The (In)flexible self: Psychopathology, mindfulness, and neuroscience.
Fabio Giommi, Prisca R. Bauer, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Henk Barendregt, Kirk Warren Brown, Shaun Gallagher, Ivan Nyklíček, Brian D. Ostafin, Antonino Raffone, Heleen A. Slagter, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, David R. Vago
International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP 2023 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100381 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based interventions |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Cognitive neuroscience Neuroimaging Rigidity Transdiagnostic processes |
| Citations | 70 |
| Key points | Argues that mindfulness-based interventions can decrease rigid self-patterns, which are central to psychopathology, by altering psychological, behavioral, and neural aspects of the self. |
Abstract
Clinical and neuroscientific evidence indicates that transdiagnostic processes contribute to the generation and maintenance of psychopathological symptoms and disorders. Rigidity (inflexibility) appears a core feature of most transdiagnostic pathological processes. Decreasing rigidity may prove important to restore and maintain mental health. One of the primary domains in which rigidity and flexibility plays a role concerns the self. We adopt the pattern theory of self (PTS) for a working definition of self. This incorporates the pluralist view on self as constituted by multiple aspects or processes, understood to constitute a self-pattern, i.e. processes organized in non-linear dynamical relations across a number of time scales. The use of mindfulness meditation in the format of Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBIs) has been developed over four decades in Clinical Psychology. MBIs are promising as evidence-based treatments, shown to be equivalent to gold-standard treatments and superior to specific active controls in several randomized controlled trials. Notably, MBIs have been shown to target transdiagnostic symptoms. Given the hypothesized central role of rigid, habitual self-patterns in psychopathology, PTS offers a useful frame to understand how mindfulness may be beneficial in decreasing inflexibility. We discuss the evidence that mindfulness can alter the psychological and behavioral expression of individual aspects of the self-pattern, as well as favour change in the self-pattern as a whole gestalt. We discuss neuroscientific research on how the phenomenology of the self (pattern) is reflected in associated cortical networks and meditation-related alterations in cortical networks. Creating a synergy between these two aspects can increase understanding of psychopathological processes and improve diagnostic and therapeutic options.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 20
- The Self-Pattern and Buddhist Psychology Mindfulness April 11, 2023
- Within-subject reliability of brain networks during advanced meditation: An intensively sampled 7 Tesla MRI case study. Human Brain Mapping May 1, 2024
- Mindfulness-Based Interventions for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review. Brain Sciences September 30, 2024
- Pattern Theory of Selflessness: How Meditation May Transform the Self-Pattern Mindfulness August 1, 2024
- Examination of self patterns: framing an alternative phenomenological interview for use in mental health research and clinical practice. Frontiers in Psychology 2024
and 15 more in the library
Cites 50
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self Trends in Cognitive Sciences October 12, 2013
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
and 45 more in the library