training produced significant improvements in both self-reported and clinician assessed depression, perceived stress, and rumination, but not anxiety. The Mindfulness training alone produced increases in mindfulness. These were clinically significant changes of moderate to large effect sizes and these improvements were maintained at a one-month follow-up. Importantly, around two thirds of the treated groups attained remission from depression while only one quarter in the wait list group did.

 

These are impressive findings that a relatively brief treatment with either Mindfulness or Behavioral Activation training could produce such dramatic changes in the students. Since both approaches were clinically effective, the study findings suggest that either approach can be selected by clinicians tailored to the client. There were some indications that the Mindfulness training was preferred by the students, possibly because it is simpler and less stressful than Behavioral Activation. Regardless, both appear to be appropriate alternative treatments for major depressive disorder in college students.

 

So, get college students out of the dumps with mindfulness

 

“Imagine what effect it would have on you if someone stood behind you all day telling you how useless you were when you were trying desperately to cope with a difficult experience. Now imagine how much worse it would be if the criticism and harsh judgment came from inside your own mind.” ― Mark Williams
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

ACT for Mental Health

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“ACT work is based more on the psychology of the normal. I think we have every reason to believe that most of the things that people struggle with are based on the failure to bring out normal psychological processes.” – Stephen Hayes

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a psychotherapy technique that is based upon Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It focuses on the individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior and how they interact to impact their psychological and physical well-being. It then works to change thinking to alter the interaction and produce greater life satisfaction. ACT employs mindfulness practices to increase awareness and develop an attitude of acceptance and compassion in the presence of painful thoughts and feelings. Additionally, ACT helps people strengthen aspects of cognition such as in committing to valued living. ACT teaches individuals to “just notice”, accept and embrace private experiences and focus on behavioral responses that produce more desirable outcomes.

 

Mindfulness practices have in general been shown to be effective in treating depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/) and anxiety disorders (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/) Since Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) employs mindfulness training it is not surprising that it is also effective for a variety of mental health issues including depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/act/).

 

ACT contains a number of modules that allow the client to work on particular thoughts and actions that are relevant to the individual’s problems. This allows for component analysis research, where certain ACT modules are used or dropped out and the change in ACT effectiveness measured, thus allowing the assessment of the effectiveness of each component module. In today’s Research News article “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy modules: Differential impact on treatment processes and outcomes”

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Villatte and colleagues examined “two ACT component modules; one targeting openness to thoughts, feelings, and sensations and the other emphasizing engagement in meaningful actions.” Participants who were suffering from depression and/or anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to receive ACT therapy emphasizing one of the two modules.  In the ACT OPEN module, the client explores the thoughts and ideas about the depression or anxiety and are then encouraged to let go of these thoughts, to let them diffuse, “(e.g. thoughts are observed as if they are leaves floating on a stream).” In the ACT ENGAGED module the client’s own values are explored as guides to orient actions and as sources of satisfaction. They then explore their experiences with an eye toward allowing their values to guide them through the obstacles that occur in everyday life.

 

Villatte and colleagues found that both modules produced significant improvements in acting with awareness and nonreactivity to thoughts, feelings, sensations. They both also produced significant reductions in anxiety and depression symptom severity, but the ACT OPEN module was significantly more effective than the ACT ENGAGED module. The ACT OPEN module only produced significant improvements in cognitive diffusion and experiential acceptance. Both modules also produced clinically significant improvements in quality of life and values based action, but the ACT ENGAGED module was significantly more effective than the ACT OPEN module.

 

Hence they found that the module emphasizing letting go of thoughts and ideas about their problems, ACT OPEN, was more effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression than the module emphasizing applications of the individual’s own values to guide actions, ACT ENGAGED. This finding reinforces the importance of the emphasis of mindfulness practice on letting go of thoughts and focusing on present experience. It suggests that this may be a critical component in mindfulness applications to mental health issues. The fact that the module emphasizing applications of the individual’s own values to guide actions, ACT ENGAGED produced greater improvements in quality of life suggests that the emphasis in mindfulness practice on acting with awareness may be crucial to satisfying engagement in life.

 

It is possible that letting go is needed as a prerequisite before values based actions are effective. So, values based actions may not be as effective when practiced before practicing letting go. Future research should investigate presenting these modules in different orders. Regardless it is clear that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) modules are effective in the treatment of anxiety and depression.

 

So, ACT for mental health.

 

“People don’t go into therapy when life is moving forward at a reasonable clip; they go in when life is stuck or going backwards. And it’s not that they get cured or fixed, because humans are not broken, they don’t need to be fixed. They need to be supported in a way that allows them to grow and do a better job over time with the things that they really care about—their kids, their work, their intimate relationships, their sense of participation and connection with the world around them.” – Stephen Hayes
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Log-on for Less Anxiety with Mindfulness

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“Needless anxiety and stress cannot burden us if the thoughts don’t enter our mind. And fortunately, we are only capable of focusing on one thing at a time. When you’re aware of only what you’re working on and the sensations of your body, conscious worry is not possible.” – Jordan Bates

 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults, or 18% of the population. (Source: National Institute of Mental Health). Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) affects about 3.1% of the U.S. population. GAD involves excessive worry about everyday problems. People with GAD may excessively worry about and anticipate problems with their finances, health, employment, and relationships. They typically have difficulty calming their concerns, even though they realize that their anxiety is more intense than the situation warrants. Physically, GAD sufferers will often show excessive fatigue, irritability, muscle tension or muscle aches, trembling, feeling twitchy, being easily startled, trouble sleeping, sweating, nausea, diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome, and headaches.

 

Anxiety disorders are not only a torment for the victims but they also place tremendous pressure on the health care system. 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. Anxiety disorders are treatable but only about a third of the sufferers get treatment. The most common treatment for GAD is drugs. Anxiolytic drugs are some of the most prescribed drugs in the U.S. Psychotherapy is another common form of treatment with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy particularly effective. Mindfulness practices are known to reduce anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/02/be-open-or-focused-in-meditation-to-reduce-anxiety/,  http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/the-mindfulness-cure-for-social-anxiety/, http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/stop-worrying/), and appear to do so by altering brain activity (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/13/get-the-brain-to-reduce-anxiety-with-meditation/).

 

The problems with these treatments is that drugs can have very troublesome side effects and psychotherapy can be expensive and time consuming. Therapy also demands that there be a qualified professional in the immediate area and the patient has the time and transportation available to attend therapy sessions. So, there is a need for cost-effective, convenient, and safe alternative treatments.

 

One way to lower costs and make therapy available for patients over wide geographical areas is to deliver therapy over the internet. In today’s Research News article “Internet-delivered acceptance-based behaviour therapy for generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial”

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Dahlin and colleagues developed a form of mindfulness based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for delivery by a therapist over the internet. They recruited participants with GAD over the internet and assigned them randomly to either receive therapy for 9-weeks or to a waiting list control condition. They found significant improvement in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and depression for the therapy group with large to moderate effect sizes. These improvements were still present 34-weeks later.

 

These are exciting results. Anxiety disorders are so prevalent and so infrequently treated that it’s important to demonstrate that a safe and effective therapy can be inexpensively delivered over the internet. This opens the door to widespread access to safe, convenient, effective, and inexpensive treatment. Future trials should employ a more active control condition and open up treatment to a wider array of GAD sufferers.

 

Mindfulness practices have a number of effects that appear to be helpful with anxiety disorders. They have been shown to improve emotion regulation. This allows the individual to experience the anxiety but react to it in a constructive way and thereby preventing an upward spiraling of anxiety as the patient becomes more anxious of becoming more anxious. Mindfulness practices also appear to blunt physiological and psychological reactions to stress. Since, high levels of anxiety are stressful, mindfulness practices may reduce the reactions to this stress, making the anxiety more bearable. Finally, anxiety involves worries about the future. By focusing the individual on the present, mindfulness practices interrupt worries about the future.

 

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that mindfulness based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is effective for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) even when delivered over the internet.

 

So log-on for less anxiety with mindfulness.

 

“I confessed to him that I saw breathing exercises as an attempt to distract. He said, “Yes. It’s a tool. Mindfulness is all in the subtleties.” Then he paused and told me, “Instead, when thoughts and feelings come, you simply say to them ‘Hello. I see you. Welcome.’”” – Lucy Roleff


CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Disrupt Suicidal Thoughts with Mindfulness  

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“Did you really want to die?”
“No one commits suicide because they want to die.”
“Then why do they do it?”
“Because they want to stop the pain.”  ― Tiffanie DeBartolo

 

After cancer and heart disease, suicide accounts for more years of life lost than any other cause. Around 43,000 people take their own lives each year in the US. Someone dies from suicide every 12.3 minutes. Worldwide over 800,000 people die by suicide every year. (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education). It is much more prevalent with males who account for 79% of suicides. The problem is far worse than these statistics suggest as it has been estimated that for every completed suicide there were 12 unsuccessful attempts. In other words, about a half a million people in the U.S. attempt suicide each year. Yet compared with other life threatening conditions there has been scant research on how to identify potential suicide attempters, intervene, and reduce suicidality.

 

Depression and other mood disorders are the number-one risk factor for suicide. More than 90% of people who kill themselves have a mental disorder, whether depression, bipolar disorder or some other diagnosis, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). So, the best way to prevent suicide may be to treat the underlying cause. For many this means treating depression. Mindfulness training has been shown to reduce suicidality in substance abusers (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/30/decrease-suicidality-with-mindfulness/). Mindfulness training has also been shown to be effective for treating depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed specifically to treat depression and prevent relapse. So, it would seem reasonable to expect that MBCT would be effective in suicide prevention.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Reduces the Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Cognitions in Patients with a History of Suicidal Depression”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1158656587491599/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4655869/

Barnhofer and colleagues treated patients with a history of suicidal depression with eight weeks of either MBCT, Cognitive Psychoeducation (CE), or Treatment as Usual (TAU). They found that at the end of treatment the participants treated with MBCT had a significant reduction in suicidal thoughts while the other groups did not. For the CE and TAU groups there were strong and significant correlations between depression and suicidal thoughts. That is, for these groups, the higher the level of depression the higher the levels of suicidal thought. In contrast for the MBCT group the correlations were significantly weaker That is, there was a much weaker relationship between depression and suicidal thoughts after Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) than Cognitive Psychoeducation (CE), or Treatment as Usual (TAU).

 

These are interesting and potentially important findings that MBCT can reduce suicidal thoughts and that it weakens the link between depression and suicidal thoughts. This makes sense as MBCT is designed to reprogram depressive thought processes, helping the patient to see that their typical ways of thinking about and assessing their experiences are faulty and tend to heighten depression and that looking at and interpreting their experiences in a more rational way can reduce depression. This, in turn, appears to reduce suicidal thinking.

 

These results clearly suggest that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) may be an effective program to prevent suicide in people with high levels of suicidal thinking. Since mindfulness training has been shown to reduce suicidality in drug abusers, the second most likely group to commit suicide, it would appear that mindfulness training is potentially an important method to prevent suicide.

 

So, disrupt suicidal thoughts with mindfulness.

 

“The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one gets through many a dark night.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Reduce Discrimination Produced Depression with Mindfulness

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“The stigmatized individual is asked to act so as to imply neither that his burden is heavy nor that bearing it has made him different from us; … he is advised to reciprocate naturally with an acceptance of himself and us, an acceptance of him that we have not quite extended to him in the first place. A PHANTOM ACCEPTANCE is thus allowed to provide the base for a PHANTOM NORMALCY.” ― Erving Goffman

 

Discrimination based upon race, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, etc. has been going on since the beginning of recorded history. Even though quite common it can have considerable negative impact for all who are involved but especially for the subject of the discrimination. General well-being, self-esteem, self-worth, and social relations can be severely impacted as a result of discrimination. This can, in turn, result in depression.

 

In the U.S. discrimination against African Americans is very common. In a recent poll, 51% of Americans expressed anti-black sentiments which was increased from four years ago, African-Americans comprise only 13% of the U.S. population and 14% of the monthly drug users, but are 37% of the people arrested for drug-related offenses in America, and African Americans receive 10% longer sentences than whites for the same crimes. Discrimination against women is also common. Women on average earn 22.5% less than men, have to work for more years before receiving promotion, the greater the education level the greater the disparity, and minority women fare even worse. In addition, women are 10 times more likely to be exposed to high levels of domestic violence and are nearly 4 times more likely to be exposed to sexual harassment than men. As a society we should do everything in our power to fight against discrimination in any form. But, we also need to deal with the consequences of discrimination when it occurs.

 

Mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce prejudice (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/prejudice/). It has also been shown to reduce depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/). Mindfulness has also is known to enhance positive emotions (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/) and positive emotions reduce the negative effects of discrimination. So perhaps mindfulness is related to the impact of discrimination on the individual. In today’s Research News article “Discrimination hurts, but mindfulness may help: Trait mindfulness moderates the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1154756897881568/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3862075/

Brown-Iannuzzi and colleagues analyzed responses on an on-line questionnaire of perceived racism, mindfulness, depression, and positive emotions completed by community participants.

 

They found that “the most common source of discrimination was gender (19.7%), followed by race or ethnicity (17%), body weight (14.4%) and age (14.3%).” They also found that high levels of discrimination were accompanied by high levels of depression while high levels of positive emotions and mindfulness were accompanied by low levels of depression. In addition, high levels of mindfulness were found to mitigate the effects of discrimination on depression. Participants high in mindfulness showed less of an increase in depression when exposed to discrimination.

 

Mindfulness has been repeatedly demonstrated to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). So, mindfulness may reduce the negative impact of the stress produced by the discrimination thereby reducing depression. Mindfulness may also act by focusing the individual more in the present moment. Rumination about past discrimination and worries regarding future discrimination may well amplify discrimination’s impact on depression. Focusing on the present moment may make it easier to cope with the discrimination, isolating it and thereby decreasing its effects.

 

Regardless of its mechanism of action, it is clear the mindfulness is associated with lower depression and a lessened effect of discrimination on depression. So, reduce discrimination produced depression with mindfulness.

 

“One of the best ways you can fight discrimination is by taking good care of yourself. Your survival is not just important; it’s an act of revolution.” ― DaShanne Stokes
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Improve MS Quality of Life with Mindfulness

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“Multiple sclerosis (MS) can be an overwhelming challenge. One day you can feel strong and resilient, but the next day you can feel helpless and isolated. On these days, getting an extra push or boost from others just like you can make all the difference. ‘A positive attitude is the best medicine.’” – MS patient Lorri Lowe Peterson

“Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most widespread disabling neurological condition of young adults around the world. more than 400,000 people in the United States and about 2.5 million people around the world have MS. About 200 new cases are diagnosed each week in the United States. The most common early symptoms of MS are: fatigue vision problems tingling and numbness vertigo and dizziness muscle weakness and spasms problems with balance and coordination.” – Healthline http://www.healthline.com/health/multiple-sclerosis/facts-statistics-infographic.

 

MS is most commonly diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 50 years with an average age between 30 and 35 years.  There is no cure for multiple sclerosis.  There are a number of approved medications that are used to treat MS but are designed to lessen frequency of relapses and slow the progression of the disease, but they don’t address individual symptoms. MS is not fatal with MS patients having about the same life expectancy as the general population. Hence, most MS sufferers have to live with the disease for many years. So, quality of life becomes a major issue. There is a thus a critical need for safe and effective methods to help relieve the symptoms of MS and improve quality of life.

 

Quality of life with MS is affected by fatigue, cognitive decrements, physical impairment, depression, and poor sleep quality. But, depressive symptoms are the most problematic with clinically significant depression present in 50% of MS sufferers. Since mindfulness has been previously shown to improve depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/) sleep quality (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-is-a-snooze/), cognitive impairments (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/cognition/), and emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/, it would seem likely that mindfulness would affect the quality of life in MS patients.

 

In today’s Research News article “Examining trait mindfulness, emotion dysregulation, and quality of life in multiple sclerosis”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1148798548477403/?type=3&theater

Schirda and colleagues investigated the relationship of trait mindfulness with the quality of life and its associated symptoms in MS patients. They found that the higher the levels of trait mindfulness the lower the levels of depression and emotion dysregulation and the higher the quality of life in the patients. They also found that the reduction in emotion dysregulation was partially responsible for the positive relationship between mindfulness and quality of life. In addition, the higher the depression level the larger the impact of mindfulness’ association with emotion dysregulation on quality of life.

 

So, as predicted, mindfulness played an important role in mitigating the effects of MS on quality of life and its associated symptoms. These relationships in MS patients parallel the effects of mindfulness on healthy individuals and so would seem to be universal regardless of the disease state. That emotion regulation appears to be central is very interesting. Mindfulness is known to allow the individual to fully experience emotions but to respond to them in a positive and constructive way. The results of the study then suggest that this may be the critical effect of mindfulness for the patient to experience a high quality of life

 

It should be kept in mind that Schirda and colleagues’ study did not manipulate mindfulness, rather simply looking at existing levels of trait mindfulness and their relationships with quality of life. Hence, it can’t be concluded that mindfulness causes quality of life improvements in MS. For example, it could be that people who have a high quality of life with MS become more mindful. It will take future manipulative research to establish mindfulness’ effectiveness in treating MS patients.

 

But, we can tentatively recommend to improve MS quality of life with mindfulness.

 

“I want America to know that you can still have a full, exciting and productive life even if you or your loved one is battling a debilitating, chronic disease such as MS.” – Michaele Salahi

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Relieve Prenatal Depression with Integrated Yoga

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Yoga Prenatal depression Gong2

“I thought I’d never be able to love her. I had dreams in which I imagined I’d be able to give her away, then would wake with a horrible sinking feeling that I couldn’t. We’d planned a third child, and I should have been happy. What kind of mother feels that way about her unborn baby? What was wrong with me?” – Emma

 

Many women experience depression including pregnant women. Depression is characterized by A low or sad mood, loss of interest in fun activities, changes in eating, sleep, and energy, problems in thinking, concentrating, and making decisions, feelings of worthlessness, shame, or guilt, and thoughts that life is not worth living. It is difficult to deal with under the best of conditions but in combinations with the stresses of pregnancy can turn what could be a joyous experience of creating a human life into a horrible torment.

 

Depression occurring after delivery of a baby is well known, documented and discussed. Less well known but equally likely is depression during pregnancy. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists suggest that between 14 and 23 percent of women suffer from some form of depression during pregnancy. Without treatment, prenatal depression can pose a serious threat to a mother-to-be, who may stop taking care of herself or, in extreme cases, become suicidal. This can cause a woman to want to terminate her pregnancy. There are no statistics on the matter but it has been speculated that prenatal depression can lead to abortion.

 

Prenatal depression is often not recognized or diagnosed. When it is, the typical treatment is antidepressant drugs. But these drugs are often ineffective and frequently have troublesome side effects and may not be safe during pregnancy. So, alternative treatments are needed. Yoga practice has been shown to help relieve depression during pregnancy (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/22/practice-yoga-to-relieve-anxiety-and-depression-during-pregnancy/). This is encouraging as yoga has many benefits including improvement of physical and mental health and if practiced properly is completely safe, even during pregnancy.

 

There are many types of yoga practice and little is known of what forms are effective and which are not. They can be roughly separated into those that are purely physical and those that are integrated.  Physical-exercise-based yoga include exercises, such as stretching and other yoga postures. Integrated yoga, on the other hand also includes meditation or deep relaxation. In today’s Research News article “Yoga for prenatal depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1147726498584608/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4323231/

Gong and colleagues review and summarize the literature on the effectiveness of physical-exercise-based yoga and integrated yoga on prenatal depression. Overall, yoga practice was found to be effective for prenatal depression. But, interestingly, they found that only with the integrated yoga practice was depression significantly reduced.

 

This is an important finding. Since integrated yoga is a combination of exercise-based yoga with meditation or deep relaxation and exercise-based yoga alone did not significantly reduce depression, these results suggest that the meditation or deep relaxation is critical for the anti-depressive effects. Mindfulness practices alone are known to be effective for depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/how-do-mindfulness-based-interventions-improve-mental-health/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/). So, it is possible that the effectiveness of yoga for prenatal depression is due to its mindfulness components. But future work will be required to determine whether it is the mindfulness components alone or the combination of exercise with mindfulness is important for the anti-depressive effects.

 

Regardless, it is clear that integrated yoga is a safe and effective treatment for prenatal depression. So, relieve prenatal depression with integrated yoga.

 

“prenatal depression is hard to talk about or diagnose. Pregnancy symptoms can mimic depression signs, so it can be difficult to tell what’s really going on. Plus, everyone expects pregnant women to be blissfully happy, right? Just so overjoyed at the miracle of it all, too filled with excited anticipation to feel such humanly concerns as fear or discontentment.” – Linda Sharps

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies