Mindfulness
2020
Ariel J Lang, Pollyanna Casmar, Samantha Hurst et al.
Compassion meditation (CM) is a contemplative practice that is intended to cultivate the ability to extend and sustain compassion toward self and others. Although research documents the benefits of CM in healthy populations, its use in the context of psychopathology is largely unexamined. The purpose of this study was to refine and initially evaluate a CM protocol, Cognitively Based Compassion...
Journal of Traumatic Stress
March 31, 2019
Ariel J Lang, Anne Malaktaris, Pollyanna Casmar et al.
50 citations
There is considerable interest in developing complementary and integrative approaches for ameliorating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Compassion meditation (CM) and loving-kindness meditation appear to offer benefits to individuals with PTSD, including symptom reduction. The present study was a pilot randomized controlled trial of CM for PTSD in veterans. The CM condition, an adaptation...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
2012
Gaelle Desbordes, Lobsang Negi, Thaddeus W W Pace et al.
445 citations
The amygdala has been repeatedly implicated in emotional processing of both positive and negative-valence stimuli. Previous studies suggest that the amygdala response to emotional stimuli is lower when the subject is in a meditative state of mindful-attention, both in beginner meditators after an 8-week meditation intervention and in expert meditators. However, the longitudinal effects of...
Gaelle Desbordes, Lobsang Negi
While modern neuroscience relies on objective, quantitative methods for measuring how mental events manifest as brain activity, ancient contemplative traditions have used first-person introspective practices to gain a greater understanding of the mind. It is now possible to combine these different approaches, hopefully in a mutually enriching, synergistic way. The scientific study of the mind...
Jennifer S Mascaro, Sean Kelley, Alana Darcher et al.
Increasing data suggest that for medical school students the stress of academic and psychologicaldemands can impair social emotions that are a core aspect of compassion and ultimately physiciancompetence. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing physician compassion inways that persist in the face of suffering and that enable sustained caretaker well-being. To addressthis issue,...