Stress

Mindfulness is Associated with a Reduced Tendency to Ostracize

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Mindfulness is Associated with a Reduced Tendency to Ostracize

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“adults scoring higher on trait mindfulness reported ostracizing coworkers less [and] demonstrated greater inclusion of a fellow group member being ostracized by others in the group.“ – Eric Jones

 

Humans are social animals. This is a great asset for the species as the effort of the individual is amplified by cooperation. In primitive times, this cooperation was essential for survival. But in modern times it is also essential, not for survival but rather for making a living and for the happiness of the individual. This deep need for positive social interactions heightens the pain of social rejection and ostracism. “Ostracism, or being excluded and ignored, is a detrimental experience for the target of ostracism because it harms the target’s relational needs of belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control, along with worsening the target’s mood.”

 

Mindfulness has been found to increase prosocial behaviors such as altruism, compassion and empathy and reduce antisocial behaviors such as violence and aggression. So, it is likely that mindfulness may affect the individual’s tendency to reject and ostracize others.

 

In today’s Research News article “Who Is Less Likely to Ostracize? Higher Trait Mindfulness Predicts More Inclusionary Behavior.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277536/ ) Jones and colleagues studied the relationship of mindfulness to ostracism in 3 studies. For all studies they recruited healthy adult workers online.

 

In the first study they had them complete measures of mindfulness, perceived ostracism, perceived stress, and instigation of ostracism. They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the lower the levels of perceived ostracism, perceived stress, and instigation of ostracism. So, mindful workers are more sensitive to ostracism in the workplace and less likely to be involved in ostracism.

 

In the second study they had the participants play a simulated ball tossing game, Cyberball, where they tossed a ball to 3 other participants who were simulated did not exist other than in the program. In one condition the ball was tossed to all participants equally and in the ostracism condition one simulated participant had the ball tossed to them initially but then never again from anyone except the real participant who could toss the ball to the ostracized participant if they chose. They found that the higher the level of participant mindfulness the greater the proportion of simulated ball tosses were directed to the simulated “ostracized” participant. Neither empathy, personal distress, nor the other motives were found to mediate the effects of mindfulness.

 

In the third study they again had the participants play Cyberball with an ostracized simulated participant. There were 2 conditions in that the participants were either instructed at the beginning to pay attention to the other players or did not receive the attention instruction. They found that the attention instruction increased the percentage of tosses directed to the simulated “ostracized” participant. In the attention instruction condition the effects of mindfulness disappeared.

 

The results suggest that high trait mindfulness is associated with less ostracizing of others in their work environments. The simulated ball tossing results suggested that mindfulness is also associated with lower ostracizing in artificial simulated conditions. But when an attention instruction is included the association with mindfulness goes away. This suggests that mindfulness results in a participant paying more attention to others around them and this produces a lowered tendency to ostracize others.

 

Ostracism is extremely harmful to individuals. So, methods to reduce ostracism are socially important. The results suggest that mindfulness may be an effective tool in countering ostracism by making individuals more attentive to others. It remains for future research to determine if training in mindfulness can reduce ostracism.

 

So, mindfulness is associated with a reduced tendency to ostracize.

 

“dispositional mindfulness predicted greater empathic concern for, and more helping behavior toward, an ostracized stranger [and] also promoted prosocial responsiveness to an ostracized stranger.“ – Daniel Berry

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Jones, E. E., Wirth, J. H., Ramsey, A. T., & Wynsma, R. L. (2019). Who Is Less Likely to Ostracize? Higher Trait Mindfulness Predicts More Inclusionary Behavior. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 45(1), 105–119. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218780698

 

Abstract

Despite the pain ostracism (being excluded and ignored) causes, researchers have minimally investigated factors related to reducing its occurrence. We investigated the association between higher trait mindfulness (the tendency to be attentive to the present moment) and lower engagement in ostracism. In Study 1, employed adults scoring higher on trait mindfulness reported ostracizing coworkers less. In Study 2, participants possessing higher levels of trait mindfulness demonstrated greater inclusion of a fellow group member being ostracized by others in the group. Results suggested that attention, rather than empathy, was the psychological process responsible for greater inclusion of an ostracized group member by mindful individuals. Study 3 supported this conclusion, because participants responded similarly to those high in trait mindfulness when they were instructed to pay attention and ensure all players were included equally. Overall, we found that people with higher levels of trait mindfulness are more attentive to targets of ostracism.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277536/

 

Improve Teachers’ Physiological and Psychological Well-Being with Mindfulness

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Improve Teachers’ Physiological and Psychological Well-Being with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness-based training can effectively reduce stress and burnout as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression at follow-up; it also shows promise in improving emotional regulation among teachers.” – Xiaolan Song

 

Stress is epidemic in the workplace with almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This often produces burnout; fatigue, cynicism, emotional exhaustion, and professional inefficacy. In a school setting, this burnout and exhaustion not only affects teachers personally, but also the students and schools, as it produces a loss of enthusiasm, empathy, and compassion. Hence, there is a need to identify methods of reducing stress and improving teachers’ psychological health. Mindfulness has been demonstrated to be helpful in reducing the psychological and physiological responses to stress and for treating and preventing burnout. This suggests that mindfulness would improve the psychological and physiological well-being of teachers,

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness meditation training effects on quality of life, immune function and glutathione metabolism in service healthy female teachers: A randomized pilot clinical trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8566766/ ) Rodrigues de Oliveira and colleagues recruited healthy teachers and randomly assigned them to receive 8 weekly 2-hour sessions of either mindfulness training or lectures on applied neuroscience for educators. Mindfulness training included “mindful breathing, compassionate communication, loving-kindness, self-compassion, mindful listening, dealing with difficulties, the 3 step meditation, walking meditation, body scan with progressive relaxation, thoughts, emotions, gratitude, sounds and breathing” and home practice. The teachers were measured before and after training and 12 months later for quality of life, perceived stress, resilience, and positive and negative emotions. In addition, blood was drawn and assayed for cytokine levels, homocysteine, cysteine, and glutathione.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the lecture group, the group that received mindfulness training had significantly greater increases in physical, psychological, social, and environmental quality of life, resilience, positive emotions, cysteine, and glutathione and a significantly greater decrease in perceived stress, negative emotions, and the cytokines of IL-6 and IL-8.

 

These results suggest that mindfulness training improves teacher’s quality of life, and psychological well-being. Physically, it also reduced markers of inflammation and improved antioxidant systems. This suggests that mindfulness training makes teachers healthier and happier. Although not measures, this surely will help to reduce the likelihood of burnout and improve the quality of the teacher’s work in the classroom.

 

So, improve teachers’ physiological and psychological well-being with mindfulness.

 

“Teachers can use mindfulness as a resource to self-regulate emotions resulting from job stress, thereby increasing their ability to focus on the students and their performances in the classrooms.” – Kelsey Milne

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Rodrigues de Oliveira, D., Wilson, D., Palace-Berl, F., de Mello Ponteciano, B., Fungaro Rissatti, L., Sardela de Miranda, F., Piassa Pollizi, V., Fuscella, J. C., Mourão Terzi, A., Lepique, A. P., D’Almeida, V., & Demarzo, M. (2021). Mindfulness meditation training effects on quality of life, immune function and glutathione metabolism in service healthy female teachers: A randomized pilot clinical trial. Brain, behavior, & immunity – health, 18, 100372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100372

 

Abstract

Background

Despite the crucial role of educators in encourage students’ academic learning, addressing educator stress inside the classroom remains a significant challenge in the educational context. Mindfulness Meditation training (MM) has been recommended as an environmental enrichment strategy in schools to help teachers cope with stress and cultivating a state of awareness in daily life. Although studies have shown that MM can improve immune system dynamics the biological mechanism underlying glutathione metabolism in a healthy human is unclear

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine whether MM training benefits psychological and behavioral response, immunological functions and glutathione metabolism in service healthy female teachers from public schools

Methods

We randomly assigned 76 teachers to an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Health Program for Educators (MBHPEduca) or Neuroscience for Education program (Neuro-Educa; active control group). Using the quality of life as our primary outcome, perceived stress, negative affectivity, and resilience as our secondary outcome, and pro-inflammatory cytokines and glutathione levels as our third outcome at baseline and post-intervention that occurred in public schools. Blood samples were collected for the measurement of three proinflammatory markers, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) and three GSH metabolism, including Cysteine (Cys), Homocysteine (HCys) and GSH were conducted at pre-and post-intervention, with selfreported assessments over time. Treatment effects were analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE) with to intention to treat

Results

We observed statistically significant improvements to the MBHP-Educa group compared to active control in perceived stress, resilience, positive and negative affect, and quality of life after 8-weeks MM (p ​< ​0.0001). Further, the MBHP-Educa group exhibited lower circulating IL-6 production accompanied by high circulating GSH, and Cys (p ​< ​0.0001). Additional analyses indicated that enhancing quality of life through mindfulness meditation training was mediated by reducing perceived stress and serum levels of IL- 6 and increasing resilience and teachers ‘plasma GSH levels

Conclusions

The present study is a pilot trial with low-power and provides preliminary evidence that mindfulness meditation training help teachers to cope with stress in the school environment with an impact on the quality of life, immune function, and glutathione metabolism.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8566766/

 

Spiritual Well-Being Predicts Psychological Well-Being

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Spiritual Well-Being Predicts Psychological Well-Being

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Spiritual wellbeing means the ability to experience and integrate meaning and purpose in life through a person’s connectedness with self, others art, music, literature, nature, or a power greater than oneself.” – Ritika Srivastava

 

There is a lot of pressure on university students to excel. This stress might in fact be counterproductive as the increased pressure can actually lead to stress and anxiety which can impede the student’s physical and mental health, well-being, and school performance. Religion and spirituality have been promulgated as solutions to the challenges of life. There have been a number of studies of the influence of religiosity and spirituality on the physical and psychological well-being of practitioners mostly showing positive benefits, with spirituality encouraging personal growth and mental health. This suggests that student spirituality may be associated with their psychological well-being.

 

In today’s Research News article “Cross-sectional study of the relationship between the spiritual wellbeing and psychological health among university Students.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8049307/ ) Leung and colleagues recruited university students and had them complete measures of spiritual well-being, including measures of personal and communal, environmental, and transcendental well-being, depression, anxiety, and perceived stress.

 

They found that the higher the levels of spiritual well-being, including measures of personal and communal, environmental, and transcendental well-being, the lower the levels of depression, anxiety, and perceived stress. They also found that participants who indicated that they had religious beliefs had higher levels of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and spiritual well-being.

 

These findings are correlational and as such no conclusions regarding causation can be reached. The fact that spiritual well-being was higher in students with religious beliefs but depression, anxiety, and perceived stress were higher suggests that the results were not due to a causal connection. In this case having higher spiritual well-being was not associated with better psychological well-being. Nevertheless, the results clearly show that spiritual well-being is highly related to higher levels of psychological well-being The results also suggest that religiosity is related to poorer psychological well-being. There are no data on the reasons for the relationships but perhaps reverse causation is involved such that higher levels of psychological distress may reduce students’ psychological well-being and prompt them to seek out religion.

 

So, spiritual well-being predicts psychological well-being.

 

“whole health requires care and attention for not only your physical body but also your mind and spirit. The benefits of spiritual well-being are numerous – from more compassionate relationships to a deeper sense of inner peace. – Advent Health

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Leung, C. H., & Pong, H. K. (2021). Cross-sectional study of the relationship between the spiritual wellbeing and psychological health among university Students. PloS one, 16(4), e0249702. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249702

 

Abstract

University students’ spiritual wellbeing has been shown to be associated with quality, satisfaction, and joy of life. This study tested the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and symptoms of psychological disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety and stress) among Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Cross-sectional data were collected from N = 500 students (aged 17–24; 279 women). The participants were asked to complete the Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM) to evaluate the status of their spiritual wellbeing in the personal and communal, environmental, and transcendental domains, and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) to assess their emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. All domains of spiritual wellbeing were negatively associated with psychological distress. Hierarchical Multiple Regression showed that together the three domains of spirituality explained 79.9%, 71.3% and 85.5% of the variance in students’ depression, anxiety and stress respectively. The personal and communal domain of spiritual wellbeing was the strongest predictor of psychological distress.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8049307/

 

Improve Neuropsychological Disorders with Yoga

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Improve Neuropsychological Disorders with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“yoga might be considered as an effective adjuvant for the patients with various neurological disorders including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, headache, myelopathy, neuropathies.” – A.Mooventhan

 

Mindfulness training and yoga practices have been shown to improve health and well-being in healthy individuals. They have also been found to be effective for a large array of medical and psychiatric conditions, either stand-alone or in combination with more traditional therapies. There has accumulated a large amount of research on the effectiveness of yoga practice for the treatment of a variety of physical and mental issues. Hence, it would be useful to summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Therapeutic role of yoga in neuropsychological disorders.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8546763/ ) Nourollahimoghadam and colleagues review and summarize the published research regarding the effectiveness of yoga practice for the treatment of a variety of neuropsychological disorders.

 

They report that the published research found that yoga practice produced significant improvements in physical illnesses including migraine headaches, Alzheimer’s Disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and neuropathy. Yoga practice also produced significant improvements in psychological well-being including anxiety, stress, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, somatoform disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and burnout. They further report that yoga may produce its beneficial effects by altering the chemistry, electrical activity, structures, and connectivity within the brain.

 

Hence Yoga practice appears to have a myriad of positive physical and psychological benefits. The authors, however, point to weaknesses in the research including small sample sizes, short-term follow-up, confounding variables, and lack of appropriate controls. So, more and better controlled studies are needed to verify the benefits of yoga practice. Hence, the present state of knowledge supports the engagement in yoga practice to advance the physical and mental well-being of both ill and healthy individuals.

 

So, improve neuropsychological disorders with yoga.

 

“Yoga can be a helpful practice of self-care for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological conditions (such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, Lyme’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease).” – Mary Hilliker

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Nourollahimoghadam, E., Gorji, S., Gorji, A., & Khaleghi Ghadiri, M. (2021). Therapeutic role of yoga in neuropsychological disorders. World journal of psychiatry, 11(10), 754–773. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v11.i10.754

 

Abstract

Yoga is considered a widely-used approach for health conservation and can be adopted as a treatment modality for a plethora of medical conditions, including neurological and psychological disorders. Hence, we reviewed relevant articles entailing various neurological and psychological disorders and gathered data on how yoga exerts positive impacts on patients with a diverse range of disorders, including its modulatory effects on brain bioelectrical activities, neurotransmitters, and synaptic plasticity. The role of yoga practice as an element of the treatment of several neuropsychological diseases was evaluated based on these findings.

Core Tip: A multitude of beneficial effects of yoga practice and the underlying mechanisms of action have been reported and point out its role as an influential element in the integrative therapy of various neuropsychological disorders. In the planning of further investigations, studies should be designed to achieve more accuracy and precision in the heterogeneous field of yoga practices and potential fields of application.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8546763/

 

Improve Worker Well-Being in Spite of Work-Life Conflicts with Mindfulness

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Improve Worker Well-Being in Spite of Work-Life Conflicts with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“For many busy professionals, the phrase “work-life balance” can seem like an oxymoron. In today’s world of multi-tasking and 24/7 connectivity, work can seem omnipresent and overwhelming. How can you possibly maintain your competitive edge at work while also nurturing a healthy personal life? . . . Mindfulness can bring us back into balance by acting as a bridge between work and life.” – Dorsey Standish

 

Work is very important for our health and well-being. We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. Indeed, the work environment has even become an important part of our social lives, with friendships and leisure time activities often attached to the people we work with. But work-related stress is epidemic in the western workplace. Almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This stress can result in impaired health and can result in burnout; producing fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy. To help overcome unhappiness, stress, and burnout, mindfulness practices have been implemented in the workplace. These mindfulness practices have been shown to markedly reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress.

 

One of the stresses produced by the modern work environments results from work conflicting with the rest of the workers’ lives harming their well-being and mental health. But there is little understanding regarding how these conflicts affect the worker and what practices might help to mitigate the effects of work-life conflicts. Mindfulness helps to prevent the harmful effects of conflicts. So, it may help to blunt the effects of work-life conflict on the individual’s well-being.

 

In today’s Research News article “When Work Conflicts With Personal Projects: The Association of Work-Life Conflict With Worker Wellbeing and the Mediating Role of Mindfulness.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.539582/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1771688_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211111_arts_A ) Pacheco and colleagues recruited adult workers and had them complete a questionnaire measuring mindfulness, positive mental health, well-being in the workplace, personality, and work-life conflict, including time-based conflict and strain-based conflict..

 

They report that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of positive mental health and well-being in the workplace and the lower the levels of time-based conflict and strain-based conflict. They also found that the higher the levels of both time-based conflict and strain-based conflict the lower the levels of positive mental health and well-being in the workplace.

 

Using linear structural modelling to assess the interrelationships between the variables they found that both time-based conflict and strain-based conflict were associated with lower well-being in the workplace directly and also indirectly by being associated with lower mindfulness which was associated with lower well-being in the workplace. They also found that both time-based conflict and strain-based conflict were associated with lower positive mental health only indirectly by being associated with lower mindfulness which was associated with lower positive mental health.

 

These findings are correlational. So, no conclusions regarding causation can be reached. But in previous controlled research mindfulness training has been shown to improve mental health and well-being. So, the relationships with mindfulness observed here are likely due to causal connections. The findings, then, suggest that the conflicts between work and life in general are factors in lowering workers’ mental health and well-being at work. The findings further suggest that mindfulness is an important intermediary where mindfulness is a promoter of positive mental health and well-being at work, but work-life conflicts reduce mindfulness. Future research should attempt to train mindfulness to observe whether it can mitigate the negative effects of work-life conflicts.

 

So, improve worker well-being in spite of work-life conflicts with mindfulness.

 

“[mindfulness] is effective for encouraging work–life balance and improve well-being.” – Sarah Elena Althammer

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Pacheco T, Coulombe S and Meunier S (2021) When Work Conflicts With Personal Projects: The Association of Work-Life Conflict With Worker Wellbeing and the Mediating Role of Mindfulness. Front. Psychol. 12:539582. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.539582

 

The negative emotional and health effects of work-life conflict (WLC) have been demonstrated in numerous studies regarding organizational psychology and occupational health. However, little is known about WLC’s relationship with positive wellbeing outcomes, including emotional, psychological, and social aspects of workers’ thriving. Furthermore, the mediating processes underlying the effects of WLC remain mostly unknown. The current study investigated the associations of perceived time- and strain-based WLC with positive mental health and thriving at work, as well as the mediating role of mindfulness in these associations. It is argued that WLC causes reduced mindfulness capacities among workers, which is in turn associated with lower positive wellbeing given the importance of mindfulness in emotion regulation. A sample of 330 workers based in Québec, Canada, completed an online survey including a measure of strain- and time-based interference with personal projects (i.e., the goals and activities that define the daily life of an individual) and validated scales of wellbeing outcomes and mindfulness. Results of structural equation modeling revealed negative associations between time- and strain-based WLC with positive mental health and thriving at work. Work-life conflict was related to lower mindfulness, which played a mediating role in the associations between time-based WLC with positive mental health and thriving at work, as well as strain-based WLC with positive mental health. The mediation was complete for the time-based WLC and positive mental health association, but partial for the other mediated pathways, highlighting the need for more research to identify additional mediators. These results highlight that beyond resulting in negative emotional/health outcomes often studied in previous research, WLC may be associated with workers’ reduced potential to live a fulfilling life, in general and in the workplace. Recommendations (e.g., mindfulness intervention to promote emotional regulation, personal project intervention) for workplace policymakers and practitioners are identified.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.539582/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1771688_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211111_arts_A

 

Improve College Student Psychological Well-Being with Online Mindfulness Training

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Improve College Student Psychological Well-Being with Online Mindfulness Training

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Student life can be stressful, but that doesn’t mean students have to let stress take over their lives. By incorporating mindfulness and meditation into daily routines, students can not only relieve stress, but also improve their memory, focus and ultimately their grades.” – Affordable Colleges

 

In the modern world education is a key for success. There is a lot of pressure on college students to excel so that they can get the best jobs after graduation. The pressure can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression which can impede the student’s mental health, well-being, and school performance. But it is, for the most part, beyond the ability of the individual to change the environment to reduce stress, so it is important that methods be found to reduce the college students’ responses to stress; to make them more resilient when high levels of stress occur.

 

Contemplative practices including meditation, mindfulness training, exercise, Tai Chi and Qigong, and yoga practice have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress, relieve anxiety, and reduce depression  Most mindfulness trainings, however, require a trained teacher. The participants must be available to attend multiple sessions at particular scheduled times that may or may not be compatible with busy student schedules and at locations that may not be convenient. Online mindfulness trainings have tremendous advantages in decreasing costs, making training schedules much more flexible, and eliminating the need to go repeatedly to specific locations. So, it would seem important to examine whether brief online mindfulness training can relieve stress and improve the psychological well-being of college students.

 

In today’s Research News article “An Evaluation of an Online Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention in Higher Education: A Pilot Conducted at an Australian University and a British University.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.752060/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1765474_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211102_arts_A ) Chung and colleagues recruited college students and randomly assigned them to either a wait-list control condition or to receive a 6 or 12 week online mindfulness training. They were measured before and after the intervention for mental well-being, perceived stress, and mindfulness.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the wait-list control condition after mindfulness training the students had significantly higher levels of mindfulness and mental well-being and lower levels of perceived stress. Mindfulness training has been repeatedly found with a variety of groups to reduce stress and improve well-being. So, the present results are not surprising. But the results clearly demonstrate that online mindfulness training significantly improves the psychological well-being of college students.

 

So, improve college student psychological well-being with online mindfulness training.

 

“Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events,” – Abby Fortin

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Chung J, Mundy ME, Hunt I, Coxon A, Dyer KR and McKenzie S (2021) An Evaluation of an Online Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention in Higher Education: A Pilot Conducted at an Australian University and a British University. Front. Psychol. 12:752060. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.752060

 

Mental ill health among higher education students is a well-established problem; therefore, it is imperative to implement preventative approaches to support wellbeing. Blended and fully online education programmes widens access for mature or returning students; however, the psychological wellbeing of this sub-group of students is under-researched. Finally, evaluating wellbeing interventions that meet the needs of university students as well as accessible for online students is required. The aim of this study was to evaluate a brief, online and mindfulness-based intervention to assist the self-management of wellbeing and stress for both online and on-campus higher education students. The total sample included 427 participants (96% psychology students) at Monash University, Australia (n=283) and King’s College London (n=144), with 152 participants completing the whole study. Participants were allocated to a brief, self-guided, online and mindfulness-based intervention (over the course of one study period; n=297), or to a wait-list control group (n=148). Baseline and end of semester questionnaires included the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, 10-item Perceived Stress Scale and the 15-item Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Regression modelling revealed the intervention condition accounted for up to 12% of the variability in change in student wellbeing, stress and mindfulness between the start and end of semester (when controlling for baseline). These findings support the implementation of a brief, online and asynchronous mindfulness-based intervention for supporting student mental health and psychological wellbeing. An on-going challenge in practice includes engaging and maintaining student engagement in wellbeing initiatives.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.752060/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1765474_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211102_arts_A

 

Improve Adolescent Psychological Well-Being with Meditation

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Improve Adolescent Psychological Well-Being with Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“with all the uncertainty in the world right now, teens can definitely benefit from taking time to quiet the noise and meditate. It’s a handy practice that can help them through all kinds of confusing and stressful situations in life.” – Cleveland Clinic

 

Adolescence is a time of mental, physical, social, and emotional growth. But it can be a difficult time, fraught with challenges. During this time the child transitions to young adulthood; including the development of intellectual, psychological, physical, and social abilities and characteristics. There are so many changes occurring during this time that the child can feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with all that is required. This can lead to emotional and behavioral problems. Indeed, up to a quarter of adolescents suffer from depression or anxiety disorders, and an even larger proportion struggle with subclinical symptoms. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve emotion regulation and to benefit the psychological and emotional health of adolescents

 

In today’s Research News article “Using Heartfulness Meditation and Brainwave Entrainment to Improve Teenage Mental Wellbeing.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742892/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1757290_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211021_arts_A ) Yadav and colleagues recruited high school students and randomly assigned them to one of 4 groups; audio brainwave entrainment group, heartfulness meditation group, meditation and audio entrainment group, and a no-treatment control group. The interventions lasted for 4 weeks. The heartfulness meditation group had 3 weekly training sessions and meditated at home for 30 minutes per day three times per week. The audio brainwave entrainment group listened to an audio tape 3 times per week for 15 minutes of audio beats 13–30 HZ in the first 2 min; 8–12 HZ from minute 3–12; and 13–30 Hz from minute 12–15. All participants were measured before and after training for depression, perceived stress, sleep quality, mood, anger, confusion, fatigue, tension, vigor, episodic memory, visuospatial processing, verbal short-term memory, and attention.

 

They found that following the intervention the meditation group had a significant increase in mood, including decreases in anger and depression, and a decrease in perceived stress, while the combination group had a significant increase in sleep quality and a decrease in perceived stress. The combination group in comparison to the meditation group had greater improvements in mood and perceived stress.

 

The results suggest that meditation practice improves the psychological well-being of adolescents while audio brainwave entrainment alone does not. But when they were combined there was some degree of greater improvement. Like adults, adolescents benefit from meditation in improved mood, including decreased anger and depression, and decreased perceived stress. This suggests that meditation may be particularly useful during the turbulent times of adolescence.

 

So, improve adolescent psychological well-being with meditation.

 

“[Mindfulness Meditation] appears to have positive effects on adolescent psychological health including reduced depression, anxiety, and stress, increased overall well-being, self and emotion regulation, positive affect, and resilience.” – Ryan Erbe

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Yadav GS, Cidral-Filho FJ and Iyer RB (2021) Using Heartfulness Meditation and Brainwave Entrainment to Improve Teenage Mental Wellbeing. Front. Psychol. 12:742892. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742892

 

Teenagers are highly susceptible to mental health issues and this problem has been exacerbated by the quarantine restrictions of COVID-19. This study evaluated the use of Heartfulness Meditation and Audio Brainwave Entrainment to help teenagers cope with mental health issues. It used 30-min Heartfulness meditation and 15-min brainwave entrainment sessions with binaural beats and isochronic tones three times a week for 4 weeks. Using a pretest-posttest methodology, participants were asked to complete a survey battery including the Pittsburgh Quality of Sleep Index, Perceived Stress Scale, Patient Health Question-9, Profile of Mood States, and Cambridge Brain Health assessment. Participants (n = 40) were divided into four experimental groups: the control group (n = 9), Audio Brainwave Entrainment group (n = 9), Heartfulness Meditation group (n = 10), and a combined group (n = 12), for a 4-week intervention. Data were analyzed with paired t-tests. The singular Audio Brainwave Entrainment group did not see statistically significant improvements, nor did any of the intervention groups for brain health (p > 0.05). This study, however, proved the efficacy of a 4-week Heartfulness Meditation program to regulate overall mood (p = 0.00132), stress levels (p = 0.0089), state depression (POMS; p = 0.0037), and anger (p = 0.002). Results also suggest adding Audio Brainwave Entrainment to Heartfulness Meditation may improve sleep quality (p = 0.0377) and stress levels (p = 0.00016).

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742892/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1757290_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211021_arts_A

 

Improve Counselor Self-Efficacy and Reduce Compassion Fatigue with Mindfulness

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Improve Counselor Self-Efficacy and Reduce Compassion Fatigue with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness training may be beneficial as a prophylactic for stress and burnout for psychotherapists, counselors, and other mental health care workers.” – Tasha Felton

 

In occupations, like counseling, burnout is all too prevalent. Burnout is the fatigue, cynicism, emotional exhaustion, sleep disruption, and professional inefficacy that comes with work-related stress. It not only affects the counselors personally, but also the patients, as it produces a loss of empathy and compassion. Contemplative practices have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. Indeed, mindfulness has been shown to be helpful in treating and preventing burnout, increasing resilience, and improving sleep. Mindfulness is also known to improve self-compassion, understanding one’s own suffering and self-efficacy, one’s belief in their ability to make things better. It is possible that this may be a key to understanding mindfulness’ effects on burnout.

 

In today’s Research News article “Self-Oriented Empathy and Compassion Fatigue: The Serial Mediation of Dispositional Mindfulness and Counselor’s Self-Efficacy.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.613908/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1757290_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211021_arts_A ) Zhang and colleagues recruited hotline psychological counselors online and had them complete a questionnaire measuring mindfulness, self-efficacy burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and empathy, including perspective taking, personal distress, fantasy, and empathic concern subscales.

 

They found that the higher the levels of empathy the higher the levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress and the lower the levels of mindfulness and self-efficacy. The higher the levels of both mindfulness and self-efficacy the lower the levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress while the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of self-efficacy. Linear structural modelling revealed that empathy was directly, positively, related to compassion fatigue and also indirectly related by being associated with self-efficacy which was in turn associated with lower compassion fatigue. Finally, empathy was also indirectly related to compassion fatigue by being negatively associated with mindfulness that was positively associated with self-efficacy which was in turn associated with lower compassion fatigue.

 

These findings are correlational. So, causation cannot be definitively established. But the associations are clear. Greater empathy is associated with greater compassion fatigue. In other words, an empathetic counselor is more likely to experience compassion fatigue which leads to burnout and secondary traumatic stress. These effects are mitigated, however, by the counselor’s empathy being associated with greater mindfulness and self-efficacy which work to lower compassion fatigue. This all leads to the suggestion that training in mindfulness may help prevent a counselor losing compassion and burning out. They may help prevent counselor burnout.

 

So, improve counselor self-efficacy and reduce compassion fatigue with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness trains us to think about our thoughts as ‘just thoughts,’” including the thought that tragedies and outrage are part of life or that trying to effect change is hopeless. Part of desensitization and empathy fatigue is that “we become numb and disengaged, lacking in introspection and compassion for others,” Steven Lynn

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Zhang L, Ren Z, Jiang G, Hazer-Rau D, Zhao C, Shi C, Lai L and Yan Y (2021) Self-Oriented Empathy and Compassion Fatigue: The Serial Mediation of Dispositional Mindfulness and Counselor’s Self-Efficacy. Front. Psychol. 11:613908. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.613908

 

This study aimed to explore the association between self-oriented empathy and compassion fatigue, and examine the potential mediating roles of dispositional mindfulness and the counselor’s self-efficacy. A total of 712 hotline psychological counselors were recruited from the Mental Health Service Platform at Central China Normal University, Ministry of Education during the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019, then were asked to complete the questionnaires measuring self-oriented empathy, compassion fatigue, dispositional mindfulness, and counselor’s self-efficacy. Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze the possible associations and explore potential mediations. In addition to reporting confidence intervals (CI), we employed a new method named model-based constrained optimization procedure to test hypotheses of indirect effects. Results showed that self-oriented empathy was positively associated with compassion fatigue. Dispositional mindfulness and counselor’s self-efficacy independently and serially mediated the associations between self-oriented empathy and compassion fatigue. The findings of this study confirmed and complemented the etiological and the multi-factor model of compassion fatigue. Moreover, the results indicate that it is useful and necessary to add some training for increasing counselor’s self-efficacy in mindfulness-based interventions in order to decrease compassion fatigue.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.613908/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1757290_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20211021_arts_A

 

Mindfulness is Associated with Better Cognitive Performance in College Students

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Mindfulness is Associated with Better Cognitive Performance in College Students

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Effective learning and sustained attention and memory are important requirements for success and well-being in academic contexts. Incorporating a mindfulness meditation course in the curriculum may be a feasible approach to improve learning effectiveness and cognition performance in university students.” – Ho-Hoi Ching

 

In the modern world education is a key for success. There is a lot of pressure on college students to excel. This stress might in fact be counterproductive as the increased pressure can actually lead to stress and anxiety which can impede the student’s physical and mental health, well-being, and school performance. Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive research to be effective in improving physical and psychological health. Indeed, these practices have been found to improve psychological health in college students. Mindfulness has also been shown to improve cognitive abilities. So, it is possible that mindfulness is associated with better performance in college.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement in college students: the mediating role of stress.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8516329/ ) McBride and colleagues recruited college students and had them complete a questionnaire measuring mindfulness, decentering, perceived stress, cognitive abilities, cognitive concerns, and academic performance (GPA).

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness and decentering the lower the levels of perceived stress, and the higher the levels of cognitive abilities and cognitive concerns. Also, the higher the levels of perceived stress the lower the levels of cognitive abilities and cognitive concerns. Further they found that mindfulness was associated with greater cognitive abilities and cognitive concerns directly and indirectly by being associated with lower perceived stress which was in turn associated with greater cognitive abilities and cognitive concerns. The one disappointing result was that mindfulness, although associated with better cognition, was not associated with performance in college.

 

These findings are correlative. So, causation cannot be determined. But previous controlled research has demonstrated that mindfulness causes improvements in cognition and reductions in perceived stress. So, the present results are likely also due to causal effects of mindfulness on stress and cognition. The results also show that the ability of mindfulness to affect cognition is not only by directly improving cognition but also by reducing perceived stress which results in improved cognition. This is not surprising as the high levels of stress endured by college students interferes with cognition.

 

So, mindfulness is associated with better cognitive performance in college students.

 

“Among undergraduate students, higher mindfulness was related both to a lower frequency of negative automatic thoughts and to an enhanced ability to let go of those thoughts.” – Praxis

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

McBride, E. E., & Greeson, J. M. (2021). Mindfulness, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement in college students:the mediating role of stress. Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.j.), 1–11. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02340-z

 

Abstract

Higher trait mindfulness may be associated with better cognitive functioning and academic achievement in college students. Although mediating mechanisms are unclear, lower stress levels could explain this relationship. Participants: Cross-sectional online survey (n = 534; 33% non-white; Apr 2018 – Sep 2019). Path analysis tested Perceived Stress as a mediator between specific facets of trait mindfulness and three measures of self-reported cognitive functioning and academic achievement: Cognitive Abilities, Cognitive Concerns, and GPA. Perceived Stress fully or partially mediated the relationship between all facets of trait mindfulness and perceived cognitive functioning. Only Decentering, however, was associated with higher GPA as a function of lower stress. Lower stress can explain the link between higher trait mindfulness and better cognitive functioning, but not necessarily academic achievement. Future research is needed to address causality, examine objective measures of cognitive functioning, and extend this explanatory model to mindfulness training.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8516329/

 

Improve College Student Psychological Well-Being during Covid-19 with Mindfulness

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Improve College Student Psychological Well-Being during Covid-19 with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness-based approaches appear well-suited to deal with the challenges presented by the time of unpresented uncertainty, change, and loss, which can take many forms in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.” – Elena Antonova

 

College is very stressful for students and this stress can impair the student’s physical and mental health, well-being, and school performance. Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive research to be effective in improving physical and psychological health. Indeed, these practices have been found to improve psychological health in college students. The COVID-19 pandemic has created intense stress which challenged the mental and physical health of the population. As an antidote, mindfulness is known to decrease the psychological and physical responses to stress. Indeed, mindfulness training has been shown to be helpful in coping with the mental and physical challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it is likely that mindfulness training will improve the psychological well-being of college students during a Covid-19 lockdown.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Efficacy of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College Students Under Extremely Stressful Conditions.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8498086/ ) Smit and Stavrulaki recruited two classes of college students one of which was delivered 8-weekly 75-minute sessions of mindfulness training with daily home practice. During the intervention a Covid-19 lockdown was announced, and all classes moved to online delivery. They were measured before during and after the intervention for mindfulness, coronavirus worry, perceive stress, sleep difficulties, and personality.

 

They found that at baseline mindfulness was negatively associated with neuroticism and perceived stress while neuroticism was positively associated with sleep problems and perceived stress. They found that in comparison to the no-treatment controls and baseline, after the intervention the mindfulness trained students were significantly higher in mindfulness and significantly lower in perceived stress, coronavirus worry, and sleep problems.

 

It should be noted that the control condition was passive, no-treatment, and as such confounding explanations such as placebo effects, experimenter bias, attention effects etc. could explain the results. But previous controlled research has demonstrated that mindfulness training decreases sleep problems, worry and perceived stress. So, the current results are probably due to the effects of mindfulness training. The results, though, show that mindfulness training is effective in improving college students’ well-being under the extremely stressful conditions of coronavirus lockdown.

 

So, improve college student psychological well-being during Covid-19 with mindfulness.

 

“As the pandemic continues, adding to what was already an epidemic of mental health challenges, college campuses across the U.S . . .  are witnessing a rise in the need and desire for meditation and mindfulness activities.” – Silma Suba

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Smit, B., & Stavrulaki, E. (2021). The Efficacy of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College Students Under Extremely Stressful Conditions. Mindfulness, 1–15. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01772-9

 

Abstract

Objectives

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), called Koru mindfulness, among college students.

Methods

Undergraduate students (N = 34) participated in a 4-week mindfulness curriculum embedded within a college course, while a control group (N = 35) taking a different course did not. Notably, the intervention coincided with the start of a state-wide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results

Despite the additional external stress, there was a significant main effect and a significant interaction between the intervention and time for state mindfulness, (the treatment group experienced increased state mindfulness). There was a significant main effect (higher for the control group) on coronavirus worry and a significant interaction between the intervention and time for perceived stress, with the treatment/control group experiencing decreased/increased stress over time. There was also a significant interaction between the intervention and time for sleep problems with the intervention group experiencing declines in sleep problems over time and also being more likely to experience optimal amounts of sleep over time.

Conclusions

The Koru intervention effectively increased state mindfulness, decreased stress, and improved sleep, suggesting that it is robust even under extremely stressful conditions. This study adds to the growing evidence that MBIs can play an important role in addressing rising concerns regarding the mental health of college students.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8498086/