Theta and alpha brain oscillations relate to meditation depth in opposite ways. Theta amplitude increases with hindrances (distractions, drowsiness) and decreases as meditation deepens, while alpha amplitude shows the opposite pattern. Long-term meditators report more transpersonal qualities and nonduality, whereas meditation-naïve controls report more hindrances. The inverse theta-depth relationship appears over frontal midline in long-term meditators and frontal lateral in controls, suggesting downregulation of different executive processes during deep meditation. These findings indicate a functional dissociation of alpha and theta as neural signatures of meditation training.
Cognitive-behavioral group therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction both improved self-views in social anxiety disorder. One hundred eight unmedicated patients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of CBGT, MBSR, or a waitlist. At baseline, patients endorsed more negative and fewer positive self-views than 40 healthy controls. Both therapies decreased negative self-views and increased positive self-views from pre- to post-treatment. Increases in positive self-views, but not decreases in negative ones, predicted reduced social anxiety symptoms. Enhancement of positive self-views may be a shared therapeutic process for both treatments.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training in adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD) reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression and improved self-esteem. After completing MBSR, patients showed decreased negative emotion experience and reduced amygdala activity during a breath-focused attention task, alongside increased activity in brain regions involved in attentional deployment. These changes were not seen during a distraction-focused attention task. The findings suggest MBSR may reduce emotional reactivity and enhance emotion regulation in SAD, potentially decreasing avoidance behaviors and automatic emotional responses to negative self-beliefs.