Alter Brain Networks and Cognitive Ability with Tai Chi

psyjdc Leave a comment

Alter Brain Networks and Cognitive Ability with Tai Chi

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

” Another great benefit of Tai Chi is that it’s accessible to people of all ages and fitness abilities. It’s the focus on the subtle movements that exercise the brain and boost cognitive abilities.” – Karl Romain

 

Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese practice involving mindfulness and gentle movements. It is easy to learn, safe, and gentle. Tai Chi has been practiced for thousands of years with benefits for health and longevity. Tai Chi training is designed to enhance function and regulate the activities of the body through controlled breathing, mindful concentration, and gentle movements. Only recently though have the effects of this practice been scrutinized with empirical research. This research has found that it is effective for an array of physical and psychological issues. It appears to strengthen the immune system, reduce inflammation and increase the number of cancer killing cells in the bloodstream, improve cardiovascular health, reduce arthritis pain, improve balance and reduce falls. It also appears to improve attentional ability and relieve depression.

 

The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas. In other words, mindfulness practice appears to mold and change the brain, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits. Hence, it would appear likely that Tai Chi practice may alter the brain networks underlying mindfulness.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mind-Body Practice Changes Fractional Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations in Intrinsic Control Networks.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01049/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_325025_69_Psycho_20170711_arts_A

Wei and colleagues recruited healthy long-term practitioners of Tai Chi (average 14 years of practice) and age, gender, and education matched non-practitioners. All participants performed a flanker task, a measure of executive cognitive function, in which the participant had to respond to the direction of an arrow surrounded by distracting arrows. They found that the longer the practitioners had been practicing Tai Chi the faster they responded in the flanker, executive function, task. This suggests that Tai Chi practice enhances cognitive function.

 

The participants then underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) brain scanning. The brain scans revealed that the Tai Chi practitioners had a significant reduction in amplitude of low frequency fluctuations in the brain areas called the Default Mode Network (DMN) which underlies mind wandering and self-referential thinking. There was also a significant reduction in amplitude of low frequency fluctuations in the brain areas called the frontoparietal network (FPN) and the dorsal prefrontal-angular network which are associated with cognitive control and executive function. These changes in the low frequency fluctuations suggest that Tai Chi practice produces changes in these networks increasing their functional connectivity.

 

These results are very interesting and suggest that Tai Chi practice can produce changes in the brain improving the connectivities within large-scale neural systems. At least in terms of the frontoparietal network (FPN) and the dorsal prefrontal-angular network these changes may underlie the ability of Tai Chi practice to improve cognitive control and executive function while the changes in the Default Mode Network (DMN) may underlie the ability of Tai Chi practice to reduce mind wandering and self-referential thinking. Hence, Tai Chi practice alters the nervious system and produces very beneficial effects

 

So, alter brain networks and cognitive ability with Tai Chi.

 

“Neuroplasticity may sound like an out of this world term to a normal Tai Chi practitioner but to those who pursue the path of the mind, Warriors of Intention, then this is the proven way of enabling our mind to permanently rewire the way we move.” – Mushin

 

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

 

Wei G-X, Gong Z-Q, Yang Z and Zuo X-N (2017) Mind-Body Practice Changes Fractional Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations in Intrinsic Control Networks. Front. Psychol. 8:1049. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01049

 

Abstract

Cognitive control impairment is a typical symptom largely reported in populations with neurological disorders. Previous studies have provided evidence about the changes in cognitive control induced by mind-body training. However, the neural correlates underlying the effect of extensive mind-body practice on cognitive control remain largely unknown. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we characterized dynamic fluctuations in large-scale intrinsic connectivity networks associated with mind-body practice, and examined their differences between healthy controls and Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) practitioners. Compared with a control group, the TCC group revealed significantly decreased fractional Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations (fALFF) in the bilateral frontoparietal network, default mode network and dorsal prefrontal-angular gyri network. Furthermore, we detected a significant association between mind-body practice experience and fALFF in the default mode network, as well as an association between cognitive control performance and fALFF of the frontoparietal network. This provides the first evidence of large-scale functional connectivity in brain networks associated with mind-body practice, shedding light on the neural network changes that accompany intensive mind-body training. It also highlights the functionally plastic role of the frontoparietal network in the context of the “immune system” of mental health recently developed in relation to flexible hub theory.

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01049/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_325025_69_Psycho_20170711_arts_A

Do Spiritual Experiences Reveal Ultimate Truth or Merely Brain Activity?

psyjdc Leave a comment

Do Spiritual Experiences Reveal Ultimate Truth or Merely Brain Activity?

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

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

 

One way of investigating this question is to study the brain-spirituality connection. Research along these lines has revealed that there is a clear association between spirituality and the brain. Modern neuroscience has developed methods, such as neuroimaging, to investigate the relationship. Applying these techniques it has been demonstrated that spirituality is associated with changes in the size, activity, and connectivity of the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/19/spirituality-mindfulness-and-the-brain/). So spirituality and changes in neural systems co-occur. But, this does not demonstrate a causal connection, whether spirituality alters the brain or brain alteration causes spirituality, or some third factor is responsible for both.

 

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

 

Another manipulation of the brain occurs with drugs. Indeed, various hallucinogenic drugs such as mescaline, LSD, psilocybin, etc. have been shown to produce experiences that are extremely similar to spiritual experiences. These drugs have been shown to alter the activity in specific neurochemical systems in the brain and when that happens, experiences that are very similar to spiritual awakenings are evoked. Many people who have used these drugs are altered spiritually but vast numbers of people find hallucinatory drugs as fun recreation but are not affected spiritually.

 

Spiritual seekers who have used psychedelic substances report that they experience something like but not the same as spiritual awakening experiences. The following quote from Alan Watts is illustrative.

“Psychedelic experience is only a glimpse of genuine mystical insight, but a glimpse         which can be matured and deepened by the various ways of meditation in which drugs           are no longer necessary or useful. If you get the message, hang up the phone. For         psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones.       The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away      and works on what he has seen…”

Also a quote from Ralph Metzner

            “While psychedelic use is all about altered states, Buddhism is all about altered traits,     and one does not necessarily lead to the other.”

Hence, it appears that although there are great similarities between manipulation of brain chemistry with drugs and the experiences occurring with spiritual awakenings, they are in fact quite different.

 

So, what should we conclude regarding the clear relationship between the brain and spiritual experiences? It has been established that spirituality changes the brain and that changes in the brain are associated with spiritual experiences. Does this indicate that spirituality is nothing but a brain function? This would suggest that spirituality and spiritual experiences are nothing but physical events and don’t represent experience of true transcendence or an indication of a god. If this were true then it would suggest that there is nothing beyond the physical, that spiritual awakenings are nothing other than evoked changes in the nervous system.

 

It should be noted that reported spiritual experiences most frequently involve changes in sensory experiences. We know that sensory experiences are produced by the nervous system. So, it would be expected that if a spiritual experience occurs then there would be changes in the nervous system. As a result it is not surprising that nervous system changes would accompany spiritual experiences.

 

Neural changes may represent the effects of spiritual experiences on the physical body. After all, when we become aware of any kind of remarkable occurrence we react emotionally, physically, and thoughtfully. This would imply that the neural changes occur after the spiritual experience and not before it as a causal relationship would demand. In addition, changing the brain with drugs may simply induce the same effects as the sequela of spiritual experience and not the spiritual experiences themselves.

 

The most common report of spiritual experience is that everything is perceived as one. This oneness experience is not reported to be a change in the actual sensory information, but rather as a perception of the interconnectedness of all things such that they are seen as all a part of a singular entity, like seeing individual waves as all being part of one ocean. The more modern science studies events and their interconnections the more that the truth of oneness is revealed. The entire science of ecology has developed to study the interconnectedness among biological entities, meteorology has determined that atmospheric conditions over the entire planet are interconnected, and geology has revealed the interconnectedness of all movement of the planet’s surface and interior. Just think how interconnected everything is with sunlight. Without this energy, life could not exist and even the weather would not be changing. Everything about us and our planet is interconnected to the sun’s energy.

 

So, perhaps the oneness revealed in spiritual experiences may actually be a more accurate glimpse of the truth of existence. Perhaps, the changes observed in the brain may simply be the effect of this revelation rather than the cause. At this point we cannot reach a clear conclusion as to whether spiritual experiences are material and physical or true revelation of a non-physical reality. But the research is exciting and will continue to explore these ultimate questions regarding existence.

 

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

Improve the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia with Tai Chi.

psyjdc 1 Comment

Improve the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia with Tai Chi.

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Tai Chi, can potentially reduce psychopathological and negative symptoms, decrease aggressive behaviors, and improve quality of life. It is an ideal rehabilitation intervention for patients with schizophrenia.” – Supreme Chi Living

 

Schizophrenia is the most common form of psychosis. It effects about 1% of the population worldwide. It appears to be highly heritable and involves changes in the brain. It is characterized by positive symptoms such as hallucinations; seeing and, in some cases, feeling, smelling or tasting things that aren’t there, or delusions; unshakable beliefs that, when examined rationally, are obviously untrue. It is also characterized by negative symptoms involving a reduced ability to function normally, neglect of personal hygiene, lack of emotion, blank facial expressions, speaking in a monotone, loss of interest in everyday activities, social withdrawal, an inability to experience pleasure, and a lack of insight into their symptoms. The symptoms of schizophrenia usually do not appear until late adolescence or early adulthood.

 

Schizophrenia is very difficult to treat with psychotherapy and is usually treated with antipsychotic drugs. These drugs, however, are not always effective, sometimes lose effectiveness, and can have some difficult side effects. In addition, even when effective, antipsychotic drugs only treat the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, leaving the negative symptom intact including the loss of functionality and a lack of insight. Hence, there is a need for safe and effective alternative treatments for schizophrenia that can treat the negative symptoms.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be beneficial for a variety of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Borderline personality disorder, impulsivity, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual dysfunction, and suicidality. It also appears to be helpful with psychosis. Mindfulness has also been shown to associated with lower symptom severity of schizophrenia. This suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective treatment for schizophrenia, including negative symptoms.  Tai Chi practice includes mindfulness training and also gentle physical exercise which may also be beneficial. Hence, it would seem reasonable to examine the ability of Tai Chi practice in treating the symptoms of schizophrenia.

 

In today’s Research News article “Tai Chi for Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434269/ Zheng and colleagues review and perform a meta-analysis of published research studies examining the effectiveness of Tai Chi practice in treating schizophrenia. They found 6 published randomized controlled trials. They found that compared to controls Tai Chi practice produced significant reductions in the negative symptoms of schizophrenia but not the positive symptoms. In addition, they report that there is a significant improvement in social function.

 

These are important findings as antipsychotic drugs only improve the positive symptoms of schizophrenia and not the negative symptoms. Since, Tai Chi practice appears to improve the negative symptoms and not the positive symptoms, it would seem to be acting in a completely different way and by a different mechanism. Tai Chi is most frequently practiced socially and this may account for the improved social function. In addition, Tai Chi practice might be the perfect adjunctive treatment. The combination of Tai Chi practice and antipsychotic drugs should improve all of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

 

So, improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenia with Tai Chi.

 

“The usual method for treating schizophrenic patients focuses on self-care, symptom management, and dealing with daily functions. Unfortunately, physical and psychological well-being fall by the wayside, since simply dealing with day-to-day functions is enough of a struggle for most schizophrenic individuals. The mind-body connection provided by Tai-chi is believed to make it the optimal type of exercise for individuals with mental illnesses.” – Katie Dabrowski

 

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

 

Wei Zheng, Qiang Li, Jingxia Lin, Yingqiang Xiang, Tong Guo, Qiong Chen, Dongbin Cai, Yutao Xiang. (2016). Tai Chi for Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review. Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, 28(4), 185–194. http://doi.org/10.11919/j.issn.1002-0829.216051

 

Abstract

Background

Tai Chi as a form of moderate aerobic exercise originating in China, could promote balance and healing of the mind-body. Furthermore, Tai Chi has been used as an adjunctive treatment for patients with schizophrenia. However, no meta-analysis or systematic review on adjunctive Tai Chi for patients with schizophrenia has yet been reported.

Aim

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to examine the efficacy of Tai Chi as an adjunctive treatment for schizophrenia using randomized controlled trial (RCT) data.

Method

Two evaluators independently and systematically searched both English- and Chinese-language databases for RCTs of Tai Chi for schizophrenia patients, selected studies, extracted data, conducted quality assessment and data synthesis. Statistical analyses were performed using the Review Manager (version 5.3). The Cochrane Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to assess the strength of the evidence.

Results

In 6 RCTs conducted in mainland China and Hong Kong, there were 483 participants including 215 subjects in the intervention group and 268 subjects in the control group. The trials lasted 16.0 (6.2) weeks. Compared to control group, we found significant differences regarding improvement of negative symptoms assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) negative symptom sub-score (2 trials) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) (3 trials) over the study period in the intervention group (5 trials with 6 treatment arms, n=451, SMD: -0.87 (95%CI: -1.51, -0.24), p=0.007; I2=90%). Furthermore, there is no significant difference regarding improvement of positive symptoms assessed by the PANSS positive symptom sub-score (2 trials) and Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) (2 trials) over the study period (4 trials with 5 treatment arms, n=391, SMD: -0.09 (95%CI: -0.44, 0.26), p=0.60; I2=65%). All included RCTs did not report side effects. Based on the GRADE, the strength of the evidence for primary outcome was ‘very low’.

Conclusions

The data available on the effectiveness of adjunctive Tai Chi in patients with schizophrenia who are receiving antipsychotic is insufficient to arrive at a definitive conclusion about its efficacy. Furthermore, follow-up time in the available studies was relatively short, and all studies did not use blinded assessment of outcome measures. High-quality randomized trials are needed to inform clinical recommendations.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434269/

Improve Health in the Elderly with Yoga

psyjdc Leave a comment

Improve Health in the Elderly with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Yoga, especially restorative yoga, can also offer a wide array of health benefits—working physical and psychological wonders. Seniors, who often struggle with pain, joint stress, imbalance, osteoarthritis, and other physical limitations, can benefit from incorporating a yoga practice into their daily routine.” – Melissa Eisler

 

Human life is one of constant change. We revel in our increases in physical and mental capacities during development, but regret their decreases during aging. The aging process involves a systematic progressive decline in every system in the body, the brain included. It is inevitable and cannot be avoided. This includes our mental abilities which decline with age including impairments in memory, attention, and problem-solving ability. A consequence of the physical decline is impaired balance. It is a particular problem as it can lead to falls. In the U.S. one third of people over 65 fall each year and 2.5 million are treated in emergency rooms for injuries produced by falls. About 1% of falls result in deaths making it the leading cause of death due to injury among the elderly.

 

Since the global population of the elderly is increasing at unprecedented rates, it is imperative to investigate methods to slow physical and mental aging and mitigate its effects. There is some hope for age related decline, however, as there is evidence that it can be slowed. There are some indications that physical and mental exercise can reduce the rate of decline. For example, contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, and tai chi or qigong have all been shown to be beneficial in slowing or delaying physical and mental decline with aging. It would seem reasonable to hypothesize that yoga practice, which is both a mindfulness practice and a physical exercise, might decrease age related decline.

 

In today’s Research News article “Adapted yoga to improve physical function and health-related quality of life in physically-inactive older adults: a randomised controlled pilot trial.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5481961/. Tew and colleagues recruited healthy elderly (> 60 years of age) and randomly assigned them to a wait-list control group or to a yoga practice group. Gentle yoga practice occurred in a studio with ten 75-minute sessions over 12 weeks and consisted of standing and sitting postures, meditation, and breathing exercises. Home practice was encouraged. Participants were measured before and after training with a physical performance battery, vital signs, body mass index, health status including mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression, and mental well-being.

 

They found that the yoga practice group, in comparison to the controls, had significant improvements in health status and mental well-being. They also had improved cardiovascular measures of heart rate and blood pressure and improved physical function in lower limb flexibility and speed of rising from a chair. There were no adverse consequences of the yoga practice. Hence, gentle yoga practice was a safe and effective treatment to improve the physical and mental well-being of the elderly.

 

These results are very encouraging as they suggest that yoga practice may be able to partially slow the physical and mental declines with aging. Although, on average, there was some non-significant improvement in balance observed, there was a significant improvement in lower limb flexibility. This may suggest that the program would make falls less likely. Regardless, it appears that yoga practice should be encouraged for the elderly to improve their overall well-being.

 

So, improve health in the elderly with yoga

 

“Yoga refreshes your mind and spirit. Tones your body. Keeps your internal organs and hormonal system in balance. All the more reason for people of all ages to do yoga. In fact, yoga asanas are one of the few physical exercises you can continue doing as you age. As age progresses, it is more important to focus on HOW YOU DO rather than how much you do.” – Art of Living

 

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

 

Tew, G. A., Howsam, J., Hardy, M., & Bissell, L. (2017). Adapted yoga to improve physical function and health-related quality of life in physically-inactive older adults: a randomised controlled pilot trial. BMC Geriatrics, 17, 131. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0520-6

 

Abstract

Background

Yoga is a holistic therapy of expanding popularity, which has the potential to produce a range of physical, mental and social benefits. This trial evaluated the feasibility and effects of an adapted yoga programme on physical function and health-related quality of life in physically-inactive older adults.

Methods

In this randomised controlled pilot trial, 52 older adults (90% female; mean age 74.8 years, SD 7.2) were randomised 1:1 to a yoga programme or wait-list control. The yoga group (n = 25) received a physical activity education booklet and were invited to attend ten yoga sessions during a 12-week period. The control group (n = 27) received the education booklet only. Measures of physical function (e.g., Short Physical Performance Battery; SPPB), health status (EQ-5D) and mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale; WEMWBS) were assessed at baseline and 3 months. Feasibility was assessed using course attendance and adverse event data, and participant interviews.

Results

Forty-seven participants completed follow-up assessments. Median class attendance was 8 (range 3 to 10). At the 3-month follow-up, the yoga group had a higher SPPB total score compared with the control group (mean difference 0.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.3 to 2.0), a faster time to rise from a chair five times (mean difference − 1.73 s, 95% CI −4.08 to 0.62), and better performance on the chair sit-and-reach lower-limb flexibility test (mean difference 5 cm, 95% CI 0 to 10). The yoga group also had superior health status and mental well-being (vs. control) at 3 months, with mean differences in EQ-5D and WEMWBS scores of 0.12 (95% CI, 0.03 to 0.21) and 6 (95% CI, 1 to 11), respectively. The interviews indicated that participants valued attending the yoga programme, and that they experienced a range of benefits.

Conclusions

The adapted yoga programme appeared to be feasible and potentially beneficial in terms of improving mental and social well-being and aspects of physical function in physically-inactive older adults. An appropriately-powered trial is required to confirm the findings of the present study and to determine longer-term effects.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5481961/

Improve Emotional Well-Being with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

Improve Emotional Well-Being with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is about offering a warm, kind, friendly, accepting awareness to your moment-by-moment experience (all positive emotions), whatever that may be. For this reason, any practice of mindfulness, in the long term, develops your ability to generate positive feeling towards your inner (thoughts, emotions) and outer (world) experience.” – Anonymous

 

Mindfulness practice has been shown to produce improved emotion regulation. Practitioners demonstrate the ability to fully sense and experience emotions, but respond to them in more appropriate and adaptive ways. In other words, mindful people are better able to experience yet control emotions. This is a very important consequence of mindfulness. Humans are very emotional creatures and these emotions can be very pleasant, providing the spice of life. But, when they get extreme they can produce misery and even mental illness. The ability of mindfulness training to improve emotion regulation is thought to be the basis for a wide variety of benefits that mindfulness provides to mental health and the treatment of mental illness especially depression and anxiety disorders.

 

Two types of meditation practices are the commonly used. Loving kindness meditation is designed to develop kindness and compassion to oneself and others. The individual systematically pictures different individuals from self, to close friends, to enemies and wishes them happiness, well-being, safety, peace, and ease of well-being. In mindfulness meditation, the individual either practices paying attention to a single meditation object, or the individual opens up awareness to everything that’s being experienced regardless of its origin. In both cases, the meditator learns to filter out distracting stimuli, including thoughts, staying focused on the present moment, and filtering out thoughts centered around the past or future. The meditator just observes the stimuli present and lets them arise, and fall away without paying them any further attention.

 

There has been very little research on the relative effectiveness of these two very different types of meditation practice. In addition, there has been little attention paid to the growth and development in the benefits of practice over time. In today’s Research News article “Positive Emotion Correlates of Meditation Practice: a Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-Kindness Meditation.” (See summary below). Fredrickson and colleagues compare Loving kindness meditation to mindfulness meditation practice effects on the growth of positive emotions as practice continues.

 

They recruited meditation-naive adults between the ages of 34 to 64 years and randomly assigned them to a wait-list control group or to receive 1-hour once per week for 6 weeks training in either loving kindness meditation or mindfulness meditation. Participants were asked to practice at home 3 to 5 times per week. Beginning with the start of training, participants completed daily on-line reports for 9 weeks of their meditation practice and their emotional states of 10 positive emotions (amusement, awe, gratitude, hope, inspiration, interest, joy, love, pride, and serenity) and 10 negative emotions (anger, shame, fear, hate, disgust, embarrassment, guilt, sadness, scorn, and stress).

 

They found that the participants in both meditation conditions had significant increases in positive emotions and the groups did not differ. Negative emotions were not affected. Hence, both loving kindness meditation and mindfulness meditation improved the participants mood equivalently. The improvements in positive emotions increased linearly over the 9 weeks of measurement, with the emotional state becoming more and more positive every day. They also found that the more the participants practiced the larger the improvements in their positive emotional states.

 

These are interesting results that indicate that meditation, regardless of type, leads to greater happiness and the more practice, both in frequency and duration, the greater the benefit which grows day by day. It would be interesting in future studies to continue collecting data for a longer period of time to determine when the growth in benefits begins to taper off. The fact that there was no effect on negative emotions may have been due to the fact that these otherwise normal participants did not have very high levels of negative emotions to start with. Again, future research should include individuals with high levels of negative emotions. Regardless, it is clear that meditation practice incrementally improves mood with continued practice.

 

So, improve emotional well-being with mindfulness.

 

“Meditation gives you the wherewithal to pause, observe how easily the mind can exaggerate the severity of a setback, and resist getting drawn back into the abyss.”— Richie Davidson

 

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

 

Fredrickson, B.L., Boulton, A.J., Firestine, A.M. et al. Positive Emotion Correlates of Meditation Practice: a Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-Kindness Meditation. Mindfulness (2017). doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0735-9

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to uncover the day-to-day emotional profiles and dose-response relations, both within persons and between persons, associated with initiating one of two meditation practices, either mindfulness meditation or loving-kindness meditation. Data were pooled across two studies of midlife adults (N = 339) who were randomized to learn either mindfulness meditation or loving-kindness meditation in a 6-week workshop. The duration and frequency of meditation practice was measured daily for 9 weeks, commencing with the first workshop session. Likewise, positive and negative emotions were also measured daily, using the modified Differential Emotions Scale (Fredrickson, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 47:1–53, 2013). Analysis of daily emotion reports over the targeted 9-week period showed significant gains in positive emotions and no change in negative emotions, regardless of meditation type. Multilevel models also revealed significant dose-response relations between duration of meditation practice and positive emotions, both within persons and between persons. Moreover, the within-person dose-response relation was stronger for loving-kindness meditation than for mindfulness meditation. Similar dose-response relations were observed for the frequency of meditation practice. In the context of prior research on the mental and physical health benefits produced by subtle increases in day-to-day experiences of positive emotions, the present research points to evidence-based practices—both mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation—that can improve emotional well-being.

Decrease Stigma Effects on People Recovering from Mental Illness and HIV with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

Decrease Stigma Effects on People Recovering from Mental Illness and HIV with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Stigma is considered a mark of disgrace, discredit, and judgment that results in discrimination and exclusion. For people struggling with mental or emotional disturbances, the experience of stigmatization can easily become internalized and result in a profound sense of shame, secrecy, and social isolation. When someone is already experiencing significant internal conflicts, interpersonal difficulties, or severe mental illness, stigmatization by others only serves to intensify suffering. Imagine the potential difference that you can make in the lives of those who are struggling with mental health issues through increasing your own awareness, adopting a mindfully nonjudgmental attitude, and expressing compassion.” – Laura Schenck

 

Stigma is a view that a distinguishing characteristic makes the individual less acceptable to others. This can lead to discrimination where stigmatized people are treated negatively either directly with ugly remarks such as “crazy” or “weird” or indirectly by being avoided or marginalized by others. This can produce fewer work opportunities, harassment, bullying, problems with insurance, and loneliness. The social isolation can even lead to early mortality. Stigma can lead to low self-esteem and self-stigmatization in which the individual adopts that negative stereotypes and as a result there is a loss of self-efficacy This leads to the individual ceasing trying to make things better, thinking “why try?”

 

Stigmas are associated with a number of different characteristics, situations, and diseases. Very common stigmas involve mental illness and HIV infection, both of which are viewed negatively. Indeed, in some studies, it has been found that over half of the interviewees had very negative attitudes toward people with either mental illness or HIV infection. Although efforts are being made to reduce these stigmas there is also a need to address the self-stigmatization process and the effect of the stigma on the individuals with mental illness and HIV infection.

 

Mindfulness promotes non-judgmental awareness in which the individual perceives things just as they are without labelling or making value judgements about them. It also promotes the ability to adaptively cope with emotions and reduces worry and rumination. These can be useful in overcoming stigmas and their effects, especially self-stigmas. Self-compassion by promoting positive self-perceptions can be an antidote to self-stigmatization. So, mindfulness and self-compassion may buffer the individual from the effects of stigma and self-stigmatization.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Differential Moderating Roles of Self-Compassion and Mindfulness in Self-Stigma and Well-Being Among People Living with Mental Illness or HIV.” (See summary below). Yang and Mak recruited adult individuals with mental illness or with HIV. They completed measures of mindfulness, self-compassion, self-stigma content and process, and life-satisfaction. These data were then used in a regression analysis to determine the interrelationships between stigma, mindfulness, and self-compassion, and the effects of stigmas.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness and self-compassion in the individuals with mental illness or HIV, the higher the levels of life satisfaction. Conversely, they found that the higher the levels of self-stigma content the lower the levels of life satisfaction. They also found that when self-compassion and mindfulness were low, self-stigma content was significantly and negatively associated with life satisfaction. But when self-compassion and mindfulness were high, self-stigma content was not significantly associated with life satisfaction. Hence mindfulness and self-compassion had beneficial associations on the quality of life in stigmatized individuals both directly and indirectly by buffering them against the negative effects of stigma.

 

It needs to be kept in mind that these results are correlational and causation cannot be concluded. But, the beneficial associations of mindfulness and self-compassion with reduced stigma effects, suggests that training in mindfulness and self-compassion may be beneficial for people with mental illness and HIV in overcoming stigma effects and improving their quality of life. The present results are sufficiently encouraging to justify a randomized controlled trial of the effects of mindfulness and self-compassion training on stigmatized individuals. Developing mindfulness and self-compassion in stigmatized individuals may markedly improve the lives of these suffering individuals.

 

So, Decrease Stigma Effects on People Recovering from Mental Illness and HIV with Mindfulness.

 

“So, the bad news is that there may not be a way to stop processing automatic, stigmatizing thoughts. However, the good news, according to Inzlicht and Segal, is that we don’t need to. Instead, we should focus on having good intentions to not stigmatize and remain aware and nonjudgmentally accepting of these automatic thoughts–so as not to act on them. Considering the thousands of automatic thoughts each person has everyday, mindfulness may be a good start to ensuring that what we believe coincides with how we act. And this may, ultimately, contribute to the betterment of the live’s of those afflicted with mental illness.” – Veerpal Bambrah

 

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

 

Yang, X. & Mak, W.W.S. The Differential Moderating Roles of Self-Compassion and Mindfulness in Self-Stigma and Well-Being Among People Living with Mental Illness or HIV. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 595. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0635-4

 

Abstract

In addition to endorsing the content of stigmatizing thoughts (self-stigma “content”), how frequently and automatically individuals think about these thoughts (self-stigma “process”) also have implications for their well-being. The present study examined the roles of self-compassion and mindfulness in moderating the relationships of self-stigma content and process with subjective well-being of people in recovery of mental illness (PMI) and people living with HIV (PLHIV). Participants included 169 PMI and 291 PLHIV in Hong Kong who reported their levels of self-compassion, mindfulness, self-stigma content and process, and life satisfaction. Path analyses indicated that the proposed model fitted the two samples well, χ2(10) = 19, p = .04, CFI = .98, NNFI = .93, and RMSEA = .04. In both groups, self-compassion and mindfulness were significantly associated with life satisfaction. Self-compassion moderated the relationship between self-stigma content and life satisfaction among PLHIV, while mindfulness moderated the relationship between self-stigma process and life satisfaction among PMI. The differential moderating roles of self-compassion and mindfulness in buffering the effects of self-stigma content and process among PMI and PLHIV were identified, and implications for stigma reduction and well-being promotion in different stigmatized groups were discussed.

Improve Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance with Yoga

psyjdc Leave a comment

Improve Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“school-based yoga cultivates competencies in mind-body awareness, self-regulation, and physical fitness. And classroom teachers benefit as well. Taken together, these competencies may lead to improvements in students’ behavior, mental state, health, and performance, as well as teacher resilience, effectiveness and overall classroom climate.“ – Bethany Butzer

 

Yoga practice has been shown to have a large number of beneficial effects on the psychological, emotional, and physical health of the individual and is helpful in the treatment of mental and physical illness. The acceptance of yoga practice has spread from the home and yoga studios to its application with children in schools. Studies of these school programs have found that yoga practice produces a wide variety of positive psychosocial and physical benefits. These include improved mood state, self-control, aggression and social problems, self-regulation, emotion regulation, feelings of happiness and relaxation, self-esteem, social and physical well-being, self-concept, tolerance, nonviolence, truthfulness, overall, general, and social self-esteem, positive health, self-adjustment, and working-memory capacity, ability to focus, control behavior under stress, greater kinesthetic awareness, stress reduction and management, and social cohesion, focus, perseverance, and positive relationships. They have also shown that the yoga practice produces lower levels of anxiety, depression, general distress, physical arousal, and hostility, rumination, and intrusive thoughts, and alcohol use.

 

Teachers also note improvements in their students following yoga practice. These include improved classroom behavior and social–emotional skills, concentration, mood, ability to function under pressure, social skills, and attention and lower levels of. Hyperactivity and performance impairment. In addition, school records, academic tests, and physiological measures have shown that yoga practice produces improvements in student grades and academic performance, cortisol concentrations, micronutrient absorption, flexibility, grip strength, abdominal strength, respiratory muscle strength, heart rate variability, and stress reactivity.

 

Although yoga practice has been demonstrated to have great benefits for school children, the studies, in general, were carried out in schools in middle class areas. It is unknown whether yoga practice could have the same benefits with poor, inner city, children. In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” (See summary below). Frank and colleagues recruited 6th and 9th grade students from an inner city middle school and randomly assigned them to receive either yoga practice or no treatment. The yoga practice occurred for 30 minutes per day for 3 to 4 days per week in the Fall semester and included breathing exercises, yoga postures, and meditation. The students were measured before and after the semester for school engagement, attitudes toward violence, positive and negative emotions, responses to stress, and somatization. In addition, the students’ academic and behavioral records from the school were inspected.

 

They found that the yoga group, compared to the no treatment group, had significantly fewer unexcused absences, fewer detentions, and higher levels of school engagement, primary and secondary coping, emotion regulation, positive thinking, and cognitive restructuring with medium to large effect sizes. Hence the students who engaged in yoga practice during the semester had markedly improved school behavior, ability to cope with stress, and control emotions and thoughts.

 

These are remarkable results. Engagement in yoga practice in school had multiple and significant behavioral and psychological benefits for these middle school students. These results strongly suggest that a larger scale randomized controlled trial with an active control group, e.g. exercise, and longer-term follow-up, should be performed. These results are especially significant as they occurred with inner city, poor, students who are generally highly stressed. This is where the need is great. Yoga practice may be a tremendous asset to these students in coping with the demands of the school environment. This should translate in future years into superior performance and eventual success in school.

 

So, improve adolescent mental health and school performance with yoga.

 

“Aside from the physical benefits of yoga, yoga teaches teens techniques for coping with the unique issues they’re faced with everyday—insecurity about their changing bodies, the enormous pressure to fit in, stressful schedules, and uncertainty about their beliefs and their futures.” – Erica Rodefer

 

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

 

Frank, J.L., Kohler, K., Peal, A., Bose, B. Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 544. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0628-3

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a yoga-based social-emotional wellness promotion program, Transformative Life Skills (TLS), on indicators of adolescent emotional distress, prosocial behavior, and school functioning. Participants included 159 students attending an inner-city school district who were randomly assigned to treatment or business-as-usual comparison conditions. Results suggested that students who participated in the TLS program demonstrated significant reductions on unexcused absences, detentions, and increases in school engagement. Significant concurrent improvements in primary engagement stress-coping strategies and secondary engagement stress-coping strategies were noted as well. Specifically, significant increases in student emotion regulation, positive thinking, and cognitive restructuring in response to stress were found. No effects were found for measures of somatization, suspensions, academic grades, or general affect. Student report of treatment acceptability indicated that the intervention was generally well-received and strategies were perceived as socially valid by most participants. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Improve Creativity with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

Improve Creativity with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness meditation is a great technique to learn to help improve creativity. There have been studies done specifically to measure the cognitive rigidity of people who meditate and their ability to solve problems in novel ways. The research shows non-meditators had greater cognitive rigidity than regular meditators, and they also had a tendency to apply difficult or outdated solutions to easy problems based on their past experiences, this was not the case for people who meditated.” – Bianca Rothschild

 

The problem solving ability of humans has been a key to their dominance of their environment. So, it’s important that we understand it and discover how to train it and maximize it. Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. In this case focused attention is the key. The mind wandering off topic interferes with the concentration required for obtaining the solution. But, when a solution does not occur and the individual fails to solve the problem a completely different process transpires producing insight. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment. In this case focused attention prevents the individual from seeing an unusual or creative solution. While the mind wandering off topic increases the discursive thinking that is required for obtaining the insightful solution.

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less mind wandering. As a result, mindfulness has been shown to be associated with differences in thought processes. Most of the time these differences are associated with beneficial results, but sometimes they can lead to negative outcomes including a greater tendency to have false memories. So mindfulness should improve problem solving involving logic, reason, and focused attention, while it should interfere with insightful, creative problem solving.

 

These two forms of problem solving are, in general, associated with different neural systems. Focused attention involves a number of brain structures centered in the frontal lobes. Creative, discursive thinking involves a system of structures known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) involving the parietal lobe, cingulate cortex, and insula. One way to investigate the influence of mindfulness on creative problem solving is to look at the activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) during creative problem solving and insight in practitioners with varying amounts of mindfulness training.

 

 

In today’s Research News article “Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity.” (See summary below). Berkovich-Ohana and colleagues recruited non-meditators and meditators with short (180-1430 hours), intermediate (1740-2860 hours), and long-term (3870-23,000 hours) meditation practice. Divergent creative thinking was measured with the alternative uses task which requires participants to generate as many and unusual uses of conventional, everyday objects. While the participants were engaged in the creativity measurements the Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from the scalp.

 

They found that the intermediate and long-term meditators, compared to the non-meditators and short-term meditators, had significantly greater performance on the creative thinking task including a greater number of alternative uses (fluency) and a greater number of categories (flexibility) of alternative uses. Further, they found that the lower the EEG activity in the gamma frequency range between brain hemispheres the greater the creative thinking. These results suggest that meditation practice alters brain processing, changing the interhemispheric connectivity of the DMN to improve creative thinking.

 

The study found that meditation practice improves creative thinking which is related to lower functional connectivity for the Default Mode Network (DMN). This, in turn, suggests that the lower ability of the mind wandering system of the brain to affect other brain regions the better the creative thinking. Hence, suppressing mind wandering while engaged in the alternative uses creative thinking task improves creative thinking.

 

So, improve creativity with mindfulness.

 

“A central aspect of creativity is divergent thinking, which refers to the ability to come up with lots of different ideas. . . .  there is a small influence of mindfulness techniques on divergent thinking. That is, people who engage in mindfulness exercises tend to do a better job of generating more ideas than those who do not. They are better, but not much better.” – Art Markman

 

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

 

Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., Ben-Soussan, T.D., Goldstein, A. Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 717. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0649-y

 

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly accepted that creative performance, especially divergent thinking, may depend on reduced activity within the default mode network (DMN), related to mind-wandering and autobiographic self-referential processing. However, the relationship between trait (resting-state) DMN activity and divergent thinking is controversial. Here, we test the relationship between resting-state DMN activity and divergent thinking in a group of mindfulness meditation practitioners. We build on our two previous reports, which have shown DMN activity to be related to resting-state log gamma (25–45 Hz) power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. Using the same cohort of participants (three mindfulness groups with increasing expertise, and controls, n = 12 each), we tested (1) divergent thinking scores (Flexibility and Fluency) using the Alternative Uses task and (2) correlation between Alternative Uses scores and DMN activity as measured by resting-state gamma power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. We found that both Fluency and Flexibility (1) were higher in the two long-term mindfulness groups (>1000 h) compared to short-term mindfulness practitioners and control participants and (2) negatively correlated with gamma inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (frontal-midline and posterior-midline connections). In addition, (3) Fluency was significantly correlated with mindfulness expertise. Together, these results show that long-term mindfulness meditators exhibit higher divergent thinking scores in correlation with their expertise and demonstrate a negative divergent thinking—resting-state DMN activity relationship, thus largely support a negative DMN-creativity connection.

Yoga’s Lost Spirituality

psyjdc Leave a comment

Yoga’s Lost Spirituality

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

Yoga developed in India millennia ago as a deep spiritual practice. It developed as a contemplative practice that unified body and mind. Yoga was known to have physical benefits, but the most important benefit was seen to be spiritual development. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in has address to the United Nations proposing an International Day of Yoga stated that “yoga is not just about fitness or exercise, it is about changing one’s lifestyle.” It is “a holistic way of life that stresses harmony between man and nature.”

 

In its roots, Yoga was engaged in as a meditative practice. Awareness was focused on the movements, the postures, the sensations from the muscles, joints, and tendons, and in coordination with an aware controlled breathing. It was more complex, but in essence, no different from the simple meditative practice of following the breath. It was a mind-body focused attention practice, one that has immense subtlety and beauty and that can lead to profound insight.

 

But, as yoga emerged and was practiced in the west it was secularized. This was for good reason, as western society was not ready to accept an ancient eastern spiritual practice. In a sense, the tactic of secularization worked and resulted in an unprecedented and rapid acceptance of yoga in western culture. I commented to my yogini spouse that a clear indicator of yoga being not only accepted, but adopted by western culture was when yoga attire became a fashion statement.

 

There are many forms of yoga and many practitioners who are focused on the spiritual aspects of yoga. But, to the vast majority of westerners yoga is an exercise for physical fitness. It is a means to mold the body to look good, as a health promoting practice, and as a strategy to help loose weight. These are good and reasonable goals. But, they have replaced the far more important spiritual development promoted by yoga. As Jon Kabat-Zinn has remarked, ‘there is the potential for something priceless to be lost.’

 

Our research has demonstrated that a typical western yoga practice produces significantly less spiritual benefits than a meditation practice does, that spiritual awakening experiences are far less likely to be associated with yoga practice than meditation practice, and when people practice both yoga and meditation, it is the meditation component that is responsible for spiritual development. In fact, the way western yoga is practiced, it produces smaller increases in mindfulness than meditation.

 

Fortunately, the recognition that spirituality is being lost may very well be the first step toward the recovery of the spiritual nature of yoga. People who practice yoga feel something special has happened during the practice, but don’t have the understanding of what it is. Yoga practitioners do show increased mindfulness and spirituality, but far less than meditation practitioners. They interpret these feelings, not as spiritual but as relaxation, as a high, similar to a runners high, or as a physical arousal. It is not a great leap to reinterpret this as the beginnings of a deep spiritual experience.

 

Now that yoga has been accepted in the west and not looked on as some kind of pagan or demonic ritual, there is the potential to slowly and gently reinsert the fundamental spirituality of yoga practice. The promotion of deep and relatively lengthy yoga nidra as the conclusion of each yoga session is an important beginning. The return to a deep focused awareness being preeminent in yoga practice is another important step.

 

There also needs to be teaching that yoga spirituality is not a religion. It is entirely different and does not in any way contradict the religious beliefs or practices that are common in the west. In fact, it can greatly enhance the religious experience. This is a subtle teaching that cannot be taught without the groundwork being completed of the experience of the spiritual feelings that are the outgrowth of focused awareness yoga practice. But, once in place, a new understanding can emerge that is entirely acceptable to western sensibilities. It can lead to a return to the true spiritual nature of yoga.

 

So, practice what Prime Minister Modi termed “India’s gift to the world,” and become healthier physically, psychologically and spiritually.

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

Reduce Negative Emotions and Stress Sensitivity with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

Reduce Negative Emotions and Stress Sensitivity with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness training teaches people to be fully attentive to their present experience in a nonjudgmental way, which is believed to help reduce the rumination common to mood disorders. A mindful perspective teaches people how to apply a brake between a single lonely thought and what could be a resulting chain of distressing thoughts and feelings,” – J. David Creswell

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to improve the psychological well-being of healthy people. It also has been shown to be beneficial for a variety of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Borderline personality disorder, impulsivity, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual dysfunction, suicidality and even with psychosis.  Mindfulness is thought to work in part by improving the physiological and psychological responses to stress. This increases the individual’s ability to withstand the negative effects of stress on emotions and to cope with it adaptively. It also appears to work by improving emotion regulation. This improves the individual’s ability to fully sense and experience emotions, but respond to them in more appropriate and adaptive ways. In other words, mindful people are better able to cope with stress and experience yet control emotions.

 

These is a very important consequence of mindfulness. Humans are very emotional creatures and emotions can be very pleasant, providing the spice of life. But, when they get extreme they can produce misery and even mental illness. Humans, particularly in the developed world, are also embedded in a high stress environment that can damage their health and well-being. So, it is important to understand, in depth, how mindfulness training may reduce responses to stress and improve the responses to emotions. It would also be useful to learn how these factors change over the course of treatment.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Shape of Change in Perceived Stress, Negative Affect, and Stress Sensitivity During Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.” (See summary below). Snoppe and colleagues recruited people who had enrolled in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program that met once a week for 2.5 hours for eight weeks and consisted of body scan, meditation, and yoga practice. Participants were also request to practice at home for 40 minutes each day. The participants completed pretraining measures and daily on-line diaries during the 8-weeks of the program which included measures of perceived stress, mindfulness practice, and negative emotions including depression, tension, anger, and fatigue.

 

They found that over the 8 weeks of the program negative emotions and perceived stress decreased in a linear fashion, improving day by day. They also found that the lower the daily levels of perceived stress, the lower the levels of negative emotions. In addition, they found that the degree of association between stress and negative emotions did not change over the 8 weeks. So, mindfulness training appeared to reduce their levels but did not decouple their mutual influences. Hence, day by day of mindfulness practice produces a progressive reduction in perceived stress and negative emotions.

 

It has been well established that mindfulness programs like MBSR are effective in reducing the physiological and psychological responses to stress and negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, anger, and fatigue. What is new in the present study is the documentation of the linear growth in these benefits. Each day of practice appeared to produce increased benefit. It would be interesting to follow this growth over a longer period of time to determine at what point do the benefits stabilize. But for now, it appears that the more practice the better.

 

So, reduce negative emotions and stress sensitivity with mindfulness.

 

“Instead of ‘turning away’ from pain in avoidance we can learn to gently ‘turn towards’ what we’re experiencing. We can bring a caring open attention towards the wounded parts of ourselves and make wise choices about how to respond to ourselves and to life. It’s a paradox that we all must understand: It is by turning towards negative emotions that we find relief from them – not by turning away.” – Melli O’Brien

 

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

 

Snippe, E., Dziak, J.J., Lanza, S.T., Nyklíček, I., Wichers, M.  The Shape of Change in Perceived Stress, Negative Affect, and Stress Sensitivity During Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 728. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0650-5

 

Abstract

Both daily stress and the tendency to react to stress with heightened levels of negative affect (i.e., stress sensitivity) are important vulnerability factors for adverse mental health outcomes. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) may help to reduce perceived daily stress and stress sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to examine how change in perceived stress, negative affect (NA), and the decoupling between perceived stress and NA evolved over the course of a MBSR program, without making any a priori assumptions on the shape of change. Seventy-one adults from the general population participating in MBSR provided daily diary assessments of perceived stress and NA during MBSR. The time-varying effect model (TVEM) indicated that perceived stress and NA decreased in a linear fashion rather than in a nonlinear fashion, both as a function of time and as a function of the cumulative number of days of mindfulness practice. Both TVEM and multilevel growth modeling showed that the association between perceived stress and NA did not decrease over the course of MBSR. The findings support the hypothesis that MBSR reduces NA and also reduces the extent to which individuals perceive their days as stressful. Also, the results suggest that there is a dose-response relationship between the amount of mindfulness practice and reductions in daily stress and NA.