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Explore (New York, N.Y.) 2022The present paper argues that if the so-called mindfulness movement is to reach its full potential it needs to emancipate from its religious context and ally itself...
The present paper argues that if the so-called mindfulness movement is to reach its full potential it needs to emancipate from its religious context and ally itself fully with psychological science. The argument that mindfulness meditation needs a religious context for ethical reasons is untenable. Although mindfulness skills may well be used for un-ethical purposes, this applies equally to both religious (e.g., Buddhist) and secular contexts, and is best handled by an open-minded philosophical-ethical discussion. One problem with present mindfulness-based treatments and mindfulness research is that they are still partly enmeshed with Buddhist conceptualizations of the world, which are thought to represent "seeing things as they are". If the full potential of mindfulness meditation is to be understood, research methods are needed which focus on the phenomenological practices involved in terms of psychological processes such as the regulation of attention and attitudes.
Topics: Attention; Buddhism; Humans; Meditation; Mindfulness; Religion and Psychology
PubMed: 34215529
DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2021.06.003 -
Journal of Psychiatric Research Aug 2022Mindfulness is characterized by skills such as heightened awareness and acceptance of internal experiences, which may be helpful for people who have experienced trauma.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Mindfulness is characterized by skills such as heightened awareness and acceptance of internal experiences, which may be helpful for people who have experienced trauma. The consistency and strength of the relationship between trait mindfulness and PTSD symptomology, however, is unknown. Studies were included in this review if they were published in an English language peer-reviewed journal, reported on a correlational relationship between validated measures of mindfulness and PTSD, and all participants were over the age of 18. A random effects meta-analysis showed that there was a robust, pooled relationship between total mindfulness and PTSD (r = -0.39, 95% CI [-0.47 to -0.30]), based on 35 datasets with 13,370 participants, with low risk of publication bias. Sixteen articles reported on facets of mindfulness and PTSD symptomology [5,206 to 5,600 participants]: the strongest associations were with Act with Awareness (r = -0.37) and Non-judge (r = -0.37), followed by Describe (r = -0.22) and Non-react (r = -0.21). Observe was not significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. Results from this analysis suggest that people who are more mindful also report fewer symptoms of PTSD ; the strength of the relationship varies across mindfulness facets. There was high heterogeneity across studies.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Middle Aged; Mindfulness; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
PubMed: 35753243
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.05.027 -
Scientific Reports Apr 2020Clinical evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and stress, and improves emotion regulation due to modulation of activity in neural...
Clinical evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and stress, and improves emotion regulation due to modulation of activity in neural substrates linked to the regulation of emotions and social preferences. However, less was known about whether mindfulness meditation might alter pro-social behavior. Here we examined whether mindfulness meditation activates human altruism, a component of social cooperation. Using a simple donation game, which is a real-world version of the Dictator's Game, we randomly assigned 326 subjects to a mindfulness meditation online session or control and measured their willingness to donate a portion of their payment for participation as a charitable donation. Subjects who underwent the meditation treatment donated at a 2.61 times higher rate than the control (p = 0.005), after controlling for socio-demographics. We also found a larger treatment effect of meditation among those who did not go to college (p < 0.001) and those who were under 25 years of age (p < 0.001), with both subject groups contributing virtually nothing in the control condition. Our results imply high context modularity of human altruism and the development of intervention approaches including mindfulness meditation to increase social cooperation, especially among subjects with low baseline willingness to contribute.
Topics: Adult; Altruism; Anxiety; Charities; Emotions; Female; Humans; Male; Meditation; Mindfulness; Social Behavior; Video Games
PubMed: 32300129
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-62652-1 -
PloS One 2023There is growing interest in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to combat mental distress in medical students. In Saudi Arabia, literature is insufficient... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
INTRODUCTION
There is growing interest in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to combat mental distress in medical students. In Saudi Arabia, literature is insufficient about MBSR and its effectiveness. This study aims to measure the effectiveness of MBSR in improving mindful state, stress, anxiety, and depression in medical students. Also, the study explores the association between the attendance rate of MBSR sessions and its effectiveness. Lastly, the study examines gender differences in response to MBSR.
METHODS
This is a stratified randomized controlled study of 84 medical students from two medical schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They were recruited voluntarily from November 2018 to April 2021, and allocated to MBSR and waitlist groups using a stratified randomization method based on gender. MBSR group received eight weeks of sessions through audiovisual materials. An online survey utilizing validated questionnaires assessing stress, mindfulness, anxiety, and depression was used to evaluate both groups pre-program (time 0), post-program (time 1), and three months later (time 2).
RESULTS
Seventy-one participants completed the post-test (time 1). There were no differences between study groups at time 0 and 1. However, in 41 subjects who completed the follow-up test (time 2), the anxiety dropped significantly in MBSR group (mean difference (MD), -3.935; 95% CI, -7.580 to -0.290). Furthermore, attending more MBSR sessions was inversely correlated with depression (r, -0.556; P, 0.002), and anxiety (r, -0.630; P, 0.000). Compared to their baseline, males in MBSR group improved in stress (MD, 3.08; 95% CI, 0.30 to 5.86), anxiety (MD, 4.91; 95% CI, 3.32 to 6.50), and mindfulness (MD, -0.58; 95% CI, -1.01 to -0.15), while females improved in stress (MD, 2.64; 95% CI, 0.02 to 5.26).
CONCLUSION
Despite the study being interrupted by the stressful COVID-19 outbreak, the findings suggest that MBSR improved psychological outcomes when participants commit to the program.
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Depression; Mindfulness; Students, Medical; Stress, Psychological; Anxiety
PubMed: 37906599
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293539 -
Journal of Pediatric... 2022Mindfulness is our innate capacity to pay full, conscious, and compassionate attention to something in the moment. It is also a skill that can be strengthened by mental... (Review)
Review
Mindfulness is our innate capacity to pay full, conscious, and compassionate attention to something in the moment. It is also a skill that can be strengthened by mental practice. More recently, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are identified within clinical practice guidelines as an intervention in the treatment of certain symptoms for children with cancer. However, there is little guidance available on the practice of using MBIs in the pediatric oncology population. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of mindfulness, highlights symptoms where mindfulness practices may be of benefit, identifies trauma-sensitive considerations, and provides examples of MBIs that may be considered in the context of pediatric oncology. Collaboration of expert opinion, which included The Mindfulness Project Team, has enabled this collective informative paper. Mindfulness has been recommended to help with the symptom of fatigue in children with cancer. Emotional symptoms such as anxiety, sadness, and anger may also benefit from the use of MBIs. Ideal MBIs for this population may include mindful movement, mindfulness of the senses, mindfulness of breath, mindfulness of emotions, and the body scan. These approaches can easily be adapted according to the age of the child. Many approaches have been administered with minimal training, with very few requiring a facilitator. However, hospitals have started to incorporate mindfulness experts within their care provision. Future research should continue to investigate the use of MBI programs for children with cancer.
Topics: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Child; Emotions; Humans; Mindfulness; Neoplasms
PubMed: 35466780
DOI: 10.1177/27527530211056514 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2021This evidence map presents a summary of studies that addressed the effects of meditation on various clinical and health conditions. Meditation is a contemplative...
This evidence map presents a summary of studies that addressed the effects of meditation on various clinical and health conditions. Meditation is a contemplative practice that has been used for the promotion of health, and the treatment of different conditions. The study is based on the search of four electronic databases for the period 1994-November 2019 and includes systematic reviews, meta-analyses, meta-syntheses, and integrative reviews. 3iE evidence gap map was the methodology of choice, and AMSTAR 2 was used for the analyses. Tableau was used to graphically display the confidence level, number of reviews, health outcomes, and intervention effects. This map encompasses 191 studies, with Mindfulness being the key word that retrieved the highest number of results. Several meditation techniques were evaluated in different contexts, and the confidence levels of 22 studies were high, 84 were moderate, and 82 were low. Two 2 meta-syntheses and 1 integrative review were also included. Most of the studies reported positive effects and a beneficial potential of the practice of meditation. Health outcomes were divided into five groups out of which mental health and vitality, and well-being and quality of life stood out with the largest number of studies. Meditation has been applied in different areas. This Evidence Map intends to be an easy visual tool to access valuable evidence-based information on this complementary therapy for patients, health professionals, and managers.
Topics: Humans; Meditation; Mindfulness; Quality of Life; Systematic Reviews as Topic
PubMed: 34926371
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.742715 -
Translational Psychiatry Nov 2023Mindfulness-based interventions are showing increasing promise as a treatment for psychological disorders, with improvements in cognition and emotion regulation after...
Mindfulness-based interventions are showing increasing promise as a treatment for psychological disorders, with improvements in cognition and emotion regulation after intervention. Understanding the changes in functional brain activity and neural plasticity that underlie these benefits from mindfulness interventions is thus of interest in current neuroimaging research. Previous studies have found functional brain changes during resting and task states to be associated with mindfulness both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, particularly in the executive control, default mode and salience networks. However, limited research has combined information from rest and task to study mindfulness-related functional changes in the brain, particularly in the context of intervention studies with active controls. Recent work has found that the reconfiguration efficiency of brain activity patterns between rest and task states is behaviorally relevant in healthy young adults. Thus, we applied this measure to investigate how mindfulness intervention changed functional reconfiguration between rest and a breath-counting task in elderly participants with self-reported sleep difficulties. Improving on previous longitudinal designs, we compared the intervention effects of a mindfulness-based therapy to an active control (sleep hygiene) intervention. We found that mindfulness intervention improved self-reported mindfulness measures and brain functional reconfiguration efficiency in the executive control, default mode and salience networks, though the brain and behavioral changes were not associated with each other. Our findings suggest that neuroplasticity may be induced through regular mindfulness practice, thus bringing the intrinsic functional configuration in participants' brains closer to a state required for mindful awareness.
Topics: Young Adult; Humans; Aged; Mindfulness; Brain; Cognition; Executive Function; Brain Mapping; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
PubMed: 37951943
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02642-9 -
Journal of Community Psychology Sep 2022The benefits of mindfulness are well-documented; however, these benefits may not be evenly distributed across communities. Equitable Mindfulness aims to make these...
The benefits of mindfulness are well-documented; however, these benefits may not be evenly distributed across communities. Equitable Mindfulness aims to make these benefits accessible to a wider and more inclusive audience. The aim of this study was to investigate the applicability of Equitable Mindfulness and systemic barriers that prevent mindfulness programs from being equitably accessed across communities. Twenty-one participants were recruited for qualitative in-depth interviews during a 2-day mindfulness conference. The constant comparison method was used to iteratively identify and categorize themes that emerged within and across interviews. Five dominant themes emerged from the data as follows: inherent equitability, accessibility, inclusiveness, awareness and knowledge-sharing, and acknowledgement of multiple perspectives. Having an applicable and meaningful term to use when describing mindfulness as an inclusive and equitable practice can facilitate the exploration of a new area of research. There is a need for future initiatives aimed at making mindfulness trainings and programs more equitable and accessible to all, regardless of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, or abilities/disabilities.
Topics: Disabled Persons; Humans; Mindfulness
PubMed: 35150593
DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22821 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jun 2022There is evidence that mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) can help one to recover from mental fatigue (MF). Although the strength model of self-control explains the... (Review)
Review
There is evidence that mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) can help one to recover from mental fatigue (MF). Although the strength model of self-control explains the processes underlying MF and the model of mindfulness and de-automatization explains how mindfulness training promotes adaptive self-regulation leading to the recovery of MF, a systematic overview detailing the effects of MBI on the recovery of MF is still lacking. Thus, this systematic review aims to discuss the influences of MBI on the recovery of MF. We used five databases, namely, PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) for articles published up to 24 September 2021, using a combination of keywords related to MBI and MF. Eight articles fulfilled all the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. The MBI directly attenuated MF and positively affected the recovery of psychology (attention, aggression and mind-wandering) and sports performance (handgrip, plank exercise and basketball free throw) under MF. However, the interaction did not reach statistical significance for the plank exercise. Therefore, the experience and duration of mindfulness are necessary factors for the success of MBI. mindfulness appears to be most related to a reduction in MF. Future research should focus on improving the methodological rigor of MBI to confirm these results and on identifying facets of mindfulness that are most effective for attenuating MF.
Topics: China; Delivery of Health Care; Hand Strength; Humans; Mental Fatigue; Mindfulness
PubMed: 35805484
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19137825 -
Scientific Reports May 2022Mind wandering (MW) and mindfulness have both been reported to be vital moderators of psychological wellbeing. Here, we aim to examine how closely associated these...
Mind wandering (MW) and mindfulness have both been reported to be vital moderators of psychological wellbeing. Here, we aim to examine how closely associated these phenomena are and evaluate the psychometrics of measures often used to quantify them. We investigated two samples, one consisting of German-speaking unpaid participants (GUP, n [Formula: see text] 313) and one of English-speaking paid participants (EPP, n [Formula: see text] 228) recruited through MTurk.com. In an online experiment, we collected data using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and the sustained attention to response task (SART) during which self-reports of MW and meta-awareness of MW were recorded using experience sampling (ES) probes. Internal consistency of the MAAS was high (Cronbachs [Formula: see text] of 0.96 in EPP and 0.88 in GUP). Split-half reliability for SART measures and self-reported MW was overall good with the exception of SART measures focusing on Nogo trials, and those restricted to SART trials preceding ES in a 10 s time window. We found a moderate negative association between trait mindfulness and MW as measured with ES probes in GUP, but not in EPP. Our results suggest that MW and mindfulness are on opposite sides of a spectrum of how attention is focused on the present moment and the task at hand.
Topics: Humans; Mindfulness; Reproducibility of Results; Self Report
PubMed: 35546599
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11594-x