Ayahuasca, a plant-based hallucinogen that serves as a spiritual medicine in South America, has improved depression in at least one placebo-controlled clinical trial. Case studies suggest that dramatic behavioral changes often follow the Ayahuasca ceremony, but most explanations of antidepressant effects focus on changes in mindfulness. This study investigated whether both mindfulness and...
Brain SciencesSeptember 27, 2019Auretta S Kummar, Helen Correia, Hakuei Fujiyama
Neuroimaging studies in the area of mindfulness research have provided preliminary support for the idea of fear extinction as a plausible underlying mechanism through which mindfulness exerts its positive benefits. Whilst brain regions identified in the fear extinction network are typically found at a subcortical level, studies have also demonstrated the feasibility of cortical measures of the...
Abstract:This article links Thomas Traherne’s method of meditation to the precarious art of “thinking Well.” Traherne rejects or reforms historical and contemporary meditative practices of humiliation, scriptural engagement, and solitude, in favor of self-love, personal creativity, and community. Meditation is proven to be “Easy and Sweet” because good thoughts are “Prepard” and “inlaid” in the...
The current Phase 2b study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for migraine (MBCT‐M) to reduce migraine‐related disability in people with migraine.
This paper locates the main challenge for education in cosmopolitanism within the nature of education when interpreted as a “mind-making process.” Based on this interpretation, education is currently a process that shapes non-cosmopolitan minds, for the practices generally associated with it habituate the human mind to see “reality” through contingent social narratives. The aspiration of...
Background: Considering the prevalence of migraine and its detrimental effects on functioning, physical health, and quality of life as well as its psychosocial and social risks. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment with treatment based on acceptance and commitment to the severity of pain and health-related quality of life in...
Loving kindness meditation and compassion meditation are traditional Buddhist practices that have recently been introduced and investigated in psychotherapy with promising results. Both meditation practices emphasize metta, a mental state of positive energy and kindness towards oneself and other beings, as opposed to the anger, hostility, or self-loathing that often accompany emotional...
In the school setting, the mental health problems of students have been often discussed. Teachers have also been found to have mental health problems, which could have a detrimental effect upon all of those students who are associated with him or her, but there has been no or very few interventions designed to help them. To address this, the current study has two main goals: 1) to review...
Mindfulness is often used as an umbrella term to characterize a large number of practices, processes, and characteristics. Critics argue that this broad definition has led to misinformation, misunderstanding, and a general lack of methodologically rigorous research. Some of the confusion surrounding mindfulness is also believed to stem from an undifferentiated use of the term mindfulness and...
Response inhibition - the ability to suppress inappropriate thoughts and actions - is a fundamental aspect of cognitive control. Recent research suggests that mental training by meditation may improve cognitive control. Yet, it is still unclear if and how, at the neural level, long-term meditation practice may affect (emotional) response inhibition. The present study aimed to address this...