Background: We are confronted with dire statistics that document our current mental health crisis. New treatment modalities are desperately needed to address escalating mental suffering and trauma. Psychedelic medicines are attracting increased attention in psychiatry as effective treatment for a range of conditions. The mechanisms of actions and context necessary to maximize their full healing...
Mindfulness meditation has become a successful treatment of both physical and psychosocial ailments over the past decade. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are now implemented in various clinical and hospital settings for the treatment of stress, depression, substance abuse, and chronic pain. However, given mindfulness meditation’s...
The field of mindfulness-based research and practice is expanding fast. This development calls for a careful evaluation of the merits and scientific underpinnings of newly developed mindfulness-based programs (MBP's). In this viewpoint, we describe a process initiated by two professional mindfulness teacher training organisations (the Dutch Vereniging Mindfulness-based Trainers Nederland, VMBN,...
In 2017, the American College of Physicians (ACP) designated Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an eight-week group program, as first-line non-pharmacological treatment for chronic low back pain. However, interprofessional collaboration between mindfulness instructors and Primary Care Providers (PCP) remains largely unknown. We developed a survey to assess communication between...
This paper provides a framework for understanding why, when and how to adapt mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) to specific populations and contexts, based on research that developed and adapted multiple MBPs. In doing so, we hope to support teachers, researchers and innovators who are considering adapting an MBP to ensure that changes made are necessary, acceptable, effective, cost-effective,...
Background Valued living is the extent to which an individual’s behavior is consistent with what they believe is important or good. It is unknown whether many complementary and integrative treatments and psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder enhance valued living, and for whom. Objectives Measure within- and between-group changes in valued living in Veterans who completed cognitive...
The Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC) was originally developed as a tool to assess the teaching competence of mindfulness-based program (MBP) teachers. The tool was made freely available and has since been used by mindfulness-based teacher training organisations internationally. During this time the MBI:TAC has evolved in its usage, from an assessment tool...
The burden of depression and anxiety is on the rise globally. Mindfulness-Based Programs (MBPs) are a particular group of psychosocial programs targeting depression and anxiety. There is growing research and practice interest in MBPs internationally, and they are becoming more commonly implemented in a number of countries' healthcare services. To systematically map the existing provision of...
As the provision of Mindfulness-Based Programs (MBPs) in health care settings progresses, more research is needed to develop guidelines and structures for implementation in various contexts. This study is part of a larger project were MBP provision in Sweden is explored. The objective is to provide knowledge for the next steps of MBP implementation both in Sweden and internationally. The...
Background: A growing body of clinical research attests to the psychological and physiological benefits of meditation. EcoMeditation is a non-pharmacological therapeutic approach used to promote health and well-being, comprising four evidence-based techniques: The Quick Coherence Technique for regulating heart rate variability (HRV), Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), mindfulness, and...
Many health professions students experience elevated stress and burnout during their professional education and training. With the added challenges of COVID-19, students face a whole new set of stressors. Students in the Spring 2020 semester of our online academic course, "Mindfulness for Healthcare Providers," began confronting the COVID-19 crisis after several weeks of mindfulness meditation...
Background: Positive effects of mind-body skills programs on participant well-being have been reported in health professions students. The success seen with medical students at this university led to great interest in expanding the mind-body skills program so students in other disciplines could benefit from the program. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a 9-week...
Background Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) often improves health outcomes, though literature primarily focuses on middle-class, employed individuals. With an estimated average of six million unemployed over the past year, and the recent uptick in unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to identify methods to mitigate and reduce the negative health outcomes often...
Background: The Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC) is a widely used tool for assessing fidelity in mindfulness-based program (MBP) research and training. It also supports MBP teacher reflective and skill development. MBI:TAC assessors review MBP teaching and rate the teaching on 6 domains. The MBI:TAC yields individual domain and overall scores, using 6...
Contemporary psychiatry has become increasingly focused on biological treatments. Many critics claim that the current paradigm of psychiatry has failed to address the escalating mental health-care needs of our communities and may even be contributing to psychopathology and the burden of mental illness. This article describes the foundations of Integral Theory and proposes that this model offers...
Integrative Health aims to treat the whole person and to do so within the context of whole systems and practices. We raise questions as to what constitutes the whole person and what must be taken into account to support the creation of optimal well-being. We propose that in order to fully account for the whole person, the transcendent aspects of human awareness, the development of which is the...
Since Jon Kabat-Zinn first introduced a contemporary, secularized application of mindfulness for the relief of pain and stress in physical health-care settings, there has been a significant and rapid expansion of the range of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) designed for various health care, education, workplace, and other settings. As is common with developing programs, these often run ahead...
Background: As individuals are increasingly attending health and wellness courses outside of the conventional medical system, there is a need to obtain objective data on the effects of those programs on well-being. Methods: In total, 154 men and women (mean age 54.7 years; range 25-83) participated in 3 different holistic wellness programs based on Ayurvedic Medicine principles (Seduction of...
Background: Mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions are increasingly studied as a potential treatment for a variety of mental conditions. Objective: To assess the effects of mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions on psychotic symptoms and hospitalization in patients with psychosis. Methods: MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO were screened from inception...
The word biofield is a term that Western scientists have used to describe various aspects of energy and information fields that guide health processes. Similar concepts and descriptions of energy and information patterns exist in various cultures and have guided whole systems of medicine such as Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine. This article describes Vedic, Jain, and Tibetan philosophical and...
Background: Chronic pain affects millions of racially diverse Americans. Evidence suggests that group medical visits are effective for treating chronic pain; similarly, a number of studies demonstrate the effectiveness of certain evidence-based complementary therapies in managing pain. Objectives: The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of the integrative medical group...
Focus Area: Integrative Approaches to Care Over the last 4 decades, a wide range of energy healing modalities and spiritual disciplines have surfaced in Western society. As health maintenance and therapeutic modalities, energy healing and mind-body techniques are widely recognized as essential tools of contemporary integrative medicine. While still outside the realm of mainstream allopathic...
Focus Areas: Experiential Workshop, Supporting Behavioral Change, Mental Health Introducing mind-body approaches to the typical patient seeking a quick medical solution, usually medication, poses a major challenge to an integrative practitioner. This necessitates an approach that shifts the discussion from what the practitioner can do to fix or cure the condition to what the patient can do to...