Why Mindfulness Matters
"The present moment is the only moment available to us,
and it is the door to all moments."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
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The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation:
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Stress and the Primitive Brain: Fight or Flight and Chronic Hyperarousal
Faced with a threat, the brain sends signals to release stress hormones that trigger changes throughout the body: the heart races, pupils dilate, and digestion slows.
This is helpful if you need to react quickly and run from a tiger. But, it is not as helpful if you are standing in a long line at the grocery store, sitting down to family dinner, or about to take a Chemistry test.
Our modern society is filled with stressors and this arousal response can be triggered even by our thoughts, worries, and perceived threats (such as financial strain, job and school performance stress, a chaotic home environment, or being stuck in traffic). When stress becomes chronic, the body pays the price, and it is linked to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, obesity, cancer, mental illness, depression, addiction, and other health concerns.
This is helpful if you need to react quickly and run from a tiger. But, it is not as helpful if you are standing in a long line at the grocery store, sitting down to family dinner, or about to take a Chemistry test.
Our modern society is filled with stressors and this arousal response can be triggered even by our thoughts, worries, and perceived threats (such as financial strain, job and school performance stress, a chaotic home environment, or being stuck in traffic). When stress becomes chronic, the body pays the price, and it is linked to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, obesity, cancer, mental illness, depression, addiction, and other health concerns.
How is mindfulness used as a therapeutic intervention?
From Goodtherapy.org
Mindfulness is often incorporated into other therapeutic modalities as part of an integrated approach to treatment. Even small negative thoughts can accumulate and/or spiral out of control, leading to concerns such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
Mental health professionals have come to realize, however, that mindfulness can be of great benefit, as it can enable people to become better able to separate themselves from negative thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations that may be present, often before they become too overwhelming. Those who are able to achieve this state of awareness may find it easier to then implement other therapeutic strategies to address any potentially harmful cognitions in order to prevent negative effects. Regular mindfulness practice is believed to help further psychological insight and emotional healing, over time.
Mindfulness-based interventions, generally aimed at relieving symptoms of stress, mental health concerns, and physical pain, can be used to address and treat a range of symptoms and concerns.
Mindfulness is often incorporated into other therapeutic modalities as part of an integrated approach to treatment. Even small negative thoughts can accumulate and/or spiral out of control, leading to concerns such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
Mental health professionals have come to realize, however, that mindfulness can be of great benefit, as it can enable people to become better able to separate themselves from negative thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations that may be present, often before they become too overwhelming. Those who are able to achieve this state of awareness may find it easier to then implement other therapeutic strategies to address any potentially harmful cognitions in order to prevent negative effects. Regular mindfulness practice is believed to help further psychological insight and emotional healing, over time.
Mindfulness-based interventions, generally aimed at relieving symptoms of stress, mental health concerns, and physical pain, can be used to address and treat a range of symptoms and concerns.
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can often help people address stress, chronic pain, cancer, anxiety, depression, and other chronic issues.
- Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) often forms part of the approach to treatment of recurrent depression, anxiety, psychosis, eating and food issues, bipolar, panic attacks, attention deficit hyperactivity, and post-traumatic stress, among others.
- DBT is used primarily in the treatment of suicidal ideation, borderline personality, self-harm, substance dependence, eating and food issues, depression, and PTSD.
Mindfulness, Addictive Behavior, and breaking the Habit Loop
The research on Mindfulness increasingly shows that it is one of the most effective treatments for addiction, breaking the habit loop, preventing depressive relapse, and even reducing chronic pain. In his book, The Craving Mind, Judson Brewer, a leading neuroscientist and pioneer in the study of mindfulness explains why addictions are so tenacious and how we can learn to conquer them. The book is highly recommended by RMMC and is available at this link.
"Mindful People" feel less pain; MRI imaging pinpoints supporting brain activity
September 7, 2018, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Ever wonder why some people seem to feel less pain than others? A study conducted at Wake Forest School of Medicine may have found one of the answers—mindfulness.
"Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the medical school, part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "We now know that some people are more mindful than others, and those people seemingly feel less pain."
The study is an article in press, published ahead-of-print in the journal Pain. The researchers analyzed data obtained from a study published in 2015 that compared mindfulness meditation to placebo analgesia. In this follow-up study, Zeidan sought to determine if dispositional mindfulness, an individual's innate or natural level of mindfulness, was associated with lower pain sensitivity, and to identify what brain mechanisms were involved.
In the study, 76 healthy volunteers who had never meditated first completed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, a reliable clinical measurement of mindfulness, to determine their baseline levels. Then, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging, they were administered painful heat stimulation (120°F).
Whole brain analyses revealed that higher dispositional mindfulness during painful heat was associated with greater deactivation of a brain region called the posterior cingulate cortex, a central neural node of the default mode network. Further, in those that reported higher pain, there was greater activation of this critically important brain region.
The default mode network extends from the posterior cingulate cortex to the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. These two brain regions continuously feed information back and forth. This network is associated with processing feelings of self and mind wandering, Zeidan said.
"As soon as you start performing a task, the connection between these two brain regions in the default mode network disengages and the brain allocates information and processes to other neural areas," he said.
"Default mode deactivates whenever you are performing any kind of task, such as reading or writing. Default mode network is reactivated whenever the individual stops performing a task and reverts to self-related thoughts, feelings and emotions. The results from our study showed that mindful individuals are seemingly less caught up in the experience of pain, which was associated with lower pain reports."
The study provided novel neurobiological information that showed people with higher mindfulness ratings had less activation in the central nodes (posterior cingulate cortex) of the default network and experienced less pain. Those with lower mindfulness ratings had greater activation of this part of the brain and also felt more pain, Zeidan said.
"Now we have some new ammunition to target this brain region in the development of effective pain therapies. Importantly this work shows that we should consider one's level of mindfulness when calculating why and how one feels less or more pain," Zeidan said. "Based on our earlier research, we know we can increase mindfulness through relatively short periods of mindfulness meditation training, so this may prove to be an effective way to provide pain relief for the millions of people suffering from chronic pain."
"Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the medical school, part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "We now know that some people are more mindful than others, and those people seemingly feel less pain."
The study is an article in press, published ahead-of-print in the journal Pain. The researchers analyzed data obtained from a study published in 2015 that compared mindfulness meditation to placebo analgesia. In this follow-up study, Zeidan sought to determine if dispositional mindfulness, an individual's innate or natural level of mindfulness, was associated with lower pain sensitivity, and to identify what brain mechanisms were involved.
In the study, 76 healthy volunteers who had never meditated first completed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, a reliable clinical measurement of mindfulness, to determine their baseline levels. Then, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging, they were administered painful heat stimulation (120°F).
Whole brain analyses revealed that higher dispositional mindfulness during painful heat was associated with greater deactivation of a brain region called the posterior cingulate cortex, a central neural node of the default mode network. Further, in those that reported higher pain, there was greater activation of this critically important brain region.
The default mode network extends from the posterior cingulate cortex to the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. These two brain regions continuously feed information back and forth. This network is associated with processing feelings of self and mind wandering, Zeidan said.
"As soon as you start performing a task, the connection between these two brain regions in the default mode network disengages and the brain allocates information and processes to other neural areas," he said.
"Default mode deactivates whenever you are performing any kind of task, such as reading or writing. Default mode network is reactivated whenever the individual stops performing a task and reverts to self-related thoughts, feelings and emotions. The results from our study showed that mindful individuals are seemingly less caught up in the experience of pain, which was associated with lower pain reports."
The study provided novel neurobiological information that showed people with higher mindfulness ratings had less activation in the central nodes (posterior cingulate cortex) of the default network and experienced less pain. Those with lower mindfulness ratings had greater activation of this part of the brain and also felt more pain, Zeidan said.
"Now we have some new ammunition to target this brain region in the development of effective pain therapies. Importantly this work shows that we should consider one's level of mindfulness when calculating why and how one feels less or more pain," Zeidan said. "Based on our earlier research, we know we can increase mindfulness through relatively short periods of mindfulness meditation training, so this may prove to be an effective way to provide pain relief for the millions of people suffering from chronic pain."