OBJECTIVES:Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a new group-based intervention for prevention of relapse in recurrent depression which has not been scientifically evaluated regarding its clinical effectiveness for ameliorating residual depressive symptoms following a depressive episode. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of MBCT in reducing residual depressive symptoms in psychiatric outpatients with recurrent depression, and to particularly explore the effects of mindfulness techniques on rumination.
DESIGN:
The design of this study was a mixed model complex design. Design 1 consisted of a consecutive series of patients. They were assigned to either MBCT or TAU. The independent variables were time and group allocation, and dependent variables were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rumination Scale. In Design 2, the TAU group proceeded to complete an MBCT group, and the BDI and Rumination Scale results of the two groups were collapsed.
METHOD:
Nineteen patients with residual depressive symptoms following a depressive episode, and who were attending outpatient clinic, were assigned to either MBCT or treatment as usual (TAU), with the TAU group then proceeding to complete an MBCT group. Depressive and ruminative symptoms were assessed before, during, and after treatment, and at one-month follow-up.
RESULTS:
A significant reduction in depressive symptoms was found at the end of MBCT, with a further reduction at one-month follow-up. A trend towards a reduction in rumination scores was also observed.
CONCLUSIONS:
Group MBCT has a marked effect on residual depressive symptoms, which may be mediated through the mindfulness-based cognitive approach towards excessive negative ruminations in patients with residual depressive symptoms following a depressive episode.
The practice of mindfulness has long been incorporated into psychotherapy. Research on the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness exists within adult populations, and emerging empirical evidence demonstrates the benefit of such practices in the treatment of adolescents in both clinical and non-clinical settings. However, there are extremely limited data on the practice of mindfulness with adolescents in a psychiatric hospital. The iMatter ( Improve Mindful ATTention, Enhance Relaxation) group is a manualized program developed to provide adolescents on a short-term psychiatric inpatient unit with an opportunity to learn and practice relaxation strategies, mindfulness exercises, and simple yoga poses. Mindfulness skills are taught in the context of the group and include self-observation of thoughts and feelings, breathing exercises, self-validation of one's experience, loving-kindness toward self, non-judgmental stance toward self, and acceptance and observation of change within self. Participants included 65 adolescents aged 13-17 years ( M = 15.06, standard deviation ( SD) = 1.34) who took part in at least one session of the iMatter intervention. Improvements in self-reported mood were evident following participation in a mindfulness group. Also, participants' heart rate significantly decreased following participation in two groups. Future directions include improved integration of mindfulness into the milieu and other unit programming. Furthermore, comparing self-reported mood and physiological measures from this sample to findings obtained for other unit groups will further clarify the impact of the iMatter intervention.
The practice of mindfulness has long been incorporated into psychotherapy. Research on the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness exists within adult populations, and emerging empirical evidence demonstrates the benefit of such practices in the treatment of adolescents in both clinical and non-clinical settings. However, there are extremely limited data on the practice of mindfulness with adolescents in a psychiatric hospital. The iMatter ( Improve Mindful ATTention, Enhance Relaxation) group is a manualized program developed to provide adolescents on a short-term psychiatric inpatient unit with an opportunity to learn and practice relaxation strategies, mindfulness exercises, and simple yoga poses. Mindfulness skills are taught in the context of the group and include self-observation of thoughts and feelings, breathing exercises, self-validation of one's experience, loving-kindness toward self, non-judgmental stance toward self, and acceptance and observation of change within self. Participants included 65 adolescents aged 13-17 years ( M = 15.06, standard deviation ( SD) = 1.34) who took part in at least one session of the iMatter intervention. Improvements in self-reported mood were evident following participation in a mindfulness group. Also, participants' heart rate significantly decreased following participation in two groups. Future directions include improved integration of mindfulness into the milieu and other unit programming. Furthermore, comparing self-reported mood and physiological measures from this sample to findings obtained for other unit groups will further clarify the impact of the iMatter intervention.
Introduction: In the present study, the authors pilot a streamlined mindfulness teacher training protocol for Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) staff and examine the distribution and variability of psychologic outcomes for participants in groups led by an experienced instructor compared to a FQHC staff instructor who received the streamlined training.Methods: Seventy-four adult women aged 18–65 with depressive symptoms enrolled to participate in the 8-week group mindfulness intervention led by an experienced instructor (N = 33) or a novice instructor (N = 41). The effect of instructor on the outcomes depression, stress, mindfulness, functioning, well-being, and depression stigma was assessed at baseline, 8, and 16 weeks.
Results: Depressive symptoms and stress significantly decreased, and mindfulness significantly increased in the experienced and novice instructor groups. In the novice instructor group, there was also a significant increase in well-being and functioning. The change in depressive symptoms, stress, functioning, and well-being was significantly greater in the novice instructor group than the experienced instructor groups.
Conclusions: Preliminary data suggest that health care staff who receive streamlined training to deliver mindfulness-based interventions have comparable outcomes as experienced instructors.
This systematic review aims to assess the effect of mindfulness-based interventions carried out during pregnancy exploring mindfulness and mental health outcomes. A systematic review was conducted to appraise the current literature on the subject area. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were agreed and after reviewing titles, abstracts and full papers, 14 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The quality of included articles was checked using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Pooled results of the randomised controlled trials (RCTs) reporting outcomes on anxiety, depression and perceived stress indicated no differences between the mindfulness intervention group and the control group. Pooled results of the non-RCTs reporting anxiety, depression and perceived stress showed a significant benefit for the mindfulness group. Mindfulness as an outcome was assessed in four RCTs for which the pooled results show a significant difference in favour of the mindfulness intervention when compared to a control group. The pooled results of the four non-RCTs also indicate a significant difference following mindfulness intervention. Results suggest that mindfulness-based interventions can be beneficial for outcomes such as anxiety, depression, perceived stress and levels of mindfulness during the perinatal period. Further research would be useful to explore if such benefits are sustained during the post-natal period.
This chapter examines a novel approach to mindfulness training, optimized for high‐stress contexts, called Mindfulness‐based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT).® MMFT follows in the lineage of warrior traditions that train the body and mind to cultivate two foundational warrior qualities—wisdom and bravery. Wisdom is the ability to see clearly how things are right now and then to use that information to make the most effective choice in the moment. Bravery is the ability to stay present with any experience, even an extremely difficult one, without needing for it to be different. Together, these two qualities are a pathway toward effective action in any sphere, but especially in high‐stress environments. In line with this lineage, MMFT cultivates attentional control and tolerance for challenging experience—two capacities important for enhancing performance and building resilience in high‐stress contexts. This chapter examines some of the possible mechanisms by which MMFT may enhance performance and build resilience, while ameliorating the detrimental effects of such environments. Next, it summarizes the empirical research to date about MMFT, with troops preparing for combat deployments. Finally, it compares MMFT to other approaches for cultivating mindfulness.
Current military deployments have resulted in many psychological and physical health issues and created interest in protective measures to mitigate effects of prolonged and repetitive stress. Mindfulness training has been successfully used for stress reduction in other contexts. The following case report presents a detachment of U.S. Marines who received Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) prior to deployment. Self-report measures of mindfulness, perceptions of stress, predictors of compliance with mindfulness practice, and time spent engaging in practice were indexed. More time spent engaging in practice corresponded with greater self-reported mindfulness; increases in mindfulness were associated with decreases in perceived stress.
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PurposeMen diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer experience higher psychological distress and greater unmet supportive care needs than men with localized disease. A mindfulness-based cognitive therapy group intervention was pilot tested for acceptability and effectiveness in this patient group.
Methods
Nineteen men were initially recruited to three groups and 12 completed final assessments. Outcomes assessed included anxiety, depression, cancer-related distress, prostate cancer-specific quality of life, and mindfulness skills at baseline, immediately, and 3 months post-intervention. Satisfaction measures and in-depth interviews were undertaken post-intervention to describe men's personal experiences of the groups.
Results
Significant improvements were observed for anxiety (p = 0.027), avoidance (p = 0.032), and mindfulness skills (p = 0.019), with a trend for a reduction in fear of cancer recurrence (p = 0.062). Effect sizes were moderate to large. A shared group identity, acceptance of, and learning from other group members were key aspects of the group context that contributed to acceptance of progressive disease.
Conclusions
Mindfulness-based group interventions appear to have utility in this patient group and show promise for reducing anxiety, avoidance, and fear of cancer recurrence. Peer learning appeared to be helpful in generating acceptance of advancing disease.
Background Students in higher education are experiencing stress and anxiety, such that it impedes their academic success and personal wellbeing. Brief mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness meditation are two aspects of mindfulness practice that have the potential to decrease students' feelings of anxiety and stress, and increase their sense of wellbeing and capacity for compassion for self and for others.; Purpose To explore how undergraduate and graduate students experience brief instructor-guided mindfulness practice; specifically, on their feelings of stress and anxiety, and their sense of wellbeing.; Study Design Qualitative exploratory pilot study.; Participants and Setting Fifty-two graduate and undergraduate students in different disciplines within a community services faculty of an urban university.; Methods Brief (five-minute) instructor-guided mindfulness practices were offered over eight weeks at the beginning and end of classes. Participating students were asked to also engage in individual home practice of five to fifteen-minute mindful breathing four to five times a week and to keep a log of their experiences. At end of term, individual and group feedback (N=13) was elicited from participating students. Six of the seven instructors who guided the mindfulness practices shared their experiences of the mindfulness activities.; Outcomes Students reported an increased sense of calm, and a decreased feeling of anxiety. Lovingkindness meditation was mostly perceived as a positive way to close the class. Their instructors also observed that the brief mindful breathing practice at start of class helped students become more grounded and focused before engaging in the course content. Challenges encountered focused on the need to provide more in-depth information about mindfulness, as it relates to higher education teaching-learning contexts, to both students and participating instructors.; Conclusions Implications for education suggest further research that includes fuller experiential training of participating instructors, as well as provision of a more comprehensive background on mindfulness to students.; * Brief instructor guided mindfulness practice in higher education can promote student wellbeing. * Mindfulness practice might help mitigate stress and anxiety among students in higher education. * Mindful breathing at the start of class supports a respectful and peaceful class environment. * Instructors might also accrue benefits from introducing mindful practice into their classrooms
BackgroundStudents in higher education are experiencing stress and anxiety, such that it impedes their academic success and personal wellbeing. Brief mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness meditation are two aspects of mindfulness practice that have the potential to decrease students' feelings of anxiety and stress, and increase their sense of wellbeing and capacity for compassion for self and for others.
Purpose
To explore how undergraduate and graduate students experience brief instructor-guided mindfulness practice; specifically, on their feelings of stress and anxiety, and their sense of wellbeing.
Study Design
Qualitative exploratory pilot study.
Participants and Setting
Fifty-two graduate and undergraduate students in different disciplines within a community services faculty of an urban university.
Methods
Brief (five-minute) instructor-guided mindfulness practices were offered over eight weeks at the beginning and end of classes. Participating students were asked to also engage in individual home practice of five to fifteen-minute mindful breathing four to five times a week and to keep a log of their experiences. At end of term, individual and group feedback (N=13) was elicited from participating students. Six of the seven instructors who guided the mindfulness practices shared their experiences of the mindfulness activities.
Outcomes
Students reported an increased sense of calm, and a decreased feeling of anxiety. Lovingkindness meditation was mostly perceived as a positive way to close the class. Their instructors also observed that the brief mindful breathing practice at start of class helped students become more grounded and focused before engaging in the course content. Challenges encountered focused on the need to provide more in-depth information about mindfulness, as it relates to higher education teaching-learning contexts, to both students and participating instructors.
Conclusions
Implications for education suggest further research that includes fuller experiential training of participating instructors, as well as provision of a more comprehensive background on mindfulness to students.
Objectives: While mindfulness-based interventions have received widespread application in both clinical and non-clinical populations, the mechanism by which mindfulness meditation improves well-being remains elusive. One possibility is that mindfulness training alters the processing of emotional information, similar to prevailing cognitive models of depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness training on emotional information processing (i.e., memory) biases in relation to both clinical symptomatology and well-being in comparison to active control conditions. Methods: Fifty-eight university students (28 female, age = 20.1 ± 2.7 years) participated in either a 12-week course containing a “meditation laboratory” or an active control course with similar content or experiential practice laboratory format (music). Participants completed an emotional word recall task and self-report questionnaires of well-being and clinical symptoms before and after the 12-week course. Results: Meditators showed greater increases in positive word recall compared to controls [F(1, 56) = 6.6, p = 0.02]. The meditation group increased significantly more on measures of well-being [F(1, 56) = 6.6, p = 0.01], with a marginal decrease in depression and anxiety [F(1, 56) = 3.0, p = 0.09] compared to controls. Increased positive word recall was associated with increased psychological well-being (r = 0.31, p = 0.02) and decreased clinical symptoms (r = −0.29, p = 0.03). Conclusion: Mindfulness training was associated with greater improvements in processing efficiency for positively valenced stimuli than active control conditions. This change in emotional information processing was associated with improvements in psychological well-being and less depression and anxiety. These data suggest that mindfulness training may improve well-being via changes in emotional information processing. Future research with a fully randomized design will be needed to clarify the possible influence of self-selection.
BackgroundSelf-management of health is important for improving health outcomes among primary care patients with chronic disease. Anxiety and depressive disorders are common and interfere with self-regulation, which is required for disease self-management. An insurance-reimbursable mindfulness intervention integrated within primary care may be effective for enhancing chronic disease self-management behaviors among primary care patients with anxiety, depression, trauma, and stress-related and adjustment disorders compared with the increasingly standard practice of referring patients to outside mindfulness resources.
Objective
Mindfulness Training for Primary Care (MTPC) is an 8-week, referral-based, insurance-reimbursable program integrated into safety-net health system patient-centered medical homes. We hypothesized that MTPC would be more effective for catalyzing chronic disease self-management action plan initiation within 2 weeks, versus a low-dose comparator (LDC) consisting of a 60-min mindfulness introduction, referral to community and digital resources, and addition to a 6-month waitlist for MTPC.
Participants
Primary care providers (PCPs) and mental health clinicians referred 465 patients over 12 months. All participants had a DSM-V diagnosis.
Design and Interventions
Participants (N = 136) were randomized in a 2:1 allocation to MTPC (n = 92) or LDC (n = 44) in a randomized controlled comparative effectiveness trial. MTPC incorporates mindfulness, self-compassion, and mindfulness-oriented behavior change skills and is delivered as insurance-reimbursable visits within primary care. Participants took part in a chronic disease self-management action planning protocol at week 7.
Main Measures
Level of self-reported action plan initiation on the action plan initiation survey by week 9.
Key Results
Participants randomized to MTPC, relative to LDC, had significantly higher adjusted odds of self-management action plan initiation in an intention-to-treat analysis (OR = 2.28; 95% CI = 1.02 to 5.06, p = 0.025).
Conclusions
An 8-week dose of mindfulness training is more effective than a low-dose mindfulness comparator in facilitating chronic disease self-management behavior change among primary care patients.
This new and expanded edition of the bestselling The Mindful Teacher provides educators everywhere with practical ideas for improving teaching and learning. Dennis Shirley and Elizabeth MacDonald have created “Mindful Teacher” seminars that enable teachers to focus their craft so that students can learn with dignity and purpose. This updated second edition includes completely new sections on the promise of teacher leadership, the strengths and perils of technology, and schools in the midst of change. The Mindful Teacher is an indispensable and timely resource for all educators who seek to transform schools into places of learning and joy.
This new and expanded edition of the bestselling The Mindful Teacher provides educators everywhere with practical ideas for improving teaching and learning. Dennis Shirley and Elizabeth MacDonald have created “Mindful Teacher” seminars that enable teachers to focus their craft so that students can learn with dignity and purpose. This updated second edition includes completely new sections on the promise of teacher leadership, the strengths and perils of technology, and schools in the midst of change. The Mindful Teacher is an indispensable and timely resource for all educators who seek to transform schools into places of learning and joy.
The connections between parents socialization practices and beliefs about emotions, and childrens emotional development have been well studied; however, teachers impacts on childrens social-emotional learning (SEL) remain widely understudied. In the present study, private preschool and Head Start teachers (N=32) were observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Comparison groups were created based on their observed emotional support and then compared on their qualitative responses in focus group discussions on beliefs about emotions and SEL strategies. Teachers acknowledged the importance of preparing children emotionally (as well as academically) for kindergarten, but substantial differences emerged between the highly emotionally
The connections between parents' socialization practices and beliefs about emotions, and children's emotional development have been well studied; however, teachers' impacts on children's social-emotional learning (SEL) remain widely understudied. In the present study, private preschool and Head Start teachers (N?=?32) were observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Comparison groups were created based on their observed emotional support and then compared on their qualitative responses in focus group discussions on beliefs about emotions and SEL strategies. Teachers acknowledged the importance of preparing children emotionally (as well as academically) for kindergarten, but substantial differences emerged between the highly emotionally supportive and moderately emotionally supportive teachers in three areas: (1) teachers' beliefs about emotions and the value of SEL; (2) teachers' socialization behaviours and SEL strategies; and (3) teachers' perceptions of their roles as emotion socializers. Understanding such differences can facilitate the development of intervention programs and in-service training to help teachers better meet students' SEL needs.
Disconnection from the natural world may be contributing to our planet's destruction. The authors propose a new construct, Nature Relatedness (NR), and a scale that assesses the affective, cognitive, and experiential aspects of individuals' connection to nature. In Study 1, the authors explored the internal structure of the NR item responses in a sample of 831 participants using factor analysis. They tested the construct validity of NR with respect to an assortment of environmental and personality measures. In Study 2, they employed experience sampling methodology examining if NR people spend more time outdoors, in nature. Across studies, NR correlated with environmental scales, behavior, and frequency of time in nature, supporting the reliability and validity of NR, as well as the contribution of NR (over and above other measures) to environmental concern and behavior. The potential of NR as a useful method for investigating human-nature relationships and the processes underlying environmental concern and behaviors are discussed.
Theory of mind (ToM) encompasses a range of abilities that show different developmental time courses. However, relatively little work has examined the neural correlates of ToM during early childhood. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of ToM in typically developing children aged 4–8 years using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We calculated whole-brain functional connectivity with the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ), a core region involved in ToM, and examined its relation to children's early, basic, and advanced components of ToM competence assessed by a parent-report measure. Total ToM and both basic and advanced ToM components, but not early, consistently showed a positive correlation with connectivity between RTPJ and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus; advanced ToM was also correlated with RTPJ to left TPJ connectivity. However, early and advanced ToM components showed negative correlation with the right inferior/superior parietal lobe, suggesting that RTPJ network differentiation is also related to ToM abilities. We confirmed and extended these results using a Bayesian modeling approach demonstrating significant relations between multiple nodes of the mentalizing network and ToM abilities, with no evidence for differences in relations between ToM components. Our data provide new insights into the neural correlates of multiple aspects of ToM in early childhood and may have implications for both typical and atypical development of ToM.
<p>A detailed examination of the state of Tibetan culture in North America.</p>
The construct of (dis)connection with nature or 'nature relatedness' has become increasingly useful in the study of environmental behaviour as well as psychological health and well-being. Strong nature relatedness is associated with greater happiness and ecologically sustainable behaviour. A number of scales reliably assess individual differences in nature relatedness, but some circumstances may necessitate a brief measure. We developed a short-form version of the nature relatedness scale (NR-6), comprised of 6 items from the 'self' and 'experience' dimensions, and tested the new scale's predictive ability across multiple samples and with longitudinal data in students, community members, and business people. The new NR-6 scale demonstrated good internal consistency, temporal stability, and predicted happiness, environmental concern, and nature contact. This new brief measure of connectedness may have advantages where time and space are limited and the research context requires an assessment of connectedness elements rather than environmental attitudes.
This study pilot-tested a values and mindfulness-based intervention (Re-Entry Values and Mindfulness Program: REVAMP) in a sample of male jail inmates. REVAMP aimed to reduce post-release risky behavior by targeting dimensions of mindfulness (e.g., willingness/acceptance) and associated proximal outcomes/ mechanisms of action (emotion regulation, self-control, shame/guilt). Inmates were randomly assigned to REVAMP (n = 21) or treatment as usual (TAU, n = 19). Attendance and feedback supported REVAMP’s feasibility and acceptability. At post-treatment, ANCOVAs showed that the REVAMP group increased more on willingness/acceptance, self-judgment, and shame relative to TAU. Relative increases in willingness/acceptance persisted at 3-month post-release. Criminal activity was assessed by self-report at 3 months post-release and official criminal records at 3 years post-release. At both time points, there was a marginally statistically significant trend of medium effect size for lower criminal recidivism in the REVAMP group compared to TAU. There were no statistically significant differences in self-reported post-release substance misuse. This pilot RCT indicated mindfulness-based interventions may hold promise for reducing inmates’ post-release risky behavior and encourages future research in this area.
BACKGROUND:"Mindfulness-based" interventions show promise for stress reduction in general medical conditions, and initial evidence suggests that they are accepted in trauma-exposed individuals. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) shows substantial efficacy for prevention of depression relapse, but it has been less studied in anxiety disorders. This study investigated the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes of an MBCT group intervention adapted for combat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
METHODS:
Consecutive patients seeking treatment for chronic PTSD at a VA outpatient clinic were enrolled in 8-week MBCT groups, modified for PTSD (four groups, n = 20) or brief treatment-as-usual (TAU) comparison group interventions (three groups, n = 17). Pre and posttherapy psychological assessments with clinician administered PTSD scale (CAPS) were performed with all patients, and self-report measures (PTSD diagnostic scale, PDS, and posttraumatic cognitions inventory, PTCI) were administered in the MBCT group.
RESULTS:
Intent to treat analyses showed significant improvement in PTSD (CAPS (t(19) = 4.8, P < .001)) in the MBCT condition but not the TAU conditions, and a significant Condition × Time interaction (F[1,35] = 16.4, P < .005). MBCT completers (n = 15, 75%) showed good compliance with assigned homework exercises, and significant and clinically meaningful improvement in PTSD symptom severity on posttreatment assessment in CAPS and PDS (particularly in avoidance/numbing symptoms), and reduced PTSD-relevant cognitions in PTCI (self blame).
CONCLUSIONS:
These data suggest group MBCT as an acceptable brief intervention/adjunctive therapy for combat PTSD, with potential for reducing avoidance symptom cluster and PTSD cognitions. Further studies are needed to examine efficacy in a randomized controlled design and to identify factors influencing acceptability and efficacy.
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