Reduce the Psychological Distress Produced by Chronic Pain with Mindfulness

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Reduce the Psychological Distress Produced by Chronic Pain with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“When it comes to chronic pain, the key is learning to live with it rather than vainly trying to avoid or eradicate it; a regular meditation practice is the best ongoing foundation for working with pain.” – Christiane Wolf

 

We all have to deal with pain. It’s inevitable, but hopefully it’s mild and short lived. For a wide swath of humanity, however, pain is a constant in their lives. At least 100 million adult Americans have common chronic pain conditions. It has to be kept in mind that pain is an important signal that there is something wrong or that damage is occurring. This signals that some form of action is needed to mitigate the damage. This is an important signal that is ignored at the individual’s peril. So, in dealing with pain, it’s important that pain signals not be blocked or prevented. They need to be perceived. But, methods are needed to mitigate the psychological distress produced by chronic pain.

 

The most common treatment for chronic pain is drugs. These include over-the-counter analgesics and opioids. But opioids are dangerous and prescription opioid overdoses kill more than 14,000 people annually. So, there is a great need to find safe and effective ways to lower the psychological distress and improve the patients ability to cope with the pain. Pain is affected by the mind. The perception of pain can be amplified by the emotional reactions to it and also by attempts to fight or counteract it. Pain perception can be reduced by aerobic exercise and mental states, including placebo effects, attention, and conditioning. Additionally, mindfulness has been shown to reduce both chronic and acute pain and are safe. Mindfulness may be an effective treatment to be used in combination with other treatments. Hence, it is important to study mindfulness practice effects on chronic pain and the psychological distress it produces.

 

In today’s Research News article “A 13-Weeks Mindfulness Based Pain Management Program Improves Psychological Distress in Patients with Chronic Pain Compared with Waiting List Controls.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1473967172627204/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5037934/

Andersen and Vægter recruited patients with chronic non-malignant pain who entered a pain clinic for treatment and a control group on the waiting list for treatment at the clinic. Both groups received medical treatment as usual, but the intervention group in addition received a 13-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MBCT) program. Therapy was conducted once a week in a 2.5-hour session, combined with homework assignments supported with written and recorded materials. Patients were measured for pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, and psychological distress prior to and after treatment.

 

It was found that the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MBCT) program produced a significant decrease in depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and pain catastrophizing, and an increase in pain acceptance and mindfulness. There were no significant changes in pain intensity. The change in mindfulness and also in pain acceptance were highly correlated with the reduction in psychological distress. Hence, MBCT reduced the psychological impact of chronic pain without changing the perception of pain. It appears to do so by increasing mindfulness and pain acceptance.

 

These are interesting results that suggest that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MBCT) is a safe and effective adjunct treatment for patients with chronic pain. The fact that MBCT improved mindfulness is expected as mindfulness training is targeted to do just that. The fact that MBCT also improves pain acceptance is also expected as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is targeted to do so. In addition, mindfulness training and MBCT have been shown to reduce anxiety, depression, and worry and catastrophizing. So, the results would be expected. But, it is always important to confirm even expected outcomes.

 

So, reduce the psychological distress produced by chronic pain with mindfulness.

 

“It is still early days in terms of understanding why meditation can be so helpful in coping with pain, although the ancient origins of meditation in the different yoga and contemplative traditions suggests that people have known of these benefits for hundreds of years.” – Jean Byrne

 

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 Twitter at @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

Andersen, T. E., & Vægter, H. B. (2016). A 13-Weeks Mindfulness Based Pain Management Program Improves Psychological Distress in Patients with Chronic Pain Compared with Waiting List Controls. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health : CP & EMH, 12, 49–58. http://doi.org/10.2174/1745017901612010049

 

Abstract

Background:: Eradication of pain is seldom an option in chronic pain management. Hence, mindfulness meditation has become popular in pain management.

Objective: This pilot study compared the effect of a 13-weeks cognitive behavioural therapy program with integrated mindfulness meditation (CBTm) in patients with chronic non-malignant pain with a control condition. It was hypothesised that the CBTm program would reduce pain intensity and psychological distress compared to the control condition and that level of mindfulness and acceptance both would be associated with the reduction in pain intensity and psychological distress.

Methods: A case-control design was used and data were collected from a convenience sample of 70 patients with chronic non-malignant pain. Fifty patients were consecutively recruited to the CBTm intervention and 20 patients matched waiting list controls. Assessments of clinical pain and psychological distress were performed in both groups at baseline and after 13 weeks.

Results: The CBTm program reduced depression, anxiety and pain-catastrophizing compared with the control group. Increased level of mindfulness and acceptance were associated with change in psychological distress with the exception of depression, which was only associated with change in level of mindfulness. Surprisingly, changes in level of mindfulness did not correlate with changes in acceptance.

Conclusions: The results indicate that different mechanisms are targeted with cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness. The finding that changes in level of mindfulness did not correlate with changes in acceptance may indicate that acceptance is not a strict prerequisite for coping with pain related distress.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5037934/

 

Improve Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms with Qigong

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Improve Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms with Qigong

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Through Tai Chi, I get a sense of accomplishment and well being, knowing that I can still function relatively well and, in some cases better, than a person with no physical limitations. It has given me an acute awareness of my body, which parts are not aligned and how to bring them back into the whole of the body so that it functions as one unit.  Tai Chi has helped me to cope with Parkinson’s and has heightened my enjoyment of life.” – Daniel Loney

 

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) has received public attention because of its occurrence in a number of celebrities such as Mohammed Ali, Michael J Fox, and Linda Ronstadt. PD is an incurable progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system. The condition is caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. Its physical symptoms include resting tremor, slow movements, muscle rigidity, problems with posture and balance, loss of automatic movements, and slurring of speech.

 

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) itself is not fatal but is often associated with related complications which can reduce life expectancy, such as falls, choking, and cardiovascular problems. There are also psychological effects, especially anxiety and depression. All of these symptoms result in a marked reduction in the quality of life. There are around seven million people worldwide and one million people in the U.S. living with PD and about 60,000 people are diagnosed with PD every year. PD is associated with aging as the vast majority of patients are diagnosed after age 50. In fact, it has been speculated that everyone would eventually develop PD if they lived long enough.

 

Mindfulness training has been found to improve the psychological symptoms and the quality of life with PD patients. But, since PD is a movement disorder that requires physical therapy for treatment, a mindful movement practice such as Qigong and Tai Chi may be particularly effective. Qigong is ancient mindful movement practices that has been found to produce beneficial effects for a large range of physical and psychological problems. Since, it is a very gentle and safe practice, it is particularly appropriate for the elderly. In addition, falling is the most common cause of injury and death in PD patients and Qigong and Tai Chi have been found to be very effective in lowering the risk of falling. In today’s Research News article “Effects of Health Qigong Exercises on Relieving Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1472686966088558/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5116525/

Liu and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of Qigong practice for the elderly with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). They recruited patients with mild to moderate PD and randomly assigned them to receive either treatment as usual or treatment as usual combined with Qigong practice, 1-hour per day, 5 days per week, for 10 weeks. They were measured for muscle hardness and elasticity, physical stability, and coordination, prior to, during and after the 10-week practice period.

 

They found that in comparison to treatment as usual, Qigong practice produced a significant (10%) decrease in muscle hardness on both sides at the interim assessment which continued to improve to 20% at the post treatment assessment. The practice also produced a significant 11% improvement in hand eye coordination at interim and 22% at post-test and a significant 30% improvement in balance at interim and 50% at post-test. Hence, Qigong practice produced marked improvements in muscle elasticity, coordination, and balance in PD patients.

 

These results are striking and clinically significant. Qigong practice would appear to be an important therapy to be used in addition to traditional drug therapy. It should be noted that there was no another exercise condition tested. So, it cannot be determined if any type of gentle exercise would be as effective as Qigong. Regardless, it is clear that Qigong practice helps to ameliorate the motor deterioration produced by Parkinson’s Disease. Since, it is safe, even for use with the frail elderly, it would appear to be an excellent choice for the treatment of PD.

 

So, improve Parkinson’s disease symptoms with qigong.

 

“Tai chi engages both mind and body; you might call it “mindful movement.” It may help patients use undamaged parts of their brains to compensate for the areas that normally control automatic movements such as walking.” – Peter Wayne

 

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

Liu, X. L., Chen, S., & Wang, Y. (2016). Effects of Health Qigong Exercises on Relieving Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2016, 5935782. http://doi.org/10.1155/2016/5935782

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Health Qigong on the treatment and releasing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Fifty-four moderate PD patients (N = 54) were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Twenty-eight PD patients were placed in the experimental group in which the prescribed medication plus Health Qigong exercise will be used as intervention. The other 26 PD patients as the control group were treated only with regular medication. Ten-week intervention had been conducted for the study, and participants completed the scheduled exercises 5 times per week for 60 minutes each time (10 minutes for warm-up, 40 minutes for the exercise, and 10 minutes for cooldown). Data which included the muscle hardness, one-legged blind balance, physical coordination, and stability was collected before, during, and after the intervention. Comparisons were made between the experimental and control groups through the Repeated Measures ANOVA. The results showed that PD patients demonstrate a significant improvement in muscle hardness, the timed “up and go,” balance, and hand-eye coordination (the turn-over-jars test). There were no significant differences between the two groups in gender, age, and course of differences (P < 0.05). The study concluded that Health Qigong exercises could reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and improve the body functions of PD patients in both the mild and moderate stages. It can be added as an effective treatment of rehabilitation therapy for PD.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5116525/

 

Improve Knee Osteoarthritis with Yoga

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Improve Knee Osteoarthritis with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Hatha yoga is an important non-medicinal method in rehabilitation of patients with knee osteoarthritis and will result in a significant decrease in pain and symptoms and a significant increase in daily activities, sports and spare-time activities, and quality of life.” – Gholam Ghasemi,

 

Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease that is the most common form of arthritis. It produces pain, swelling, and stiffness of the joints. It is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., with about 43% of arthritis sufferers limited in mobility and about a third having limitations that affect their ability to perform their work. In the U.S., osteoarthritis affects 14% of adults over 25 years of age and 34% of those over 65.

 

Knee osteoarthritis effects 5% of adults over 25 years of age and 12% of those over 65. It involves the whole joint, including articular cartilage, meniscus, ligament, and peri-articular muscle. It is painful and disabling. Its causes are varied including, hereditary, injury including sports injuries, repetitive stress injuries, infection, or from being overweight.  There are no cures for knee osteoarthritis. Treatments are primarily symptomatic, including weight loss, exercise, braces, pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, arthroscopic knee surgery, or even knee replacement.

 

Mind-body practices in general have been shown to reduce the gene expressions that underlie the inflammatory response which contribute to arthritis. It is also known that gentle movements of the joints with exercise appears to be helpful in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. This suggests that yoga practice, which involves both mindfulness and exercise of the joints may be useful for treatment. Indeed, yoga practice has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment for a wide variety of physical and psychological conditions, including arthritis. So, it would seem reasonable to look further into the effectiveness of yoga practice in treating knee osteoarthritis.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Effects of Yoga on Pain, Mobility, and Quality of Life in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1471491792874742/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5061981/

Kan and colleagues review the published research studies on the effectiveness of yoga practice for knee osteoarthritis. They found 9 published articles, with subjects between 51-70 years of age. Yoga practice was for 60-90 minutes per session and 3-4 sessions per week for from 8-20 weeks. Most of the studies included a control condition, most frequently comparing physical therapy plus yoga practice to physical therapy alone. They found that the literature uniformly reported that the yoga practice was safe, with no adverse effects and that it produced clinically significant decreases in knee osteoarthritis pain. Although the findings were mixed, overall there appeared to be improvement produced by yoga practice in movement and mobility, and the patients’ quality of life.

 

The published research strongly suggests that the practice of yoga is a safe and effective way to improve pain, mobility, and quality of life in people suffering with knee osteoarthritis. Yoga contains both exercise and mindfulness practice. The published studies did not separate these components. So, it cannot be determined if either alone or in combination are essential for effectiveness. But, it is clear that knee osteoarthritis patients can practice yoga and that it is a safe and effective practice to help relieve the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.

 

So, improve knee osteoarthritis with yoga.

 

“Yoga is definitely one option for people with arthritis. Not only for the exercise benefits, but it’s also beneficial in the mind/body area, promoting relaxation and stress reduction,” – Sharon Kolasinksi

 

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

Kan, L., Zhang, J., Yang, Y., & Wang, P. (2016). The Effects of Yoga on Pain, Mobility, and Quality of Life in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2016, 6016532. http://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6016532

 

Abstract

Objective. To systematically assess the effects of yoga on pain, mobility, and quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods. Pubmed, Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), and other sources were searched systematically in this study. Two reviewers identified eligible studies and extracted data independently. Downs and Black’s Quality Index were used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. Results. A total of 9 articles (6 studies) involving 372 patients with knee osteoarthritis met the inclusion criteria. The most common yoga protocol is 40~90 minutes/session, lasting for at least 8 weeks. The effect of yoga on pain relief and function improvement could be seen after two-week intervention. Conclusion. This systematic review showed that yoga might have positive effects in relieving pain and mobility on patients with KOA, but the effects on quality of life (QOL) are unclear. Besides, more outcome measure related to mental health of yoga effects on people with KOA should be conducted.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5061981/

 

Reduce Amygdala Mediated Stress responses with Mindfulness

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Reduce Amygdala Mediated Stress responses with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“It is vital to practice mindfulness to ensure you help the mind to relieve stress. Notably, constant fear and anxiety are likely to sabotage and hinder achievements. Mindfulness can be effective in dealing with both stress and anxiety.“ – Pick the Brain

 

Stress is an integral part of life. In fact, I’ve quipped that the definition of death is when stress ceases. People often think of stress as a bad thing. But, it is in fact essential to the health of the body. If the muscles are not stressed to some extent they deteriorate. As it turns out, this is also true for the brain. The same goes for our psychological health. If we don’t have any stress, we call it boredom. In fact, we invest time and resources in stressing ourselves, e.g. ridding rollercoasters, sky diving, competing in sports, etc. We say we love a challenge, but, challenges are all stressful. So, we actually love to stress ourselves. In moderation, it is healthful and provides interest and fun to life.

 

If stress, is high or is prolonged, however, it can be problematic. It can damage our physical and mental health and even reduce our longevity, leading to premature deaths. So, it is important that we employ methods to either reduce or control high or prolonged stress or reduce our responses to it. Mindfulness practices have been found routinely to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. It is known that stress not only affects the body but also affects the brain, producing changes particularly in neural circuits involving the Amygdala. Mindfulness also alters the brain, particularly neural circuits involved in attention, executive functions, and emotion regulation. This suggests that mindfulness may also alter the Amygdala circuits in the brain to affect the stress responses.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness meditation training alters stress-related amygdala resting state functional connectivity: a randomized controlled trial.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1470331626324092/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4666115/

Taren and colleagues recruited adult participants from the community and measure perceived stress and also scanned their brains with functional magnetic imaging (f-MRI). They found that the greater the perceived stress in the individual the greater the functional connectivity between the Amygdala and the Cingulate Cortex. This verified the notion that stress can act by altering the neural circuits involving the Amygdala but was correlational and did not demonstrate causation.

 

Taren and colleagues then went on to examine the effects of meditation practice on these Amygdala circuits. They recruited unemployed community participants who were seeking employment and also exhibited high stress levels and randomly assigned them to either an intensive 3-day mindfulness meditation condition or a 3-day rest and relaxation condition. The mindfulness practice consisted of the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program condensed into an intensive 3-day period. In the rest and relaxation condition, the participants engaged in similar activities to those included in an MBSR program but were instructed to do them in a restful way rather than a mindful way. Before and after the 3-day intervention the participants underwent f-MRI scans of their brains.

 

The researchers found that prior to the intervention period both groups displayed relatively high functional connectivity of the Amygdala with the Cingulate Cortex, but following meditation training, but not relaxation, there was a significant reduction in this connectivity. They also found that a biological marker of stress, cortisol levels, was inversely related to reductions in the connectivity; the greater the reduction in connectivity the greater the reduction in the cortisol levels. This suggests that mindfulness training reduces stress responses by reducing the ability of the Amygdala to affect other brain regions.

 

These results are interesting and provide evidence of the types of changes in the brain produced by mindfulness training that underlie the stress reducing properties of mindfulness training. The Amygdala is known to be involved in stress responses and emotionality so reducing its ability to affect other neural structures would appear to be critical for mindfulness’ stress reducing properties. Hence, a coherent picture is emerging of the physiological mechanisms underlying the ability of mindfulness to reduce stress responses.

 

So, reduce amygdala mediated stress responses with mindfulness.

 

“The picture we have is that mindfulness practice increases one’s ability to recruit higher order, pre-frontal cortex regions in order to down-regulate lower-order brain activity. In other words, our more primal responses to stress seem to be superseded by more thoughtful ones.” – Adrienne Taren

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Taren, A. A., Gianaros, P. J., Greco, C. M., Lindsay, E. K., Fairgrieve, A., Brown, K. W., … Creswell, J. D. (2015). Mindfulness meditation training alters stress-related amygdala resting state functional connectivity: a randomized controlled trial. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(12), 1758–1768. http://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv066

 

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that mindfulness meditation training interventions reduce stress and improve stress-related health outcomes, but the neural pathways for these effects are unknown. The present research evaluates whether mindfulness meditation training alters resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the amygdala, a region known to coordinate stress processing and physiological stress responses. We show in an initial discovery study that higher perceived stress over the past month is associated with greater bilateral amygdala-subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) rsFC in a sample of community adults (n = 130). A follow-up, single-blind randomized controlled trial shows that a 3-day intensive mindfulness meditation training intervention (relative to a well-matched 3-day relaxation training intervention without a mindfulness component) reduced right amygdala-sgACC rsFC in a sample of stressed unemployed community adults (n = 35). Although stress may increase amygdala-sgACC rsFC, brief training in mindfulness meditation could reverse these effects. This work provides an initial indication that mindfulness meditation training promotes functional neuroplastic changes, suggesting an amygdala-sgACC pathway for stress reduction effects.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4666115/

 

Improve Personality and Well-being with a Meditation Retreat

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Improve Personality and Well-being with a Meditation Retreat

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Even if you’re terrified, even if you have no interest in being a monk and you’re not an extremist by nature, I know that sitting in silence for 10 days will blow your mind.” – MeiMei Fox

 

Retreat can be a powerful experience. But, in some ways, is like being on vacation. Everything is taken care of, beds made, towels and linens provided, all meals prepared, and time is dictated by a detailed schedule of meditations, talks, question and answer periods, and reflective time. All the individual has to do is show up, meditate, relax, contemplate and listen. The retreatants are terribly spoiled! That seeming ease, however, is deceptive. Retreat is actually quite difficult and challenging. It can be very tiring as it can run from early in the morning till late at night every day. It can also be physically challenging as engaging in sitting meditation repeatedly over the day is guaranteed to produce many aches and pains in the legs, back, and neck. But the real challenges are psychological, emotional, and spiritual. Retreat can be a real test.

 

Retreat isn’t all relaxation and fun. Far from it. The darkness can descend. During silent retreat, deep emotional issues can emerge and may even overwhelm the individual. Many participants will spontaneously burst out in tears. Others may become overwhelmed with fear and anxiety and break out in cold sweats, and still others are sleepless and tormented. How can this be, that something so seemingly peaceful as silent retreat can be so emotionally wrenching? The secret is that the situation removes the minds ability to hide and distract.

 

Humans have done a tremendous job of providing distractions for the mind including books, movies, magazines, music, television, sports, amusement parks, surfing the internet, tweeting, texting, etc. Any time troubling thoughts or memories of traumatic experiences begin to emerge in everyday life, the subject can easily be changed by engaging in a distraction. So, the issues never have to truly be confronted. But, in silent retreat there is no escape. Difficult issues emerge and there is no place to hide. They must be confronted and experienced. For some people this may be the first time in their entire life that they’ve had to directly face themselves and their darkest thoughts. It’s no wonder that retreat can be so wrenching.

 

With all these difficulties, why would anyone want to put themselves through such an ordeal and go on a meditation retreat? People go because retreat has many profound and sometimes life altering benefits. The benefits of retreat were investigated in today’s Research News article “Psychological Effects of a 1-Month Meditation Retreat on Experienced Meditators.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1469065896450665/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01935/full?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Psychology-w51-2016

Montero-Marin and colleagues recruited experienced meditators who participated in a 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat, with 8-9 hours of meditation and 1-2 hours of teaching each day, and compared them to a control group of experienced meditators matched on gender, age, ethnicity, educational, and type of meditation practice. They were measured before and after the retreat for non-attachment, decentering, mindfulness, loving kindness, compassion, joy, and acceptance toward both the self and others, positive and negative affect, satisfaction with life, temperament, and character.

 

They found that following the retreat participants, compared to controls, showed increased non-attachment, observing, mindfulness, positive-affect, balance-affect, and cooperativeness; and decreased describing, negative-others, reward-dependence and self-directedness. Employing a sophisticated statistical technique, they were able to show that non-attachment had a mediating role in decentring, acting aware, non-reactivity, negative-affect, balance-affect and self-directedness; and a moderating role in describing and positive others, with both mediating and moderating effects on satisfaction with life. Hence, attending a 1-month retreat produced improvements in non-attachment, which, in turn, produced improvements in mindfulness, positive emotions, temperament and character.

 

These are important results demonstrating the ability of participation in retreat to powerfully affect an individual beyond what is accomplished by long-term experience meditating. Concentrated practice over an extended period during retreat appears to magnify the effects of meditation, producing even greater positive benefits to the individual. Hence, even though retreat can be difficult, physically and emotionally, it is clear that its benefits, for many, far exceed its costs. This isn’t even considering the powerful spiritual experiences that can occur during retreat. This might account for the popularity of retreat and why it has been seen as an essential component of practice over hundreds of years.

 

So, improve personality and well-being with a meditation retreat.

 

“The retreat helped me realize that I’m full of desire, of longings for raw experience, and unbelievably controlling of how my life is lived. It sounds simple, but one week of silence may give you a hint, maybe more reliably than almost anything else, of who you are.” – Tim Wu

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Montero-Marin J, Puebla-Guedea M, Herrera-Mercadal P, Cebolla A, Soler J, Demarzo M, Vazquez C, Rodríguez-Bornaetxea F and García-Campayo J (2016) Psychological Effects of a 1-Month Meditation Retreat on Experienced Meditators: The Role of Non-attachment. Front. Psychol. 7:1935. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01935

 

Background: There are few studies devoted to assessing the impact of meditation-intensive retreats on the well-being, positive psychology, and personality of experienced meditators. We aimed to assess whether a 1-month Vipassana retreat: (a) would increase mindfulness and well-being; (b) would increase prosocial personality traits; and (c) whether psychological changes would be mediated and/or moderated by non-attachment.

Method: A controlled, non-randomized, pre-post-intervention trial was used. The intervention group was a convenience sample (n = 19) of experienced meditators who participated in a 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat. The control group (n = 19) comprised matched experienced meditators who did not take part in the retreat. During the retreat, the mean duration of daily practice was 8–9 h, the diet was vegetarian and silence was compulsory. The Experiences Questionnaire (EQ), Non-attachment Scale (NAS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Temperament Character Inventory Revised (TCI-R-67), Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Self-Other Four Immeasurables (SOFI) and the MINDSENS Composite Index were administered. ANCOVAs and linear regression models were used to assess pre-post changes and mediation/moderation effects.

Results: Compared to controls, retreatants showed increases in non-attachment, observing, MINDSENS, positive-affect, balance-affect, and cooperativeness; and decreases in describing, negative-others, reward-dependence and self-directedness. Non-attachment had a mediating role in decentring, acting aware, non-reactivity, negative-affect, balance-affect and self-directedness; and a moderating role in describing and positive others, with both mediating and moderating effects on satisfaction with life.

Conclusions: A 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat seems to yield improvements in mindfulness, well-being, and personality, even in experienced meditators. Non-attachment might facilitate psychological improvements of meditation, making it possible to overcome possible ceiling effects ascribed to non-intensive practices.

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01935/full?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Psychology-w51-2016

It’s the Awareness, Stupid!

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It’s the Awareness, Stupid

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The greatest human gift is to be aware, to be in touch with oneself, one’s body, mind, feelings, thoughts, sensations.”– Anthony de Mello

 

The vast majority of the human race is, and has always been, on a spiritual search, to find greater meaning in life and beyond. We expend time engaging in spiritual practices, going on retreat, visiting sacred sites, attending religious services, watching televangelists, etc. We expend resources supporting churches, temples, mosques, monasteries etc. supporting priests, ministers, evangelists, missionaries, gurus, rabbis, imams, spiritual teachers, and we may even tithe a considerable fraction of our wealth. And we expend cognitive and emotional resources philosophizing, studying sacred texts, ruminating about the health of the soul, listening to sermons, having conversations about spirituality/religion, etc.

 

Why do humans do this? Why do we feel such a strong pull toward spirituality? On a rational level we would do substantively better in our lives if we invested the time and resources on our careers, families, relationships, secular issues etc. rather than on spirituality. But there is something inside of us that demands attention and makes us feel that there is more to life than just the physical. Most people can’t identify what it is, but they feel strongly that there is a spiritual component of their existence. They sense something about themselves that is more than a biological machine, something enduring, something outside of the earthly realm.

 

The answer is actually right there and obvious, but they can’t see it. As Jesus said “The kingdom of heaven is spread upon the earth, but men do not see it.” They don’t understand that the one that’s doing the seeking is what they’re seeking. Sometimes I want to just scream out, “it’s the awareness, stupid.” It’s what’s seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, and even what’s feeling that there’s something more. It’s the awareness they experience. It’s so obvious that most people miss it. It seems that they’re looking for something different than what is already present. So, they don’t see the most obvious, constant, and important experience of all; awareness.

 

It’s our awareness that’s responsible for all the spiritual seeking. But, we don’t seem to see that that’s what we’re seeking. Instead, we look everywhere else for something else. To some extent it’s the fault of spiritual teachings which often promise or portray a realm of existence that is far different from what is currently being experienced. The iconography portrays realized beings as altered and otherworldly, not as someone just like us. So, we constantly look for something different from what we’re experiencing and missing the oh so obvious. “It’s the awareness, stupid!”

 

Another reason why we miss it is that our nervous systems are programmed to detect change. That makes sense as they adapted to protect us from danger and a change in the environment may signal a threat that needs to be addressed as a priority and immediately, so we do. A change may also signal an opportunity, perhaps prey, and we need to react quickly to take advantage. Attention is grabbed by new things. In fact, we tend to ignore stable stimuli, like the constant hum of a ceiling fan, the feeling of our clothes on our bodies, or a persistent constant odor in the room. The retina of our eye only sends a signal to the brain when there’s a change. So, a constant image on a constant place on the retina disappears. Our awareness has been constant and unchanging throughout our existence. So, it’s no wonder we miss it, the entire nervous system is designed to ignore such things.

 

Our attention is also attracted by strong stimuli, loud noises, bright lights, strong odors, etc.  Awareness is totally quiet, deeply silent, always in the background, never in the foreground. It doesn’t produce anything. It just registers what is. So, there is nothing to bring attention to awareness. How would we ever recognize its significance when it is mostly not on the radar screen?

 

If awareness is like this, what leads to the conclusion that it is what we’re seeking in our spiritual search? What evidence do we have that it is our true nature? After all, how can something so low key and unassuming be the spiritual key to understanding birth, life, death, and the nature of reality? To answer this question, it is important to look at what would be the characteristics of something that was indeed our true nature. Firstly, the truth doesn’t change or fluctuate. If it’s really the truth, it will always be the same. Secondly, it will always be there. Our true nature can’t come and go. It must be forever present. And lastly, our true nature could not be affected by temporary conditions. It must withstand all nature of changes in our environment, our physiology, and our psychological processes, remaining steadfast, constant, unaltered.

 

The idea we have of our self doesn’t live up to these criteria. The idea of self has been in constant change from the earliest moments of life to the present moment. It comes and goes depending upon what we’re doing and thinking about. And it is very much affected by our experiences. In fact, it is to a large extent built upon them. So, the self cannot be our true nature. Is our immortal soul, as taught by many religions, our true nature? Well, we can’t tell if it changes, but religion teaches that it does, as it’s blemished by sin. This also suggests that it’s affected by experience. In addition, we can’t detect if it comes and goes as no matter how hard we look, it can’t be found or observed. So, how could an immortal soul that we cannot find or observe be our true nature?

 

Awareness, on the other hand, has never changed. We are never more or less aware. The content of awareness is forever changing. The sensory stimuli in the environment are in a constant flux as are the contents of our ever changing minds, sometimes in the present moment, sometimes lost in memory or fantasy, sometime planning for the future. But the awareness of these changing mental states and sensory experiences is always the same. It always just silently registers whatever is transpiring. Awareness has always been there, never coming or going. It was there at birth, throughout development, and right now and has always been the same. Finally, awareness, isn’t affected by the external or internal environments. It’s the same when we’re ill as when we’re health, when we’re upset as when we’re calm, when we’re bombarded by intense stimulation like at a rock concert as when we’re in silence, when our minds affected by drugs as when totally sober. It’s always present and never changing regardless of circumstances. So, our awareness fits all of the criteria of being our true nature.

 

Even with this being true, how can we be sure that it actually is our true nature? Many religious and spiritual teachers and realized beings tell it is. But, if it’s the truth we need not take someone else’s word about it. We should be able to see for our self. Indeed, that is what the Buddha taught, “Do not believe anything, even my teachings, go and see for yourself.” He even told us how to, by meditation and deep contemplation, looking inside, not outside for the key to understanding our existence. It is here that we can clearly see that at the center, the core, of all experience is an unchanging, immortal awareness.

 

When you go see for yourself, you will see “it’s the awareness, stupid.”

 

“Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.” – Anthony de Mello

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Improve the Symptoms of Stress with Mindfulness

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Improve the Symptoms of Stress with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Through mindfulness, individuals start to see their thoughts as less powerful. These distorted thoughts – such as “I always make mistakes” or “I’m a horrible person” – start to hold less weight. We ‘experience’ thoughts and other sensations, but we aren’t carried away by them. We just watch them come and go.” – William Marchand

 

Stress is universal. We are constantly under some form of stress. In fact, if we don’t have enough stress, we seek out more. Moderate stress can be a good thing promoting growth and flourishing. But, it must be moderate or what is called the optimum level of stress. Too little or too much stress can be damaging. Unfortunately for many of us living in a competitive, multitasking, modern environment stress is all too often higher than desirable. In addition, many of the normal mechanisms for dealing with stress have been eliminated. The business of modern life removes opportunities for rest, extra sleep, and leisure activities. Instead people are working extra hours and limiting or passing up entirely vacations to stay competitive. Persistently high levels of stress are damaging and can directly produce disease or debilitation increasing susceptibility to other diseases. Indeed, chronic stress has been associated with depression, anxiety, burnout, suicide attempts, poor immune functioning, and cardiovascular disorders.

 

It is beyond the ability of the individual to change the environment to reduce stress, so it is important that methods be found to reduce the individual’s responses to stress; to make the individual more resilient when high levels of stress occur. Contemplative practices including meditation practice have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. Because of their ability to relieve stress, mindfulness trainings are increasingly being practiced by individuals and are even being encouraged in some workplaces. But, some other treatments such as exercise or biofeedback may also be effective.

 

In today’s Research News article “A RCT Comparing Daily Mindfulness Meditations, Biofeedback Exercises, and Daily Physical Exercise on Attention Control, Executive Functioning, Mindful Awareness, Self-Compassion, and Worrying in Stressed Young Adults.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1466297833394138/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5010624/

de Bruin and colleagues recruited young adults, aged 18-40 years, who were high in perceived stress and randomly assigned them to either a daily mindfulness meditations, daily heart rate variability biofeedback, or daily physical exercise groups. The participants were provided a 2-hour orientation instruction and then practiced daily over 5 weeks for 10 to 20 minutes per day on an individualized practice plan. They were measured before and after treatment and 6-weeks later for attention control, executive function, mindfulness, self-compassion, and worry.

 

They found that all three interventions produced significant improvement from the pretest to posttest in attention control, executive function, mindfulness, self-compassion, and worry. These effects remained significant at the 6-week follow-up, suggesting lasting effects. All practices had moderate to large effects sizes. Surprisingly there were no significant differences between the three different practices as all produced significant improvements in the measures.

 

It is interesting that all three practices produced significant increases in mindfulness. This would be expected for the mindfulness meditation group but is somewhat surprising for the heart rate variability biofeedback and physical exercise groups. This fact may explain why all of the practices were beneficial. It suggests that improved mindfulness is responsible for the improvements in attention control, executive function, self-compassion, and worry. This seems reasonable, give that mindfulness training has been shown previously to improve attention control, executive function, self-compassion, and worry. Hence it appears that there are a number of practices that can improve the psychological conditions of stressed young adults and that they act by increasing mindfulness.

 

So, improve the symptoms of stress with mindfulness.

 

“mindfulness meditation promotes metacognitive awareness, decreases rumination via disengagement from perseverative cognitive activities and enhances attentional capacities through gains in working memory. These cognitive gains, in turn, contribute to effective emotion-regulation strategies.” – Daphne Davis

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

De Bruin, E. I., van der Zwan, J. E., & Bögels, S. M. (2016). A RCT Comparing Daily Mindfulness Meditations, Biofeedback Exercises, and Daily Physical Exercise on Attention Control, Executive Functioning, Mindful Awareness, Self-Compassion, and Worrying in Stressed Young Adults. Mindfulness, 7(5), 1182–1192. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0561-5

 

Abstract

Our Western society is characterized by multitasking, competition, and constant time pressure. Negative effects of stress for the individual (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints) and for organizations and society (costs due to work absence) are very high. Thus, time-efficient self-help interventions to address these issues are necessary. This study assessed the effects of daily mindfulness meditations (MM) versus daily heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) and daily physical exercise (PE) on attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying. Young adults (n = 75, age range 18 to 40) with elevated stress levels were randomized to MM, HRV-BF, or PE, and measurements were taken at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Interventions in all three groups were self-guided and lasted for 5 weeks. Generalized estimating equation analyses showed that overall, all three interventions were effective and did not differ from each other. However, practice time differed between groups, with participants in the PE group practicing much more than participants in the other two groups. Therefore, additional analyses were carried out in two subsamples. The optimal dose sample included only those participants who practiced for at least 70 % of the total prescribed time. In the equal dose sample, home practice intensity was equal for all three groups. Again, the effects of the three interventions did not differ. In conclusion, MM, HRV-BF, and PE are all effective self-help methods to improve attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying, and mindfulness meditation was not found to be more effective than HRV-biofeedback or physical exercise for these cognitive processes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5010624/

 

Relieve Trauma Symptoms and Stress in Prisoners with Meditation

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Relieve Trauma Symptoms and Stress in Prisoners with Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Ever since a kid, I’ve just been miserable being myself. After just one month of meditating, I’ve felt so much energy, it’s amazing how good I feel.” – Geoff, prison inmate serving life sentence

 

Around 2 ¼ million people are incarcerated in the United States. Prison is a very stressful and difficult environment for most prisoners. This is compounded by the fact that most do not have well developed coping skills. In addition, many have suffered from trauma, often experienced early in life such as abandonment, hunger, homelessness, domestic violence, sexual abuse, bullying, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, and witnessing crime – including murder. In addition, prisoners frequently suffer from attention deficit disorder.

 

Prisoners are often ill equipped to engage positively in society either inside or outside of prison. Even though prisons are euphemistically labelled correctional facilities very little correction actually occurs. This is supported by the rates of recidivism. About three quarters of prisoners who are released commit crimes and are sent back to prison within 5-years. Hence there is a great need for better prison programs that can not only help the prisoner adjust to prison life but also to life after release

 

Prison provides a great deal of time for reflection and self-exploration. This provides an opportunity for growth and development. Contemplative practices are well suited to this environment. Meditation teaches skills that may be very important for prisoners. In particular, it puts the practitioner in touch with their own bodies and feelings. It improves present moment awareness and helps to overcome rumination about the past and negative thinking about the future. It’s been shown to be useful in the treatment of the effects of trauma and attention deficit disorder. It also relieves stress and improves overall health and well-being. Finally, meditation has been shown to be effective in treating depression, anxiety, and anger.

 

So, meditation would appear to be well suited to addressing the issues of prisoners. In today’s Research News article “). Reduced Trauma Symptoms and Perceived Stress in Male Prison Inmates through the Transcendental Meditation Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1465085253515396/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5101089/

Nidich and colleagues recruited prisoners and randomly assigned them to either meditation or no treatment groups. Transcendental meditation was taught in 5 1-hour sessions in a group format and the prisoners were encouraged to practice for an additional 20 minutes per day. The prisoners were measured before training and 4 months later for trauma symptoms and perceived stress.

 

It was reported that compared to the no-treatment control group, the meditation group had moderate to large significant improvements in perceived stress and in total trauma symptoms, including the anxiety, depression, dissociation, and sleep disturbance resulting from trauma. In interpreting these results, it should be noted that there was not an active or placebo control group. So, the effects cannot be conclusively attributed to meditation as any active treatment might have produced similar improvements. In addition, since prisoners are isolated and restricted, any attention provided them may have had powerful effects. This being said, the findings are exciting and suggest the meditation training is a powerful treatment for the trauma symptoms and stress evident in prison populations.

 

A large proportion of the prison population have experienced trauma and it is thought that the effects of these experiences have profoundly affected these individuals and their behavior. The ability of meditation to mitigate the effects of trauma and reduce stress make it ideal for the treatment of prisoners. It remains for future research to determine the long-term effects of meditation practice on these prisoners, their behavior in prison and after release, and their likelihood of committing new offenses.

 

So, relieve trauma symptoms and stress in prisoners with meditation.

 

“I’ve known inmates who have, as a result of their meditation practice, move from being violent streetfighters to gentle protectors of weaker prisoners. I’ve seen inmates develop an extraordinary amount of patience with exceedingly trying circumstances. I’ve seen seemingly macho men show a tender concern for others. In short, I’ve seen people who have committed some of the most serious crimes possible — people that some might describe as “animals” or “beyond hope” — becoming better people.” – Bodhipaksa

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Nidich, S., O’Connor, T., Rutledge, T., Duncan, J., Compton, B., Seng, A., & Nidich, R. (2016). Reduced Trauma Symptoms and Perceived Stress in Male Prison Inmates through the Transcendental Meditation Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Permanente Journal, 20(4), 43–47. http://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/16-007

 

Abstract

Context: Trauma events are four times more prevalent in inmates than in the general public and are associated with increased recidivism and other mental and physical health issues.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of Transcendental Meditationa (TM) on trauma symptoms in male inmates.

Design: One hundred eighty-one inmates with a moderate- to high-risk criminal profile were randomly assigned to either the TM program or to a usual care control group.

Main Outcome Measures

The Trauma Symptom Checklist and the Perceived Stress Scale were administered at baseline and four-month posttest.

Results: Significant reductions in total trauma symptoms, anxiety, depression, dissociation, and sleep disturbance subscales, and perceived stress in the TM group were found compared with controls (all p values < 0.001). The high-trauma subgroup analysis further showed a higher magnitude of effects in the TM group compared with controls on all outcomes, with Cohen effect sizes ranging from 0.67 to 0.89.

Conclusion: Results are consistent with those of prior studies of the TM program in other populations and its effects on trauma symptoms and perceived stress.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5101089/

 

Change the Brain for Healthy Aging with Meditation

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Change the Brain for Healthy Aging with Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“With recent neuroscientific findings, meditation as a practice has been shown to literally rewire brain circuits that boost both mind and body health. These benefits of meditation have surfaced alongside the revelation that the brain can be deeply transformed through experience –  a quality known as “neuroplasticity.”” –  Quora

 

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

 

The seemingly simple behavior of meditation is actually quite complex. Adding to the complexity is that there are a variety of different meditation techniques. To begin to understand exactly how meditation works to produce its benefit, it is important to determine what various contemplative techniques do. So, there is a need to test and compare the effects of a variety of techniques and variations. There are a number of different ways to classify contemplative techniques including focused attention techniques such as breath meditation of loving kindness meditation and active meditations such as yoga or tai chi. All of these techniques, even though very different, have been shown to improve the physical and mental health of the individual. A comparison of the effects on the brain of these different techniques could reveal what neural changes are in common that might explain the common benefits and which are unique to the specific techniques.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Neural Mechanisms of Meditative Practices: Novel Approaches for Healthy Aging.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1463868163637105/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5110576/

Acevedo and colleagues review the published research literature on the changes to the brain produced by focused meditation and active meditation. In particular, they compared the results for meditation practices that have a single focus, such as breath meditation or loving kindness meditation, versus those that active meditations that involved multiple foci of attention, such as chanting, active postures, breathing practices, or working with a partner. They discovered 7 studies in the literature that investigated the neural changes produced by focused type meditation practices and 6 studies that investigated active meditation practices.

 

They report that the research has identified a set of brain structures that are involved in attention, memory, conscious awareness, reward, and emotional regulation that are affected in common with both focused and active meditative practices. These are the same areas that tend to deteriorate with aging, This may explain why meditation tends to slow down the mental deterioration that occurs even in healthy aging.

 

Focused meditation uniquely activated areas involved in sensory and emotional integration, self-control, body awareness, and movement. So, focused meditation may have greater effects on emotion regulation and conscious awareness of the body and movement resulting in greater self-control. On the other hand, active meditations appeared to uniquely affect brain regions that are involved in “willful acts,” language, and movement, as well as social processes. Hence the two forms of meditation have benefits in common and some benefits that are unique to the type of meditation practice.

 

These results are reasonable given the natures of the meditation types, where focused meditation appears to benefit internal awareness while active meditation appears to benefit control of willful behavior of language and movement. Both types appear to have extensive positive benefits and appear to counteract the degenerative changes occurring with healthy aging. But their differences suggest that each may be better for different kinds of people and different disorders. Future research should explore the utility of each for targeted physical or psychological weaknesses in the individual.

 

So, change the brain for healthy aging with meditation.

 

“The impact that mindfulness exerts on our brain is borne from routine: a slow, steady, and consistent reckoning of our realities, and the ability to take a step back, become more aware, more accepting, less judgmental, and less reactive. Just as playing the piano over and over again over time strengthens and supports brain networks involved with playing music, mindfulness over time can make the brain, and thus, us, more efficient regulators, with a penchant for pausing to respond to our worlds instead of mindlessly reacting.” – Jennifer Wolkin

 

,CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Acevedo, B. P., Pospos, S., & Lavretsky, H. (2016). The Neural Mechanisms of Meditative Practices: Novel Approaches for Healthy Aging. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 3(4), 328–339. http://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0098-x

 

Abstract

Objectives: Meditation has been shown to have physical, cognitive, and psychological health benefits that can be used to promote healthy aging. However, the common and specific mechanisms of response remain elusive due to the diverse nature of mind–body practices.

Methods: In this review, we aim to compare the neural circuits implicated in focused-attention meditative practices that focus on present-moment awareness to those involved in active-type meditative practices (e.g., yoga) that combine movement, including chanting, with breath practices and meditation.

Recent Findings: Recent meta-analyses and individual studies demonstrated common brain effects for attention-based meditative practices and active-based meditations in areas involved in reward processing and learning, attention and memory, awareness and sensory integration, and self-referential processing and emotional control, while deactivation was seen in the amygdala, an area implicated in emotion processing. Unique effects for mindfulness practices were found in brain regions involved in body awareness, attention, and the integration of emotion and sensory processing. Effects specific to active-based meditations appeared in brain areas involved in self-control, social cognition, language, speech, tactile stimulation, sensorimotor integration, and motor function.

Summary: This review suggests that mind–body practices can target different brain systems that are involved in the regulation of attention, emotional control, mood, and executive cognition that can be used to treat or prevent mood and cognitive disorders of aging, such as depression and caregiver stress, or serve as “brain fitness” exercise. Benefits may include improving brain functional connectivity in brain systems that generally degenerate with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other aging-related diseases.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5110576/

 

Reduce Interpersonal Trauma Symptoms with Mindfulness

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Reduce Interpersonal Trauma Symptoms with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness meditation training improves your brain’s ability to help you manage stress, and these changes improve a broad range of stress-related health outcomes, such as your inflammatory health,” David Creswell

 

Experiencing trauma is quite common. It has been estimated that 60% of men and 50% of women will experience a significant traumatic event during their lifetime. Trauma produced by one person on another, interpersonal trauma, frequently involves intimate partners and can occur as personal assault, sexual assault, witnessing family violence, and sudden loss of a loved one. This is common particularly with low income women. The psychological consequences can be profound and endure over a lifetime, and can result in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

 

Another common consequence of the stress produced by trauma is an increase in inflammation. The immune system is designed to protect the body from threats like stress, infection, injury, and toxic chemicals. One of its tools is the inflammatory response. This response works quite well for short-term infections and injuries. But when inflammation is protracted and becomes chronic, such as can occur with trauma, it can itself become a threat to health. It can produce autoimmune diseases such as colitis, Chron’s disease, arthritis, heart disease, increased cancer risk, lung disease, sleep disruption, gum disease, decreased bone health, and psoriasis. Indeed, the presence of chronic inflammation is associated with reduced longevity. In addition, it can exacerbate the psychological issues produced by trauma including increasing the severity depression.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to both help improve the symptoms of trauma and to reduce the inflammatory response. So, it would be reasonable to predict that mindfulness training would be useful in reducing the inflammation resulting from interpersonal trauma in women. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Enhance Psychological Functioning and Improve Inflammatory Biomarkers in Trauma-Exposed Women: A Pilot Study.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1462456350444953/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624080/

Gallegos and colleagues recruited low-income women who had experienced interpersonal trauma and provided them with an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) treatment. Measurements were taken before, during (4th week), and immediately after treatment, and 4 weeks later of traumatic events, cognitive performance, perceived stress, anxiety, emotion regulation, PTSD symptoms, and mindfulness. In addition, blood was drawn and assayed for markers of inflammation.

 

They found that the MBSR treatment significantly increased mindfulness and emotion regulation and decreased perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. In addition, attendance at MBSR sessions was significantly related to decreases in IL-6 levels, a marker of inflammation. All of these improvements were maintained 4-weeks after the end of MBSR training. Hence Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) produced significant and lasting improvement in both the psychological and inflammatory effects of interpersonal trauma. It should be kept in mind that no control condition was employed. So, the results could have been produced by a placebo effect and any form of treatment might have produced comparable improvements. A controlled clinical trial is needed to confirm that MBSR was responsible for the effects.

 

It comes as no surprise that mindfulness training had these effects in women who experienced interpersonal trauma as mindfulness training has been previously been shown with other groups to produce improvement in mindfulness, emotion regulation, perceived stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD symptoms, and inflammation. What the present study contributes is a demonstration that these benefits also occur in women who have experienced interpersonal trauma.

 

So, reduce interpersonal trauma symptoms with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness meditation reduces levels of interleukin 6 by altering patterns of functional connectivity: communication between different regions of the brain. “By modulating functional connectivity, you’re affecting the cell groups that influence the release of inflammatory markers and stress hormones,”  –  Adrienne Taren

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Gallegos, A. M., Lytle, M. C., Moynihan, J. A., & Talbot, N. L. (2015). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Enhance Psychological Functioning and Improve Inflammatory Biomarkers in Trauma-Exposed Women: A Pilot Study. Psychological Trauma : Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 7(6), 525–532. http://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000053

 

Abstract

This study examined the effects of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on psychological functioning and inflammatory biomarkers in women with histories of interpersonal trauma. The 8-week MBSR program was conducted at a community-based health center and participants (N = 50) completed several measures of psychological functioning at study entry as well as 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks later. Inflammatory biomarkers were assayed from blood collected at each assessment. A series of linear mixed model analyses were conducted to measure the effect of attendance and time on the dependent variables. Time was associated with significant decreases in perceived stress, depression, trait and state anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and post-traumatic stress symptoms as well as increases in mindfulness. Session attendance was associated with significant decreases in interleukin (IL)-6 levels. This pilot study demonstrated the potential beneficial effects of MBSR on psychological functioning and the inflammatory biomarker IL-6 among trauma-exposed and primarily low-income women. Decreases in inflammation have implications for this population, as interpersonal trauma can instigate chronic physiological dysregulation, heightened morbidity, and premature death. This study’s preliminary results support efforts to investigate biological remediation with behavioral interventions in vulnerable populations.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624080/