The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
March 2015
Sergio Hernández, José Suero, Katya Rubia et al.
To identify the neural correlates of the state of mental silence as experienced through Sahaja yoga meditation. Nineteen experienced meditators underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during three short consecutive meditation periods, contrasted with a control relaxation condition. Relative to baseline, at the beginning of the meditation sessions there was a significant increase of...
Educational Psychology Review
March 1, 2015
L. Waters, Adam Barsky, Amanda Ridd et al.
251 citations
Schools need reliable evidence about the outcomes of meditation programs before they consider if and how such programmes can influence learning agendas, curriculum and timetables. This paper reviewed evidence from 15 peer-reviewed studies of school meditation programmes with respect to three student outcomes: well-being, social competence and academic achievement. In total, there were 76...
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
February 24, 2015
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in patients with chronic bothersome tinnitus on the (1) severity of symptoms of tinnitus and (2) functional connectivity in neural attention networks. STUDY DESIGN: Open-label interventional pilot study. SETTING: Outpatient academic medical center. SUBJECTS: A total of 13 adult participants with a median...
Sexual & Relationship Therapy
February 23, 2015
Jonathan G. Kimmes, Allen B. Mallory, Charlotte Cameron et al.
36 citations
In this article, we propose a clinical model for treating anxiety-related sexual dysfunctions that hinges on the use of mindfulness meditation practices. First, theoretical and empirical evidence for anxiety as either a cause or condition of several different sexual dysfunctions is provided. Next, the concept of mindfulness and the research that supports the use of mindfulness meditation...
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
February 19, 2015
Jeffrey M Greeson, Moria J Smoski, Edward C Suarez et al.
Objective: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a secular meditation training program that reduces depressive symptoms. Little is known, however, about the degree to which a participant's spiritual and religious background, or other demographic characteristics associated with risk for depression, may affect the effectiveness of MBSR. Therefore, this study tested whether individual...
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
February 17, 2015
Singh Deepeshwar, Suhas Ashok Vinchurkar, Naveen Kalkuni Visweswaraiah et al.
Recent neuroimaging studies state that meditation increases regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The present study employed functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to evaluate the relative hemodynamic changes in PFC during a cognitive task. Twenty-two healthy male volunteers with ages between 18 and 30 years (group mean age ± SD; 22.9 ± 4.6 years) performed...
PLoS One
February 17, 2015
Daniel Lim, Paul Condon, David Desteno
297 citations
Emerging evidence suggests that meditation engenders prosocial behaviors meant to benefit others. However, the robustness, underlying mechanisms, and potential scalability of such effects remain open to question. The current experiment employed an ecologically valid situation that exposed participants to a person in visible pain. Following three-week, mobile-app based training courses in...
JAMA Internal Medicine
February 16, 2015
David S. Black, Gillian A. O’Reilly, Richard Olmstead et al.
485 citations
IMPORTANCE: Sleep disturbances are most prevalent among older adults and often go untreated. Treatment options for sleep disturbances remain limited, and there is a need for community-accessible programs that can improve sleep. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of a mind-body medicine intervention, called mindfulness meditation, to promote sleep quality in older adults with moderate sleep...
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
February 14, 2015
Sara Wagner Robb, Kelsey Benson, Lauren Middleton et al.
Studies have demonstrated the potential of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to improve the condition of individuals with health outcomes such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic pain; improve psychological well-being; reduce stress levels; and increase survival among cancer patients. To date, only one study has focused on the effect of long-term meditation on stress,...
Trials
February 8, 2015
Sophie Merle Kuhlmann, Arne Bürger, Günter Esser et al.
Background: Medical training is very demanding and associated with a high prevalence of psychological distress. Compared to the general population, medical students are at a greater risk of developing a psychological disorder. Various attempts of stress management training in medical school have achieved positive results on minimizing psychological distress; however, there are often...
Contemporary Clinical Trials
February 7, 2015
Nazia Raja-Khan, Katrina Agito, Julie Shah et al.
Introduction: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) may be beneficial for overweight/obese women, including women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), as it has been shown to reduce psychological distress and improve quality of life in other patient populations. Preliminary studies suggest that MBSR may also have salutary effects on blood pressure and blood glucose. This paper describes...
Transcultural Psychiatry
February 4, 2015
Inger Agger
After catastrophic events in which people's survival has been threatened, as happened during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia 1975-1979, some continue to suffer from painful mental symptoms. Surveys carried out in Cambodia based on Western diagnostic categories have found a high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety symptoms in the population. This study...
Journal of Attention Disorders
February 1, 2015
Andrew R. Cassone
Objective: Individuals with ADHD face significant neurodevelopmental hurdles with inattention and/or hyperactive/impulsive behavior through their life span. Mindfulness training may be one self-regulatory method for strengthening attentional processes (orienting, alerting, and executive attention). This review’s goals are to (a) argue for the use of mindfulness training as an adjunct to...
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research
February 1, 2015
H. Idusohan‐Moizer, A. Sawicka, J. Dendle et al.
Abstract: Background: Mindfulness‐based interventions have been shown to be effective in the treatment of a range of health and psychological disorders in adults and young people without intellectual disabilities (ID). Clinical studies are emerging reporting on the efficacy of mindfulness‐based interventions as a stand‐alone treatment for common clinical disorders in adults withID. Method: This...
Archives of women's mental health
February 2015
Sona Dimidjian, Sherryl H Goodman, Jennifer N. Felder et al.
Pregnant women with histories of depression are at high risk of depressive relapse/recurrence during the perinatal period, and options for relapse/recurrence prevention are limited. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has strong evidence among general populations but has not been studied among at-risk pregnant women to prevent depression. We examined the feasibility, acceptability, and...
Cognitive Neurodynamics
February 2015
Poppy L A Schoenberg, Anne E. M. Speckens
To illuminate candidate neural working mechanisms of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in the treatment of recurrent depressive disorder, parallel to the potential interplays between modulations in electro-cortical dynamics and depressive symptom severity and self-compassionate experience. Linear and nonlinear α and γ EEG oscillatory dynamics were examined concomitant to an affective...
Cognitive Processing
February 1, 2015
Pascal L Faber, Dietrich Lehmann, Lorena R R Gianotti et al.
Meditation is a self-induced and willfully initiated practice that alters the state of consciousness. The meditation practice of Zazen, like many other meditation practices, aims at disregarding intrusive thoughts while controlling body posture. It is an open monitoring meditation characterized by detached moment-to-moment awareness and reduced conceptual thinking and self-reference. Which...
Depression and Anxiety
January 30, 2015
Monika A Waszczuk, Helena M. S. Zavos, Elena Antonova et al.
Background: Mindfulness-based therapies have been shown to be effective in treating depression and reducing cognitive biases. Anxiety sensitivity is one cognitive bias that may play a role in the association between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. It refers to an enhanced sensitivity toward symptoms of anxiety, with a belief that these are harmful. Currently, little is known about the...
Frontiers in Psychology
January 29, 2015
Cristiano Crescentini, Viviana Capurso
The scientific interest on mindfulness meditation (MM) has significantly increased in the last two decades probably because of the positive health effects that this practice exerts in a great variety of clinical and non-clinical conditions. Despite attention regulation, emotional regulation, and body awareness have been argued to be critical mechanisms through which MM improves well-being, much...
Frontiers in Psychology
January 12, 2015
Alberto Amutio, Clemente Franco, María de Carmen Pérez-Fuentes et al.
Fibromyalgia is a disabling syndrome. Results obtained with different therapies are very limited to date. The goal of this study was to verify whether the application of a mindfulness-based training program was effective in modifying anger, anxiety, and depression levels in a group of women diagnosed with fibromyalgia. This study is an experimental trial that employed a waiting list control...