Psychosomatic Medicine
July 1, 2003
Richard J. Davidson, Jon Kabat‐zinn, Jessica R. Schumacher et al.
2,924 citations
An 8-week mindfulness meditation training program for healthy employees increased left-sided anterior brain activation, a pattern linked to positive emotion, and boosted antibody titers after an influenza vaccine compared with a wait-list control group. The magnitude of the brain activation increase predicted the size of the antibody response. These results indicate that a brief meditation intervention can measurably alter brain and immune function.
Psychosomatic Medicine
September 1, 2000
Michael Speca, Linda E. Carlson, Eileen Goodey et al.
1,091 citations
A mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction program reduced mood disturbance and stress symptoms in cancer outpatients. In a randomized trial, 90 patients with various cancer types and stages completed a 7-week program of weekly 1.5-hour meditation groups plus home practice. Compared to a wait-list control group, those in the program showed significantly lower total mood disturbance, including less depression, anxiety, anger, and confusion, and more vigor. They also reported fewer overall stress symptoms, particularly cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, emotional irritability, and cognitive disorganization. Total mood disturbance decreased by 65%, and stress symptoms by 31%.
Psychosomatic Medicine
July 1, 2007
J. David Creswell, Baldwin M. Way, Naomi I. Eisenberger et al.
840 citations
People who are naturally more mindful show distinct brain activity when labeling emotional facial expressions. During an affect labeling task, higher dispositional mindfulness was linked to greater activation in prefrontal cortical regions and reduced activity in the amygdala. Strong negative correlations between prefrontal cortex and right amygdala responses appeared only in those with high mindfulness, suggesting that mindful individuals may better regulate negative emotions through cognitive control. This pattern points to a possible neurocognitive mechanism—enhanced prefrontal regulation of affect via labeling—that could explain how mindfulness meditation reduces negative affect and improves health.
Psychosomatic Medicine
July 1, 2003
Linda E. Carlson, Michael Speca, Kamala D. Patel et al.
773 citations
An 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program for early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients was associated with improved quality of life, reduced stress symptoms, and better sleep quality. Although overall immune cell counts did not change, T cell production of IL-4 increased and IFN-gamma decreased, while NK cell production of IL-10 decreased, suggesting a shift in immune profile away from one linked to depressive symptoms. This is the first study to show changes in cancer-related cytokine production with MBSR participation.
Psychosomatic Medicine
January 1, 2002
Scott R. Bishop
759 citations
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a clinical program that trains people in mindfulness meditation to help them adapt to medical illness and manage stress and emotions. Despite widespread use in medical settings over the past 20 years, a critical review of the medical and social science literature finds that research on MBSR has been scarce and often methodologically flawed. Consequently, very little is known about its effectiveness. Some evidence suggests it may hold promise, but the available evidence does not support a strong endorsement of the approach at present. Serious investigation is strongly recommended.
Psychosomatic Medicine
June 1, 1978
Gary E. Schwartz, Richard J. Davidson, Daniel J. Goleman
398 citations
Anxiety comprises both cognitive (worry) and somatic (bodily tension) components, and different relaxation techniques may target these components differently. In a retrospective comparison of 77 people—44 who regularly practiced physical exercise and 33 who regularly practiced meditation for similar periods—those who exercised reported less somatic anxiety and more cognitive anxiety than meditators. The findings suggest that physical exercise and meditation are differentially associated with somatic and cognitive subcomponents of anxiety. The authors propose that relaxation involves both a generalized reduction across multiple physiological systems and technique-specific patterns of change. Prospective studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms.
Psychosomatic Medicine
March 22, 2017
Adrienne A. Taren, Peter J. Gianaros, Carol M. Greco et al.
212 citations
Three days of intensive mindfulness meditation training, compared with relaxation training, strengthened functional connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and brain regions involved in executive control. In adults with high psychological distress, resting-state functional connectivity increased between left dlPFC and the right inferior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right supplementary eye field, right parietal cortex, and left middle temporal gyrus, and between right dlPFC and right middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest that even brief mindfulness training can enhance neural circuit connectivity underlying executive function, extending prior work on active meditation by identifying specific resting-state networks affected in distressed individuals.
Psychosomatic Medicine
November 1, 2011
R. Gina Silverstein, Anne-Catharine H. Brown, Harold D. Roth et al.
165 citations
Mindfulness meditation training improved women's ability to quickly register their own physiological responses to sexual stimuli, a skill known as interoceptive awareness. Women who completed a 12-week meditation course also showed better attention, less self-judgment, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to an active control group. These improvements in interoceptive awareness were linked to reductions in psychological barriers that can interfere with healthy sexual functioning, suggesting mindfulness training may be a promising approach for treating female sexual dysfunction.
Psychosomatic Medicine
January 1, 1998
Robert H Schneider, Sanford Nidich, John Salerno et al.
95 citations
Oxidative stress, which may contribute to aging and chronic diseases like atherosclerosis, was lower in older adults who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique compared to those who did not. Long-term practitioners (average 16.5 years) had serum lipid peroxide levels 15% lower than controls, as measured by the TBARS assay. The two groups did not differ in smoking, fat intake, or vitamin supplementation, and the lower red meat consumption among meditators did not account for the difference. These preliminary results suggest that stress reduction through Transcendental Meditation may be associated with reduced oxidative stress, though prospective trials are needed to confirm a causal effect.
Psychosomatic Medicine
May 1, 1982
John T. Farrow, Russell Hebert
95 citations
In four experiments, people practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique showed frequent and long breath suspension episodes, while control subjects relaxing with eyes closed did not. The design ruled out voluntary breath control. Many meditators reported a quiescent mental state with awareness but no thought; button presses marking this experience correlated strongly with breath suspension episodes, indicating a physiological link. In one advanced meditator, these experiences also involved reduced heart rate, high and stable skin resistance, lower respiration and metabolic rates, and consistent changes in EEG power and coherence, suggesting long-range neural order.
Psychosomatic Medicine
May 1, 1984
Kheireddine Badawi, Robert K. Wallace, David W. Orme-Johnson et al.
91 citations
During the Transcendental Meditation program, 18 practitioners showed 52 periods of spontaneous respiratory suspension (RS) that sometimes corresponded to experiences of pure consciousness. In 19 artifact-free RS periods from 11 subjects, mean total EEG coherence across all frequencies and nine electrode derivations increased significantly compared to before and after the RS periods. A control group of 30 subjects voluntarily holding their breath showed no significant change in EEG coherence. Heart rate decreased significantly during RS in both groups, while EEG alpha power did not change significantly in either group. These results help characterize the physiological correlates of pure consciousness during the Transcendental Meditation program.
Psychosomatic Medicine
April 11, 2018
Gunes Sevinc, Britta K. Hölzel, Javeria A. Hashmi et al.
65 citations
Two meditation-based stress reduction programs—Relaxation Response (RR) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)—both reduced stress, with MBSR showing a larger effect (Cohen's d = 1.02) than RR (Cohen's d = 0.50). Both programs activated shared neural pathways between ventromedial prefrontal regions and supplementary motor areas. However, the RR bodyscan meditation, which emphasizes physical relaxation, showed stronger connectivity between the right inferior frontal gyrus (involved in inhibition and control) and supplementary motor areas. The MBSR program, which emphasizes mindful awareness without explicit relaxation, uniquely improved self-compassion and rumination and showed connectivity between the right anterior insula (sensory awareness and salience) and pregenual anterior cingulate during meditation. These distinct neural patterns align with each program's theoretical focus.
Psychosomatic Medicine
February 1, 1979
Ruth R. Michaels, Juan Parra, Daisy S. McCann et al.
54 citations
Transcendental meditation (TM) did not produce a unique physiological state of reduced stress or sympathetic activity. During TM, plasma renin activity increased slightly (14%), while cortisol decreased progressively in both meditators and controls. Aldosterone and lactate did not change. Meditators showed no increase in cortisol between initial samples, unlike controls, suggesting they may be less responsive to acute stress. The findings do not support the idea that TM induces a special relaxation state.
Psychosomatic Medicine
January 1, 2004
Richard J. Davidson, Jon Kabat‐zinn
35 citations
Mindfulness meditation, particularly the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, may positively influence immune system function. The text suggests that meditation practices can lead to changes in brain function and immune response, possibly through psychological and neurological mechanisms. However, the specific effects and their magnitude are not detailed in this abstract.
Psychosomatic Medicine
March 31, 2021
Jelle Zorn, Oussama Abdoun, Sandrine Sonié et al.
32 citations
Cognitive defusion—a form of psychological distancing from internal experiences—plays a central role in how mindfulness meditation regulates pain, especially the unpleasantness aspect. Expert meditators with over 10,000 hours of practice reported much lower pain catastrophizing (6.9 vs. 17.2) and higher cognitive defusion (39.4 vs. 28.9) than novices after two days of training. Across all participants, pain catastrophizing and cognitive defusion were strongly and specifically linked, and only cognitive defusion uniquely predicted pain unpleasantness after accounting for other factors. This suggests that cultivating cognitive defusion, rather than other mindfulness-related processes, may be key to reducing the distressing experience of pain.
Psychosomatic Medicine
May 5, 2021
Thorsten Barnhofer, Tim Jonas Reeß, Maria Fißler et al.
24 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions reduce activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when depressed patients view angry faces, a change linked to improved ability to decenter from negative thoughts, reduced brooding, and fewer depressive symptoms. In a randomized trial, patients with recurrent depression received either a two-week mindfulness-based intervention or psychoeducation and rest. After the mindfulness intervention, decreased right dlPFC activation correlated with greater decentering, less brooding, and lower symptom scores. The psychoeducation group showed decreased amygdala response to happy faces. The findings suggest mindfulness may help patients avoid elaborating or suppressing negative emotions, a potential mechanism for preventing mood escalation.
Psychosomatic Medicine
October 1, 1942
Morton A. Rubin, William Malamud, Justin M. Hope
24 citations
In 14 schizophrenic patients, mescaline, cocaine, sodium amytal, and benzedrine produced changes in personality and brain waves only when psychological changes occurred. Drug effects fell into two categories: those specific to each drug, such as mescaline causing extreme anxiety and a 25 to 30 percent increase in alpha rhythm frequency, and sodium amytal reducing tension while introducing a 15 to 20 per second beta rhythm; and those characteristic of each patient, where psychotic content and reactions to the setting, along with consistent increases or decreases in alpha rhythm percentage, appeared regardless of the drug given.
Psychosomatic Medicine
July 1, 1973
David W. Orme-Johnson
20 citations
People who regularly practiced Transcendental Meditation showed lower physiological stress responses than nonmeditators. In a test with 14 meditators and 16 controls, a loud tone (100 dB) was played at irregular intervals. Meditators habituated faster—their galvanic skin response (GSR) to the tone diminished more quickly—and they made fewer multiple responses, indicating greater autonomic stability. In two additional experiments, meditators also produced fewer spontaneous GSRs both during meditation (compared with rest) and while out of meditation with eyes open. The findings suggest that regular meditation practice is associated with more stable autonomic nervous system functioning under stress.
Psychosomatic Medicine
March 3, 2021
Emily K. Lindsay, J. David Creswell, Harrison J. Stern et al.
18 citations
An 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program buffered increases in glucocorticoid resistance (GCR)—a measure of immune cells' reduced sensitivity to anti-inflammatory signals—among lonely older adults aged 65–85, compared with a matched health enhancement program. GCR increased in the control group from before to after the intervention, while the MBSR group showed a small, nonsignificant reduction. The between-group difference was moderate immediately after the program but was not maintained at a 3-month follow-up. The findings suggest MBSR may protect against short-term declines in immune regulation in at-risk older adults.
Psychosomatic Medicine
January 1, 2024
Rachel Churchill, Brenda Swartz, Anneka Johnston-Dumerauf et al.
4 citations
A systematic review of ten studies examined whether mindfulness-based interventions improve autonomic nervous system function in people with medical conditions. Only oncology met the criteria for “possibly effective” based on clinical practice guidelines. Cardiac and chronic pain conditions showed some evidence of benefit in individual studies, but the overall level of evidence was insufficient to recommend MBIs for those groups. The review followed PRISMA protocols and used objective pre/post measures of autonomic function.
Psychosomatic Medicine
October 1, 2024
J Richard T Korecki, Patricia A Ganz, Ann H Partridge et al.
2 citations
Depression is common in younger breast cancer patients and worsens outcomes. A randomized trial tested whether a mindfulness-based program (Mindful Awareness Practices, MAPs) or a psychoeducation program (Survivorship Education, SE) reduced depressive symptoms through specific psychological changes. Women under 50 with stage 0-III breast cancer were assigned to MAPs, SE, or a wait-list control. Both programs reduced depressive symptoms right after the 6-week intervention; only MAPs showed lasting reductions at 6 months. For MAPs, the effect was mediated by less rumination and fewer intrusive thoughts about cancer, plus greater self-kindness and a sense of meaning and peace. Worry mediated MAPs' effects only at postintervention. SE worked through reduced worry and intrusive thoughts at different time points. The findings clarify how mindfulness helps reduce depression in this group.
Psychosomatic Medicine
Eileen Luders, Felipe A Jain, Florian Kurth
Long-term meditation practice is associated with reduced age-related shrinkage of the amygdala, a brain region that typically loses volume as people grow older. In 50 long-term meditators compared with 50 matched controls, both groups showed smaller amygdala volumes with increasing age, but the decline was significantly steeper in non-meditators. The effect was strongest in the laterobasal subregion, which is involved in self-focused reflection. The findings suggest that meditation may slow brain aging in the amygdala.