By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Despite increased attention to diversity issues, ethnic minorities are still underrepresented in the field of psychology. Baseline knowledge on the effectiveness of treatments for ethnic minority groups is limited.” – Janice Ya Ken Cheng Mindfulness practices have gone mainstream in western culture. This has not been driven […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Stress is a known trigger for headaches, and mindfulness is a known combatant against stress. Several studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can curb stress responses” – Mandy Oaklander The most common medical ailment is headaches. They affect about 16.5% of the population of the U.S., approximately 45 million Americans […]
Improve Alternatives to Incarceration with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness training helps youth consider more adaptive alternatives. It creates a gap between triggers for offending behavior and their responses. They learn to not immediately act out on impulse, but to pause and consider the consequences of a potential offending and […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “MBSR is a practice that can help you “turn the volume down” on the perception of back pain by teaching you to look into the pain, and being with the experience and not resisting it so much. Looking into our emotional reactivity to it. Focusing on the present, […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Through practicing mindfulness we become more aware of subtle changes in our mood and physical health, and can start to notice more quickly when we are struggling. Rather than waiting for a full meltdown before we take action, we can read the signals of our minds and bodies […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy helps participants in the classes to see more clearly the patterns of the mind; and to learn how to recognize when their mood is beginning to go down. It helps break the link between negative mood and the negative thinking that it would normally have […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life.” – Sarah Lazar The mind and body are intrinsically intertwined. The old distinction between […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Thus, differing assessments may support implicitly distinct theoretical positions with respect to operationalizing mind- fulness. . . . researchers must be well informed and intentional in their selection of assessment tools because the breadth of currently available assessments provides researchers with a variety of measures, each with […]
Improve Psychological Health of Veterans with a Mantra By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Asking for clarity provides a way to begin to see a path out of the pain of personal issues. With spiritual support the pain begins to be released, the path becomes clearer and the next step to create the […]
By Dr. John M. de Castro “Mindfulness practice appears to be a safe, drug-free approach to coping with stress and anxiety, which may in turn help reduce your MS symptoms.” – Amit Sood “Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most widespread disabling neurological condition of young adults around the world. more than 400,000 people […]