Genes, Mindfulness, Anxiety, and Depression

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 psyjdc 1 Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Medical School Mindfulness

October 16, 2015 psyjdc Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Spirituality for Depression

October 4, 2015 psyjdc 3 Comments

“Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.”- Chuck Palahniuk
Depression is widespread and debilitating. It is the most common mental illness affecting about 4% of the population worldwide. Unfortunately, the word depression is used in everyday language to mean both the clinical disorder and simple sadness. So, someone who for example is grieving about the death of a loved one is often labelled as depressed. That is simply not the appropriate use of the term.

Depression is not rooted in an event, a situation, or a characteristic. Sometimes the depressed individual will point to something as the cause, but the tipoff that it’s depression is that once that something goes away or is fixed, the depression still remains. Hence, the permanence of depression in the face of an improving environment suggests that it is more physically than environmentally based. But what to do for the legions of depressed people?

The most common solution is drugs. But they have troublesome side effects, are not always effective, and even when they are, can lose effectiveness over time. So, there is a need for other solutions. A number of contemplative practices have been shown to be effective in relieving depression. These include mindfulness training (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/), mindfulness based cognitive therapy (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dealing-with-major-depression-when-drugs-fail/) and yoga (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/03/keep-up-yoga-practice-for-anxiety-and-depression/).

It has long been reported that spirituality and religiosity are useful in treating depression. In today’s Research News article “Effects of religiosity and spirituality on the treatment Response in Patients with Depressive Disorders”

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Kim and colleagues studied depressed patients before and after undergoing 6-months of anti-depressant drug treatment. They found that the personal importance of religion and particularly spirituality were excellent predictors of successful treatment outcome. In other words, being high in spirituality was associated with better treatment response and lower depression at the end of treatment.

These results are interesting and potentially important, but how can spirituality improve anti-depressant drug treatment outcomes for depression? If we consider depression as biologically based, then the drug treatment may be addressing the core problem. But, years of depression produces a negative outlook on life that is so entrenched that it continues even after the core brain chemistry problem is addressed. The formerly depressed patient still maintains an expectation of a negative future. Spirituality, by way of giving a positive purpose to life may well be an antidote to the dour expectations of the formerly depressed patient. It provides hope for a better future.

Regardless of the mechanism it is clear that spirituality assists in recovering from depression.

“Once you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let it go, and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would threaten your identity as a depressed, angry or hard-done by person. You will then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common phenomenon.
It is also insane.” ― Eckhart Tolle

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Practice Yoga to Relieve Anxiety and Depression during Pregnancy

September 22, 2015 psyjdc 3 Comments

“The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women.” ~Mary Rucklos Hampton

Depression is quiet common during pregnancy. More than 20 percent of pregnant women have an anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms, or both during pregnancy. The psychological health of pregnant women has consequences for fetal development, and consequently, child outcomes. Depression during pregnancy is associated with premature delivery and low birth weight. It is also associated with higher levels of stress hormone in the mother and in the newborns, which can make them more stress reactive, temperamentally difficult, and more challenging to care for and soothe. Long-term there’s some evidence that the children have more social and emotional problems, including aggression and conduct problems and possibly child IQ and language. But, while gestational diabetes is far less common than depression during pregnancy, women are routinely screened for this disorder, but not for depression, any psychiatric illness, nor even experiences of life stress.

It is clear that there is a need for methods to treat depression and anxiety during pregnancy. Since the fetus can be negatively impacted by drugs, it would be preferable to find a treatment that did not require drugs. Moderate exercise is also beneficial during pregnancy. Yoga has antidepressive and anti-stress properties and it is a moderate exercise http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/11/improve-physical-health-with-yoga/, so, it would appear to be a good candidate to treat depression and anxiety during pregnancy.

In today’s Research News article “A randomized controlled trial of yoga for pregnant women with symptoms of depression and anxiety”

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Goodman and colleagues examine whether yoga practice during pregnancy is effective for depression and anxiety. They found that in comparison to treatment as usual, and 8-week program of yoga practice significantly reduced depression and negative emotions. Anxiety levels decreased in both the yoga and the treatment as usual groups.

It is not known if the efficacy of yoga for depression is due to its exercise value or to an intrinsic property specific to yoga. Both study groups had high levels of exercise before, during and after the treatment. As such, the additional exercise contributed by yoga would not make a significant difference in the fitness of the women. This speculation suggests that there may be other aspects of yoga practice that relieve depression. One obvious candidate is the social nature of the yoga classes, particularly since they were with other pregnant women. The camaraderie and sharing could be responsible for the antidepressive effects. It is also possible that the stress relieving properties of yoga are responsible for the psychological improvements.

Regardless, practice yoga during pregnancy to prevent or treat depression and anxiety.

“Yoga practice can make us more and more sensitive to subtler and subtler sensations in the body. Paying attention to and staying with finer and finer sensations within the body is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind.” ― Ravi Ravindra,

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

ACT for Depression

September 17, 2015 psyjdc 2 Comments

“That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key.” – Elizabeth Wurtzel

Depression is challenging and potentially deadly. It permeates the individual’s entire life and being. It is also widespread, affecting millions of people in the U.S. and worldwide. Recently mindfulness based therapies have been developed to treat depression and have been found to be quite effective (see links below). In fact, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed specifically to treat depression. But Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness Meditation, and Loving Kindness Meditation have all been shown to be effective.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that has been shown to be effective for depression. It helps the individual examine how their thoughts, feelings, and behavior 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.

As impressive as the effectiveness of many of the therapies for depression are, they require the supervision of a trained therapist working either with a single individual or in small groups. With the magnitude of the problem of depression, these therapies can only touch a small fraction of depression suffers. Recently the internet has been used to provide therapy to a wide audience. It allows for therapies to be made available to a much larger number of patients over a much larger geographical area.

In today’s Research News article “Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depressive Symptoms With Minimal Support: A Randomized Controlled Trial.”

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Lappalainen and colleagues use the internet to deliver Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (iACT) for the treatment of depression and compared its effectiveness to a group of participants on a wait list for treatment. They found large significant and much greater improvements for the iACT group for depression overall and also marked improvements in experienced psychological and physiological symptoms, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, frequency of automatic thoughts, and thought suppression. In addition, the improvements continued and even increased over the year following treatment, demonstrating the long lasting effectiveness of iACT.

These are impressive results and indicate that ACT can be delivered effectively over the internet, producing long-lasting improvement in depression. The results suggest that iACT worked the way it was designed to, by producing more mindful, positive, and constructive thought processes. Thinking was more targeted to the present moment reducing rumination about past events, it was more under control and less automatic, and provided much greater flexibility in evaluative thinking. So the depressed individuals’ broke the cycle produced by the ideas and thoughts they have regarding their depression contributing further to their depression, allowing them to understand better the nature of their problems and the sources of their feelings.

So, ACT for depression.

“Depression isn’t about, ‘Woe is me, my life is this, that and the other’, it’s like having the worst flu all day that you just can’t kick.” – Robbie Williams

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

LINKS

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective for major depression even after drugs fail

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dealing-with-major-depression-when-drugs-fail/

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is effective for depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/does-spirituality-account-for-mindfulness-anti-depressive-effects/

Loving Kindness Meditation is effective for depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/04/get-out-of-the-dumps-with-loving-kindness-meditation/

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective for depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/

Mindfulness Meditation alters the brain to relieve depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/19/this-is-the-brain-on-meditation-major-depressive-disorder/

Caring for Caregivers

September 14, 2015 psyjdc Leave a comment

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

There is a tremendous demand for caregiving in the US. It is estimated that over 65 million (29% of the adult population) provides care to someone who is ill, disabled or aged, averaging 20 hours per week spent caring for their loved ones. In addition, caregiver demand is increasing due to the increase in our older adult population. But, this caregiving comes at a cost to the caregiver. It exacts an economic toll in lost work hours, income, and even the opportunity to take a promotion or relocate for a better position. But, more significantly, it exacts a tremendous toll on caregivers’ health and well-being. Caregiving has been associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety as well as higher use of psychoactive medications, poorer self-reported physical health, compromised immune function, and increased mortality.

Palliative care of a dying loved one is particularly difficult as the emotional toll supplements the time and energy demands of the caregiving. The adverse effects of providing the care increase over the course of the disease, particularly as death approaches and tend to continue with bereavement. Hence there is a need to care for the caregivers. They are providing much needed care and support for the terminally ill family member, but need care and support themselves. This care for the caregiver is often totally lacking.

Mindfulness practice has been shown promise in improving the health and well-being of caregivers (see links at the bottom). Is it also effective for individuals providing end-of-life care? In today’s Research News article “Evaluating the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for informal palliative caregivers: A systematic literature review”

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Jaffray and colleagues review the literature exploring this question. They report that the published literature shows that mindfulness practice reduces depression and caregiver burden and increases quality of life in informal caregivers of palliative care.

The effect sizes for the reported improvements were moderate. This suggests that mindfulness practice is helpful but is not a miracle treatment for this difficult situation. This indicates that there is need for further study to try to identify what sorts of practices are most effective to improve the effectiveness of mindfulness techniques.

Some studies obtained interviews with the caregivers who reported that the practice increased acceptance of the care recipient’s illness, as well as of the self and family, increased a sense of presence, increased the sense of peace and reduced stress, and decreased the reactivity response to difficult care recipient behavior. These reports are interesting and suggest that the mindfulness practice may be having its effects by improving non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. This is exactly what mindfulness practices are aimed at developing. These reports also suggest that improved emotion regulation may also be responsible for the improvements, allowing the caregiver to be more in touch with their emotions and improving their ability to respond appropriately to the emotions.

So, caregivers should practice mindfulness to care for themselves.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

LINKS

Mindfulness practice improves the stress levels experienced by caregiver for autistic children (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-and-caregiving/) and in caregiving for spouses with chronic pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/18/have-a-healthy-relationship-with-mindfulness/).

Keep up Yoga Practice for Anxiety and Depression!

September 3, 2015September 4, 2015 psyjdc 1 Comment

“The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.” – David Suzuki

Chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes are not only physically difficult but also very frequently associated with emotional challenges, being frequently accompanied by anxiety and depression. The presence of a chronic disease makes it three times more likely to have a major depression. About 15% of patients with diabetes are depressed while about 20% of patients with coronary heart disease evidence depression.

The comorbidity appears to be bidirectional. The presence of depression nearly doubled the likelihood that diabetes would occur and there is a 50% greater likelihood that a depressed individual will have a heart attack than matched individuals without depression. So, chronic disease tends to predict anxiety and depression and these psychological disorders tend to predict chronic disease.

Dealing with mental health issues with a background of chronic illness presents a complex picture for treatment. One option is yoga practice. It is known to have both physical and mental health benefits, so it would seem to be well suited to dealing with the combination of the two. In fact yoga has been found to reduce the symptoms of anxiety and stress http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/ and improve distress tolerance http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/30/stop-emotional-eating-with-yoga/ as well as improving the immune response to combat disease http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/healthy-balance-through-yoga/. It can even help protect the brain from aging degeneration http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-protect-the-brain-with-yoga/.

In today’s Research News article “Influence of Intensity and Duration of Yoga on Anxiety and Depression Scores Associated with Chronic Illness”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1081979728492619/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4512118/

Telles and colleagues test not only the effectiveness of yoga practice for anxiety and depression in chronically ill patients but also investigated the amounts of practice that are effective. They found that the more months that yoga has been practiced the lower the levels of both anxiety and depression. In addition, the amount of daily practice in minutes was also associated with lower levels of anxiety associated with chronic illness.

There are a number of effects of yoga practice that may underlie its ability to relieve anxiety and depression in chronically ill patients. Yoga practice has been shown to decrease the physical and psychological responses to stress. The stress related to chronic illness can magnify both the symptoms of the illness and also the psychological impact of the illness. By relieving this stress yoga practice can affect both the physical and psychological symptoms of the illness.

Yoga practice is also known to improve mood which could directly affect the levels of anxiety and depression. It may also do so by altering brain chemistry which is known to be associated with depression and anxiety. In addition, the fact that yoga is frequently practiced in a group can provide social support and stimulation that can assist with mental health.

Regardless of the mechanism it appears clear that the more you practice yoga, the better you begin to feel psychologically and physically. So, keep up your yoga practice for physical and emotional health.

“Even if you have a terminal disease, you don’t have to sit down and mope. Enjoy life and challenge the illness that you have.” – Nelson Mandela

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Alter Your Thinking with Meditation for Mental Health

August 25, 2015 psyjdc Leave a comment

Meditation has been shown to have significant promise as a treatment for a variety of mental illnesses, including depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dealing-with-major-depression-when-drugs-fail/), obsessive compulsive disorder (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfully-improve-psychological-wellbeing/), and worrying (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/stop-worrying/). It is known that one mechanism by which meditation works is by improving emotion regulation, making the individual better able to control and deal with emotions. Meditation also produces cognitive (thought) changes that appear to assist in improving mental challenges.

In today’s Research News article “Common Factors of Meditation, Focusing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Longitudinal Relation of Self-Report Measures to Worry, Depressive, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Among Nonclinical Students.”

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4432024/

Sugiura and colleagues investigate how these cognitive effects of meditation might work to improve the symptoms of worry, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. They studied five psychological states affected by meditation, refraining from catastrophic thinking, logical objectivity, self-observation, acceptance, and detached coping.

They found that detached coping was associated with a decrease in both depressive and obsessive compulsive symptoms. Detached coping is a cognitive skill involving detachment and distancing from external events. This is cultivated by meditation in developing non-judgmental awareness of what is transpiring in the present moment. This allows the individual to simply observe what is happening around them without becoming identified with the events, which then are taken much less personally and thereby have a much smaller impact on depression and obsessions and compulsions.

Sugiura and colleagues also found that refraining from catastrophic thinking was associated with a decrease in worrying. Refraining from catastrophic thinking involves cognitive skills to analyze and reinterpret negative thoughts. This effect was meditated by negative beliefs about worrying, where refraining from catastrophic thinking is associated with fewer and less intense negative beliefs about worrying which in turn was associated with reduced worrying. Worrying about worrying is a problem in that it tends to intensify worrying. By reducing the negative beliefs about worrying meditation interrupts this process disabling the worrying about worrying. In this way meditation helps reduce worrying.

These findings indicate that, of the cognitive (thought) processes that are affected by meditation detached coping and refraining from catastrophic thinking are particularly important for relief of symptoms of troubling mental conditions. Both of these cognitive processes involve distancing the individual from the events and thoughts about the events that occur. This suggests that distancing attitudes are useful for long-term reduction of various psychological symptoms. It further emphasizes the importance of the non-judgmental observing that is cultivated by meditation.

So, meditate, improve non-judgmental observing, and improve mental health.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Prayer helps Cancer Patients

August 23, 2015 psyjdc Leave a comment

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Depression affects approximately 15% to 25% of cancer patients. This is not surprising as a diagnosis of cancer can cause a number of patients to become depressed. The problem is, though, that depression can affect the course of the disease, with mortality rates 25% to 39% higher in cancer patients who are also depressed. So it would appear that the two are linked such that cancer diagnosis can induce depression and depression can reduce the prognosis for recovery.

Many cancer patients pray to help cope with the disease, but it is not known if prayer is in any way affective in helping the patients with either depression or with dealing with cancer and its treatment. In today’s Research News article “Types of prayer and depressive symptoms among cancer patients: the mediating role of rumination and social support”

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183194/

John Perez and colleagues investigated the relationship between different kinds of prayer and depression in cancer patients and find that certain types of prayer are associated with lower depression in these patients.

They investigated eight different types of prayer—adoration, confession, reception, supplication, thanksgiving, prayer for one’s physical health, prayer for emotional strength, and prayer for others’ well-being. They found that more adoration prayer, reception prayer, thanksgiving prayer, and prayer for the well-being of others the lower the level of depression.

In looking deeper at the pattern of results they determined that prayers of thanksgiving acted by decreasing ruminative self-focused attention which in turn reduced depression. It would make sense that prayer that helped focus the patient on what they are thankful for in life would result in an increase in positive emotions and a decrease in the time spent ruminating about the cancer, leading to lower depression.

They also found that that prayer for the well-being of others was directly associated with lower depression and indirectly by being positively related to social support which is in turn associated with reduced depression. Praying for others directs attention away from the patient toward the problems of others. This can help provide a perspective on their problems with cancer and thereby reduce the depression. People who are thinking of the well-being of others tend to be better cared about and liked by others. The increase in the social support for them may follow. If someone cares about others, others care about them.

Reception and adoration prayer are both forms of contemplative prayer which is a form of meditation. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to improve the negative psychological issues that can go along with a cancer diagnosis http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/tackle-cancer-with-mindfulness/. So engaging in these forms of prayer may work through the same mechanism as meditation in improving the mood of cancer patients.

Hence it appears that the common response of cancer patients to pray is more than just an expression of religious faith. It has a positive impact on the patient’s psychological well-being which is known to improve the prognosis for recovery.

So, pray when cancer is diagnosed, reduce depression, and increase survival chances.

CMCS

This is the Brain on Meditation – Major Depressive Disorder

August 19, 2015 psyjdc 3 Comments

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a severe mood disorder that includes mood dysregulation and cognitive impairment. It is estimated that 16 million adults in the U.S. (6.9% of the population suffered from major depression in the past year and affects females (8.4%) to a great extent than males (5.2%). It is second-leading cause of disability in the world following heart disease.

The usual treatment of choice for MDD is drug treatment. In fact, it is estimated that 10% of the U.S. population is taking some form of antidepressant medication. But a substantial proportion of patients (~40%) do not respond to drug treatment. In addition the drugs can have nasty side effects. So, there is need to explore other treatment options. Mindfulness meditation is a safe alternative that has been shown to be effective for major depressive disorder even in individuals who do not respond to drug treatment. (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dealing-with-major-depression-when-drugs-fail/ ).

In today’s Research News article “The effect of body-mind relaxation meditation induction on major depressive disorder: A resting-state fMRI study”

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Chen and colleagues explore potential brain mechanisms for meditation effects on depression. They observed neural activity in patients with MDD before and after a mindfulness meditation exercise. They observed decreased activity in the frontal pole and increased connectivity between the right side dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (r-dmPFC) and both the left side dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (l-dlPFC) and the left side orbitofrontal cortex (l-OFC).

The frontal pole area of the brain has been shown to be heavily involved in evaluation, monitoring, or manipulation of internally generated information, basically thinking without an external referent. One of the characterizing features of depression is rumination, which is a repetitive thought pattern involving worry about past troublesome events. Hence rumination comprises negative internal thoughts without external referents. This has the effect of amplifying the depression as worry about depression produces more depression which produces worry about the depression, etc. So, decreased activity of the frontal pole would signal that after meditation there is a reduced tendency for rumination. This suggests that meditation may in part reduce depressive symptoms by reducing frontal pole meditated rumination.

The increased connectivity between the r-dmPFC and both the l-dlPFC and the (l-OFC is significant as these areas have been implicated in cognitive reappraisal, a strategy to regulate emotions by reinterpreting their meaning from a negative interpretation to a more positive one. For example rather than the feeling surrounding an emotion signaling that the individual is upset and unhappy, it is reinterpreted to mean that the individual is sensitive and empathetic toward other people. So, meditation by improving communications between these areas helps the individual to better and more positively interpret the feeling that they’re experiencing, moving them away from thoughts about depression toward thoughts about more uplifting characteristics.

Hence it appears that even a brief meditation practice can alter the activity of the brain in such a way as to relieve depression.

So, meditate and induce your brain to relieve depression.

CMCS