Past research has shown that mindfulness meditation is useful for the attenuation of psychological and physical suffering in clinical populations. In structured mindfulness-based interventions, patients engage in meditation exercises to refine their attentional skills and to learn to purposefully relate to the present moment experience in a non-judgemental manner. Following the development of...
A recent study of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire reported high levels of differential item functioning (DIF) for 18 of its 39 items in meditating and nonmeditating samples that were not demographically matched. In particular, meditators were more likely to endorse positively worded items whereas nonmeditators were more likely to deny negatively worded (reverse-scored) items. The...
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has shown effectiveness for a variety of mental health conditions. However, it is not known for whom the intervention is most effective. In a randomized controlled trial (N = 30), we explored whether individuals with higher levels of pretreatment trait mindfulness would benefit more from MBSR intervention. Results demonstrated that relative to a control...
Objectives: To test the hypothesis that a novel Zen dialogue-based method can bring about significant improvements in spiritual, meditation, and well-being parameters. Design: A pretest-posttest design was used with participants being randomly assigned to either treatment or no treatment group at the Zen Center. The participants were 14 females and 2 males within each group with no prior formal...
This paper reviews the conceptual foundation of mindfulness-based eating awareness training (MB-EAT). It provides an overview of key therapeutic components as well as a brief review of current research. MB-EAT is a group intervention that was developed for treatment of binge eating disorder (BED) and related issues. BED is marked by emotional, behavioral and physiological disregulation in...
The Buddhist practice of cultivating mindfulness has been increasingly influencing psychotherapeutic work. However, in Sri Lanka, the documentation on the use of such practice in psychotherapy is scarce. This paper aims to discuss the influence of Buddhist mindfulness practice on psychotherapy; present a case of mixed anxiety-depressive disorder where mindfulness practice and behaviour therapy...
In the current article, the authors examine the potential role of mind-body interventions for preventing or reducing health disparities in a specific group-African American women. The authors first discuss how health disparities affect this group, including empirical evidence regarding the influence of biopsychosocial processes (e.g., psychological stress and social context) on disparate health...
BACKGROUND: It is recommended that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) instructors should undertake MBCT themselves before teaching others. AIM: To investigate the impact of MBCT (modified for stress not depression) on trainee clinical psychologists. METHOD: Twenty trainees completed questionnaires pre- and post-MBCT. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in rumination, and increases...
Two online surveys were conducted to assess the relationship between trait disinhibition, impulsivity, mindfulness and adverse psychological symptoms. In study 1 adult females (n=196; mean age=21 yrs) completed the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TEFQ-R21), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a measure of dispositional mindfulness. In study 2 adult females (n=190; mean age=26 yrs)...
It is well known that the Vijñānavāda-school has developed from the meditators called yogācā, who practised various kind of the meditations in the wilderness. In the Yogācārabhūmi, the main text-corpus of the Vijñānavāda-school, we can find the striking definition on the meditation, which shows the synthetical character of this school very clearly, that the meditation is characterized by the...
PsychotherapyDecember 2010Erica S N Tan, Mark A Yarhouse
With the increasing relevance of sexual minority concerns, including the process of navigating sexual and religious identities, clinical practice has focused on helping sexual minorities address methods of self-expression that are most congruent with the client's values. Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT), (Throckmorton & Yarhouse, 2006) has been developed to assist individuals who are seeking to...
Maria is a 14-year-old Hispanic girl who has developed chronic headaches and appears to be mildly depressed. She has become irritable and gotten into two fights at school this year. Her aunt, who is raising her, does not want to start her on medication. The aunt has a friend who works as a nurse and recently started a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Maria's aunt wants to know if she...
Mindfulness has been proposed as a useful adjunct to alcohol abuse treatment. However, very little research has examined the basic relationship between alcohol use and mindfulness. Inconsistency in definition and measurement of mindfulness across studies makes such research difficult to interpret and conduct. Therefore, the current research sought to validate an emerging mindfulness measure,...
This paper proposes a third meditation-category--automatic self-transcending--to extend the dichotomy of focused attention and open monitoring proposed by Lutz. Automatic self-transcending includes techniques designed to transcend their own activity. This contrasts with focused attention, which keeps attention focused on an object; and open monitoring, which keeps attention involved in the...
Context Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a group-based psychosocial intervention designed to enhance self-management of prodromal symptoms associated with depressive relapse. Objective To compare rates of relapse in remitted depressed patients receiving MBCT against maintenance antidepressant pharmacotherapy, the current standard of care Design Patients who met remission criteria...