Meditation as an intervention in stress reactivity.
Daniel J. Goleman, Gary E. Schwartz
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1976 DOI: 10.1037/0022-006x.44.3.456 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Experienced meditators and controls instructed in a simple meditation technique |
| Interventions | Transcendental meditation simple meditation technique |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 279 |
| Key findings | Meditators exhibit rapid stress recovery and lower state and trait anxiety compared to chronically anxious individuals. |
Abstract
Meditation may have clinical application in stress-related disorders or it may alleviate the adverse effects of normal daily stress, depending on the resiliency of demonstrated state effects. The significance of meditation as a stress intervention appropriate for daily life might prove major if these meditation state effects carry over and transform the meditator in a more permanent way, becoming traits. Meditation shares with certain relaxation procedures the induction of a generalized low arousal pattern of responses characterized by sympathetic inhibition, which may prove to inhibit the autonomic activation seen in the stress response. Subjects in the meditation condition were asked to do transcendental meditation if they were from the experienced meditator group, and the controls were instructed in a simple meditation technique modeled on transcendental meditation. The stress reactivity pattern found in meditators is in partial contrast to that of chronically anxious individuals, particularly the meditators' rapid stress recovery and lower state and trait anxiety levels.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 74
- Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders American Journal of Psychiatry July 1, 1992
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin May 14, 2012
and 69 more in the library
Cites 4
- AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDY ON THE ZEN MEDITATION (ZAZEN) Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences December 1, 1966
- MYSTICAL STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease June 1, 1972
- Influence of Transcendental Meditation upon Autokinetic Perception Perceptual and Motor Skills December 1, 1974
- Autonomic Stability and Transcendental Meditation Psychosomatic Medicine July 1, 1973