Exploring The Molecular Mechanisms Underlying The Efficacy of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction In Alleviating Psychological Stress in Alzheimer's Disease Caregivers

Abstract

Caregiving for a dementia patient is associated with an increased risk for emotional distress, depression, dementia, physical health problems and death. Targeting caregivers as the recipients of interventions may greatly improve patient care. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a clinical intervention based on simple meditation practices which have been shown to reduce stress and improve chronic disease outcomes for many different psychological and medical problems. We explored the effectiveness of MBSR at reducing caregiver stress, as measured by psychological and biological markers. We found that MBSR is an effective means to improve the psychological health status of caregivers for dementia patients. Interestingly, we found some of our caregiver participants benefited from MBSR while others did not. Moreover, we identified multiple biomarkers for which contents in the circulating blood were correlated with psychological indices of stress reduction following MBSR and other biomarkers for which baseline blood contents prior to MBSR were predictive of the likelihood of positive response to MBSR. Our observations provide a window into the mechanisms underlying the health benefits of MBSR intervention and provide a logical basis for developing a personalized medicine approach for applying MBSR intervention to a diverse population of caregivers. Supported by discretionary funding to GMP