Neural circuits of emotion regulation: a comparison of mindfulness-based and cognitive reappraisal strategies

Dealing with one's emotions is a core skill in everyday life. Effective cognitive control strategies have been shown to be neurobiologically represented in prefrontal structures regulating limbic regions. In addition to cognitive strategies, mindfulness-associated methods are increasingly applied in psychotherapy. We compared the neurobiological mechanisms of these two strategies, i.e. cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness, during both the cued expectation and perception of negative and potentially negative emotional pictures. Fifty-three healthy participants were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (47 participants included in analysis). Twenty-four subjects applied mindfulness, 23 used cognitive reappraisal. On the neurofunctional level, both strategies were associated with comparable activity of the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. When expecting negative versus neutral stimuli, the mindfulness group showed stronger activations in ventro- and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supramarginal gyrus as well as in the left insula. During the perception of negative versus neutral stimuli, the two groups only differed in an increased activity in the caudate in the cognitive group. Altogether, both strategies recruited overlapping brain regions known to be involved in emotion regulation. This result suggests that common neural circuits are involved in the emotion regulation by mindfulness-based and cognitive reappraisal strategies. Identifying differential activations being associated with the two strategies in this study might be one step towards a better understanding of differential mechanisms of change underlying frequently used psychotherapeutic interventions.

The Process-Outcome Mindfulness Effects in Trainees (PrOMET) study: protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial

Background Mindfulness has its origins in an Eastern Buddhist tradition that is over 2500 years old and can be defined as a specific form of attention that is non-judgmental, purposeful, and focused on the present moment. It has been well established in cognitive-behavior therapy in the last decades, while it has been investigated in manualized group settings such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. However, there is scarce research evidence on the effects of mindfulness as a treatment element in individual therapy. Consequently, the demand to investigate mindfulness under effectiveness conditions in trainee therapists has been highlighted. Methods/Design To fill in this research gap, we designed the PrOMET Study. In our study, we will investigate the effects of brief, audiotape-presented, session-introducing interventions with mindfulness elements conducted by trainee therapists and their patients at the beginning of individual therapy sessions in a prospective, randomized, controlled design under naturalistic conditions with a total of 30 trainee therapists and 150 patients with depression and anxiety disorders in a large outpatient training center. We hypothesize that the primary outcomes of the session-introducing intervention with mindfulness elements will be positive effects on therapeutic alliance (Working Alliance Inventory) and general clinical symptomatology (Brief Symptom Checklist) in contrast to the session-introducing progressive muscle relaxation and treatment-as-usual control conditions. Treatment duration is 25 therapy sessions. Therapeutic alliance will be assessed on a session-to-session basis. Clinical symptomatology will be assessed at baseline, session 5, 15 and 25. We will conduct multilevel modeling to address the nested data structure. The secondary outcome measures include depression, anxiety, interpersonal functioning, mindful awareness, and mindfulness during the sessions. Discussion The study results could provide important practical implications because they could inform ideas on how to improve the clinical training of psychotherapists that could be implemented very easily; this is because there is no need for complex infrastructures or additional time concerning these brief session-introducing interventions with mindfulness elements that are directly implemented in the treatment sessions.

Achtsamkeitsinterventionen in Ausbildungspsychotherapien: die "Process-Outcome Mindfulness Effects in Trainees (PROMET)-Studie"

Achtsamkeit hat seine Ursprünge in einer über 2500 Jahre alten, östlich-buddhistischen Tradition und kann konzeptualisiert werden als eine spezifische Form der Aufmerksamkeit, die nicht-bewertend, absichtsvoll und auf den aktuellen Moment fokussiert ist. Zentrale Ziel dieser Studie zu identifizieren, ob Übungen mit Achtsamkeitselementen, die zu Beginn von Therapiesitzungen durchgeführt werden, helfen können, den therapeutischen Prozess zu verbessern. Spezifischer werden die Effekte einer kurzen Übung mit Achtsamkeitselementen auf den therapeutischen Prozess und Behandlungserfolg unter Effectiveness-Bedingungen untersucht, die von ambulanten Patienten und Therapeuten gemeinsam zu Beginn jeder Therapiestunde durchgeführt wird. Dabei werden 150 Patienten vor dem Start ihrer therapeutischen Behandlung und nach Abschluss einer sechs Sitzungen andauernden diagnostischen Phase randomisiert auf entweder eine Achtsamkeitsinterventionsgruppe (AIG), eine Kontrollgruppe (KG), die eine Kurzversion von Progressiver Muskelrelaxation (PMR) durchführt, oder auf eine Treatment As Usual (TAU)-Gruppe. Das Studiendesign und erste Ergebnisse einer Vorstudie werden skizziert.

A review of the effects of Transcendental Meditation on cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the single greatest cause of death in the United States, accounting for nearly 2400 deaths each day. It is estimated that 79.4 million American adults have some form of the disease, and CVD mortality rates are greater than those of cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents and diabetes mellitus combined. Psychosocial stress is a nontraditional risk factor for CVD, and can contribute to the clustering of traditional risk factors as well as to vascular manifestations of the disease. The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique has been researched as a cost effective intervention aimed at decreasing psychosocial stress. This literature review attempts to analyze randomized controlled clinical trials of TM on cardiovascular disease outcomes. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria and are described below, with statistically significant positive outcomes observed in each study. Studies are grouped by primary outcome reported in the categories of cardiovascular function, blood pressure, and exercise tolerance. The TM intervention significantly decreased insulin resistance, heart rate variability, and carotid intima media thickness and improved exercise tolerance compared to control groups. Seven studies also reported significant decreases in blood pressure among hypertensive and normotensive subjects. Five studies focused solely on African American subjects, a population that has disproportionately higher rates of CVD and hypertension, and found significant improvements in CVD outcomes. Further research is recommended to establish the efficacy of TM on CVD outcomes. Future trials should include larger sample populations, wider ethnic distributions of subjects, and longer follow-up to ascertain the impact of this particular stress reduction technique on cardiovascular disease.^

Evaluación del "Mindfulness": aplicación del cuestionario "Mindfulness" de cinco facetas (FFMQ) en población española

El objetivo empírico del presente trabajo ha sido el de realizar una serie de estudios para evaluar las propiedades psicométricas del FFMQ en población española (FFMQ-E). Los estudios empíricos realizados han cubierto el análisis de la estructura factorial y la bondad de ajuste del FFMQ-E, así como su validez y fiabilidad, además de la sensibilidad al cambio. Los resultados de dichos estudios se muestran a continuación: En base al análisis factorial exploratorio realizado con voluntarios españoles (N= 241), el FFMQ-E mantiene una estructura factorial de cinco facetas. Sin embargo dicha estructura es diferente a la de la versión original. Tres de las cinco facetas: –observar (excepto uno de sus ítems), –actuar con conciencia y –no enjuiciamiento, obtuvieron los pesos factoriales que las ubicaban según la escala original. Sin embargo ciertos ítems de la faceta –describir y la totalidad de los de la faceta de -no reactividad se ubican en el mismo factor; mientras que tres ítems de la faceta –describir presentaron pesos factoriales que los ubicaban en un factor diferente. Por otra parte, cinco ítems obtuvieron pesos factoriales bajos o repartidos con valores similares en varios factores. En relación a las bondades de ajuste del modelo factorial, se encontró tras el análisis factorial confirmatorio, una baja bondad de ajuste para los diferentes modelos explorados (de cuatro y cinco factores, tanto jerárquico como de correlaciones) en el grupo de voluntarios españoles (N= 241). La consistencia interna (alfa de Cronbach) en nuestro grupo de voluntarios (N= 285) fue de adecuada a buena. Los valores de alfa de Cronbach encontrados en nuestro estudio fueron los siguientes: -observar= 0,76, -describir= 0,81, -actuar con conciencia= 0,88 y –no enjuiciamiento= 0,86, con valores por encima de 0,70, excepto para la faceta de –no reactividad, que obtuvo un valor bajo de 0,66. La fiabilidad test-retest (N= 56) mostró valores de aceptables a buenos por encima de 0,60 con significación estadística (p<0,001) para un periodo de cuatro semanas...

Contemplative Education CenterStage: Training the Mindful Performer

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, contemplative education/studies courses, concentrations, and initiatives have emerged in the academy. Although there has been significant discussion of postsecondary courses and programs that have integrated contemplative views and practices in the literature, there have been few studies of contemplative curricula and pedagogy in higher education. Additionally, there have been even fewer inquiries of the influence of contemplative education on performing arts training within conservatories and college and university departments. The aim of this qualitative study was two-fold: (1) to describe, interpret, and appraise the impact of contemplative education on the curricula of an interdisciplinary conservatory level performing arts program, MFA Contemporary Performance, at Naropa University; and (2) to disclose, compare, and analyze MFA student perceptions of the influence of contemplative education on their professional and personal development. The following questions guided this study: (1) How do faculty and students characterize contemplative education within the MFA in Theater: Contemporary Performance Program? (2) How does contemplative education impact the intended and operational curricula of courses within the MFA Contemporary Performance Program? (3) How do graduate students perceive the effects of contemplative education, offered by the MFA Contemporary Performance Program, on the development of their communication abilities, presence-in-performance, sociolinguistic perspectives, and aesthetic perspectives? Based on the research methodology of educational criticism and connoisseurship, this investigation provides a vivid description and interpretation of the intended and operational curricula of three core courses within the MFA program. These curricula were examined through five dimensions: intentional, curricular, pedagogical, structural, and evaluative. In order to shape our understanding of the contemplative and performative nature of the curricula, the significant and subtle qualities of the courses were further captured by preparation, context-building, reflective, showing, and closing conventions. Since the courses were grounded in postmodern view, they were evaluated according to Doll's criteria of richness, recursion, relations, and rigor for the evaluation of postmodern curricula. MFA first- and second-year students primarily characterized contemplative education as body/mind training for performance and personal development, sitting meditation, and cultivation of mindfulness and awareness. Student perceptions of the impact of contemplative education on the development of their communication abilities, presence-in-performance, sociolinguistic perspectives, and aesthetic perspectives, throughout the course of their two-year training, are presented in a dimensional analysis. The research reveals eight different themes that intersect the three core curricula and interviews with MFA students and faculty. These thematics include inclusivity, nowness, silence, improvisation, goodness, heart, training, and space. The beginning letter of each theme combines to form the acronym, insights. The framework of insights connects and illuminates the most potent aspects of MFA Contemporary Performance values and training.

Exploring mindfulness as a culturally sensitive intervention for the Deaf community

Mental health issues are as prevalent in the deaf community as the hearing community, if not more. Yet, Deaf individuals are often treated by mental health professionals less frequently and less effectively. Many systemic barriers exist that influence the lack of services provided to the Deaf community, primarily related to a lack of cultural understanding rooted in perceptions of Deaf individuals. However, the Deaf community may be best understood as a cultural minority, a unique community sharing a distinct culture, history, and language. This paper investigates the effects of systematic barriers and cultural misunderstanding among mental health professions regarding the Deaf community, explores the historical and current mental health problems Deaf individuals most commonly struggle with, and proposes a potential culturally sensitive intervention for the Deaf community based on these factors. To examine these issues, the author conducted a thorough review of Deaf cultural history and values, as well as a review of peer-reviewed articles regarding both Deaf mental health and mindfulness outcome studies. Based on this review, mindfulness may be an effective, culturally sensitive intervention that addresses both cultural and psychological components while working with the Deaf population.

A Meta-Analytic Review of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Symptom Reduction: A Critique and Guide for Future Investigation.

Over the past decade, mindfulness practices have been used with increasing frequency as therapeutic components within cognitive behavioral treatment regimens. As is standard practice, prescriptive uses of mindfulness intervention are incorporated to improve end-state functioning by ameliorating problematic symptoms and conditions. Common change-targets include the control of cognitive and emotional content for purposes of enhancing psychological self-regulation and physical well-being. The term mindfulness applies to a heterogeneous range of practices, methods, and techniques. While there is no singular agreed upon definition for mindfulness, as a process concept, the term connotes an immediate, non-thetic access to events, wherein each occasioning event is experienced in toto within the broader contextual event-field, and distinct from intervening conceptual themes being noticed. Training in mindfulness practices may be conducted using individual, group, or small class formats. The current paper provides a meta-analytic review of 44 treatment outcome studies (extracted 1982 through 2006), which examines the clinical utility of mindfulness as the primary therapeutic approach. Results indicated that average effect sizes for mindfulness based interventions fell within the medium range for construct category variables examined (d = .56). These findings suggest that mindfulness training is a cost-effective treatment for a wide array of contemporary psychological problems and diagnoses, in addition to fostering positive psychology attributes such as quality and satisfaction with life. A critique of the research and recommendations for future research, including a need to examine the role of mindfulness as a tool for cultivating increased psychological acceptance and life satisfaction, is presented.

An evening meditation : op. 16.

Mode of access: Internet.

A treasury of meditation, or, Suggestions as aids to those who desire to live a devout life /

Mode of access: Internet.

Meditation continuelle de la loy de Dieu, ou considerations et elevations sur Le Pentateuque fondées sur l'explication litterale & morale des Peres de l'Eglise & des interpretes sacrez.

Mode of access: Internet.

Meditations sur L'epitre des S. Paul aux romains : auec le texte latin et françois : Partagé par versets, pour sujet de chaque Meditation : Tome II.

Mode of access: Internet.

A spiritual treasury for the children of God: consisting of a meditation for each morning in the year, upon select texts of Scripture. ...

Mode of access: Internet.