This pilot study compared mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with a self-help guide based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for university students experiencing difficulties due to perfectionism. Participants were randomised to an MBCT intervention specifically tailored for perfectionism or pure CBT self-help. Questionnaires were completed at baseline, 8 weeks later (corresponding to the end of MBCT) and at 10-week follow-up. Post-intervention intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses identified that MBCT participants (n = 28) had significantly lower levels of perfectionism and stress than self-help participants (n = 32). There was significant MBCT superiority for changes in unhelpful beliefs about emotions, rumination, mindfulness, self-compassion and decentering. At 10-week follow-up, effects were maintained in the MBCT group, and analyses showed superior MBCT outcomes for perfectionism and daily impairment caused by perfectionism. Pre-post changes in self-compassion significantly mediated the group differences in pre-post changes in clinical perfectionism. Greater frequency of mindfulness practice was associated with larger improvements in self-compassion. MBCT is a promising intervention for perfectionist students, which may result in larger improvements than pure CBT self-help. The findings require replication with a larger sample.
Using a randomized wait-list controlled design, this study evaluated the effects of a novel intervention, mindfulness-based relationship enhancement, designed to enrich the relationships of relatively happy, nondistressed couples. Results suggested the intervention was efficacious in (a) favorably impacting couples' levels of relationship satisfaction, autonomy, relatedness, closeness, acceptance of one another, and relationship distress; (b) beneficially affecting individuals' optimism, spirituality, relaxation, and psychological distress; and (c) maintaining benefits at 3-month follow-up. Those who practiced mindfulness more had better outcomes, and within-person analyses of diary measures showed greater mindfulness practice on a given day was associated on several consecutive days with improved levels of relationship happiness, relationship stress, stress coping efficacy, and overall stress.
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Acceptance and Mindfulness in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Understanding and Applying the New Therapies brings together a renowned group of leading figures in CBT who address key issues and topics, including:Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Metacognitive therapy
Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Dialectical behavior therapy
Understanding acceptance and commitment therapy in context
CONTEXT: Previous studies on the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) therapy on chronic pain syndromes have been hampered by study design.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate short-term efficacy of MBSR therapy for improving quality of life in adults with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).
DESIGN: A single-center, prospective, randomized, single-blind, parallel-group clinical trial.
PATIENTS AND SETTING: Participants were recruited from a multidisciplinary spine and rehabilitation center in the greater Portland, Maine, area.
INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were randomly assigned at baseline to receive either MBSR therapy plus traditional therapy or traditional therapy alone for an 8-week period. Those receiving MBSR therapy completed weekly group sessions, and the control group continued with their traditional care as prescribed by their medical care providers. At study enrollment and at 12-week follow-up, all participants completed questionnaires on pain, quality of life, functionality, analgesic use, and sleep quality. Patients in the intervention group also completed questionnaires at 40-week follow-up.
RESULTS: The final analysis included 25 patients with FBSS; 15 patients were in the MBSR intervention arm, and 10 in the control group. At 12-week follow-up, patients in the intervention arm had a mean 7.0-point increase (on an 108-point [corrected] scale) in pain acceptance and quality of life on the Chronic Pain Assessment Questionnaire, a mean 3.6-point [corrected] decrease (on a 24-point scale) in functional limitation on the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, a mean 6.9-point [corrected] reduction (on a 30-point scale) in pain level on the Summary Visual Analog Scale for Pain, a mean 1.5-point [corrected] reduction (on a 4-point scale) in frequency of use and potency of analgesics used for pain and recorded on logs, and a mean 2.0-point [corrected] increase (on a 5-point scale) in sleep quality on the abridged Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory. These results were statistically and clinically significant compared to outcomes for the control group.
CONCLUSION: The results suggest that MBSR can be a useful clinical intervention for patients with FBSS.
CONTEXT: Previous studies on the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) therapy on chronic pain syndromes have been hampered by study design.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate short-term efficacy of MBSR therapy for improving quality of life in adults with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).
DESIGN: A single-center, prospective, randomized, single-blind, parallel-group clinical trial.
PATIENTS AND SETTING: Participants were recruited from a multidisciplinary spine and rehabilitation center in the greater Portland, Maine, area.
INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were randomly assigned at baseline to receive either MBSR therapy plus traditional therapy or traditional therapy alone for an 8-week period. Those receiving MBSR therapy completed weekly group sessions, and the control group continued with their traditional care as prescribed by their medical care providers. At study enrollment and at 12-week follow-up, all participants completed questionnaires on pain, quality of life, functionality, analgesic use, and sleep quality. Patients in the intervention group also completed questionnaires at 40-week follow-up.
RESULTS: The final analysis included 25 patients with FBSS; 15 patients were in the MBSR intervention arm, and 10 in the control group. At 12-week follow-up, patients in the intervention arm had a mean 7.0-point increase (on an 108-point [corrected] scale) in pain acceptance and quality of life on the Chronic Pain Assessment Questionnaire, a mean 3.6-point [corrected] decrease (on a 24-point scale) in functional limitation on the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, a mean 6.9-point [corrected] reduction (on a 30-point scale) in pain level on the Summary Visual Analog Scale for Pain, a mean 1.5-point [corrected] reduction (on a 4-point scale) in frequency of use and potency of analgesics used for pain and recorded on logs, and a mean 2.0-point [corrected] increase (on a 5-point scale) in sleep quality on the abridged Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory. These results were statistically and clinically significant compared to outcomes for the control group.
CONCLUSION: The results suggest that MBSR can be a useful clinical intervention for patients with FBSS.
Mindfulness-based stress-reduction courses were offered in drug units in six Massachusetts Department of Corrections prisons. A total of 1,350 inmates completed the 113 courses. Evaluation assessments were held before and after each course, and highly significant pre- to post-course improvements were found on widely accepted self-report measures of hostility, self-esteem, and mood disturbance. Improvements for women were greater than those for men, and improvements were also greater for men in a minimum-security, pre-release facility than for those in four medium-security facilities. The results encourage further study and wider use of mindfulness-based stress reduction in correctional facilities.
Mindfulness training is increasingly being recommended as a strategy for fostering therapeutic effectiveness. We used a qualitative methodology to explore the potential utility of mindfulness training in helping beginning MSW students develop clinical intervention skills. Students reported that the training helped them manage distractions and anxiety, facilitated their ability to attend and respond to the client, and encouraged them to be more self-aware and flexible in their thinking in the classroom and in the field. Mindfulness training may strengthen current cognitive and behavioral training strategies, while providing a means of integrating affective and sensory learning into the training process.
Students with learning disabilities (LD; defined by compromised academic performance) often have higher levels of anxiety, school-related stress, and less optimal social skills compared with their typically developing peers. Previous health research indicates that meditation and relaxation training may be effective in reducing anxiety and promoting social skills. This pilot study used a pre—post no-control design to examine feasibility of, attitudes toward, and outcomes of a 5-week mindfulness meditation intervention administered to 34 adolescents diagnosed with LD. Postintervention survey responses overwhelmingly expressed positive attitudes toward the program. All outcome measures showed significant improvement, with participants who completed the program demonstrating decreased state and trait anxiety, enhanced social skills, and improved academic performance. Although not directly assessed, the outcomes are consistent with a cognitive-interference model of learning disability and suggest that mindfulness meditation decreases anxiety and detrimental self-focus of attention, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic outcomes.
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Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular, but to date, little is known about neural mechanisms associated with these interventions. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), one of the most widely used mindfulness training programs, has been reported to produce positive effects on psychological well-being and to ameliorate symptoms of a number of disorders. Here, we report a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre-post changes in brain gray matter concentration attributable to participation in an MBSR program. Anatomical MRI images from sixteen healthy, meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the eight-week program. Changes in gray matter concentration were investigated using voxel-based morphometry, and compared to a wait-list control group of 17 individuals. Analyses in a priori regions of interest confirmed increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus. Whole brain analyses identified increases in the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared to the controls. The results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.
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Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular, but to date, little is known about neural mechanisms associated with these interventions. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), one of the most widely used mindfulness training programs, has been reported to produce positive effects on psychological well-being and to ameliorate symptoms of a number of disorders. Here, we report a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre-post changes in brain gray matter concentration attributable to participation in an MBSR program. Anatomical MRI images from sixteen healthy, meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the eight-week program. Changes in gray matter concentration were investigated using voxel-based morphometry, and compared to a wait-list control group of 17 individuals. Analyses in a priori regions of interest confirmed increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus. Whole brain analyses identified increases in the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared to the controls. The results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.
Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular, but to date, little is known about neural mechanisms associated with these interventions. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), one of the most widely used mindfulness training programs, has been reported to produce positive effects on psychological well-being and to ameliorate symptoms of a number of disorders. Here, we report a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre-post changes in brain gray matter concentration attributable to participation in an MBSR program. Anatomical MRI images from sixteen healthy, meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the eight-week program. Changes in gray matter concentration were investigated using voxel-based morphometry, and compared to a wait-list control group of 17 individuals. Analyses in a priori regions of interest confirmed increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus. Whole brain analyses identified increases in the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared to the controls. The results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.
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Objective
Although the relationship between religious practice and health is well established, the relationship between spirituality and health is not as well studied. The objective of this study was to ascertain whether participation in the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program was associated with increases in mindfulness and spirituality, and to examine the associations between mindfulness, spirituality, and medical and psychological symptoms.
Methods
Forty-four participants in the University of Massachusetts Medical School's MBSR program were assessed preprogram and postprogram on trait (Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale) and state (Toronto Mindfulness Scale) mindfulness, spirituality (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well-Being Scale), psychological distress, and reported medical symptoms. Participants also kept a log of daily home mindfulness practice. Mean changes in scores were computed, and relationships between changes in variables were examined using mixed-model linear regression.
Results
There were significant improvements in spirituality, state and trait mindfulness, psychological distress, and reported medical symptoms. Increases in both state and trait mindfulness were associated with increases in spirituality. Increases in trait mindfulness and spirituality were associated with decreases in psychological distress and reported medical symptoms. Changes in both trait and state mindfulness were independently associated with changes in spirituality, but only changes in trait mindfulness and spirituality were associated with reductions in psychological distress and reported medical symptoms. No association was found between outcomes and home mindfulness practice.
Conclusions
Participation in the MBSR program appears to be associated with improvements in trait and state mindfulness, psychological distress, and medical symptoms. Improvements in trait mindfulness and spirituality appear, in turn, to be associated with improvements in psychological and medical symptoms.
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This paper examined the facilitators and barriers to implementation of mindfulness training (MT) across seven secondary/high schools using a qualitative case study design. Schools varied in level of implementation. Within schools, head teachers, members of school senior leadership teams, and staff members involved in the implementation of MT were interviewed individually. In addition, focus groups were conducted with other members of school staff to capture a broad range of views and perspectives. Across the case studies, several key themes emerged, which suggested four cornerstones to successful implementation of MT in schools. These were: people, specifically the need for committed individuals to champion the approach within their schools, with the support of members of the senior leadership teams; resources, both time and financial resources required for training and delivery of MT; journey, reflecting the fact that implementation takes time, and may be a non-linear process with stops and starts; and finally perceptions, highlighting the importance of members of the school community sharing an understanding what MT is and why it is being introduced in each school context. Similarities and differences between the current findings and those of research on implementation of other forms of school mental health promotion programs, and implementation of MT in healthcare settings, are discussed.
BACKGROUND: Women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have average life expectancies of about 2 years, and report high levels of disease-related symptoms including pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, psychological distress, and functional impairment. There is growing recognition of the limitations of medical approaches to managing such symptoms. Yoga is a mind-body discipline that has demonstrated a positive impact on psychological and functional health in early stage breast cancer patients and survivors, but has not been rigorously studied in advanced cancer samples.METHODS: This randomized controlled trial examines the feasibility and initial efficacy of a Mindful Yoga program, compared with a social support condition that controls for attention, on measures of disease-related symptoms such as pain and fatigue. The study will be completed by December 2017. Sixty-five women with MBC age ≥ 18 are being identified and randomized with a 2:1 allocation to Mindful Yoga or a support group control intervention. The 120-min intervention sessions take place weekly for 8 weeks. The study is conducted at an urban tertiary care academic medical center located in Durham, North Carolina. The primary feasibility outcome is attendance at intervention sessions. Efficacy outcomes include pain, fatigue, sleep quality, psychological distress, mindfulness and functional capacity at post-intervention, 3-month follow-up, and 6-month follow-up.
DISCUSSION: In this article, we present the challenges of designing a randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up among women with MBC. These challenges include ensuring adequate recruitment including of minorities, limiting and controlling for selection bias, tailoring of the yoga intervention to address special needs, and maximizing adherence and retention. This project will provide important information regarding yoga as an intervention for women with advanced cancer, including preliminary data on the psychological and functional effects of yoga for MBC patients. This investigation will also establish rigorous methods for future research into yoga as an intervention for this population.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifer: NCT01927081 , registered August 16, 2013.
Managed relocation (also known as assisted colonization, assisted migration) is one of the more controversial proposals to emerge in the ecological community in recent years. A conservation strategy involving the translocation of species to novel ecosystems in anticipation of range shifts forced by climate change, managed relocation (MR) has divided many ecologists and conservationists, mostly because of concerns about the potential invasion risk of the relocated species in their new environments. While this is indeed an important consideration in any evaluation of MR, moving species across the landscape in response to predicted climate shifts also raises a number of larger and important ethical and policy challenges that need to be addressed. These include evaluating the implications of a more aggressive approach to species conservation, assessing MR as a broader ecological policy and philosophy that departs from longstanding scientific and management goals focused on preserving ecological integrity, and considering MR within a more comprehensive ethical and policy response to climate change. Given the complexity and novelty of many of the issues at stake in the MR debate, a more dynamic and pragmatic approach to ethical analysis and debate is needed to help ecologists, conservationists, and environmental decision makers come to grips with MR and the emerging ethical challenges of ecological policy and management under global environmental change.
PADMA 28 is a multi-component herbal mixture formulated according to an ancient Tibetan recipe. PADMA 28 is known to stimulate collagen production and reduced levels of collagen-degrading matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The goal of the present study was to determine whether topical treatment of rat skin with PADMA 28 would improve skin structure/function, and whether subsequently induced abrasion wounds would heal more rapidly in skin that had been pretreated with PADMA 28. Hairless rats were exposed to a potent topical corticosteroid (Temovate) in combination with either DMSO alone or with PADMA 28 given topically. At the end of the treatment period, superficial wounds were created in the skin, and time to wound closure was assessed. Collagen production and matrix-degrading MMPs were assessed. Abrasion wounds in skin that had been pretreated with PADMA 28 healed more rapidly than did wounds in Temovate plus DMSO-treated skin. Under conditions in which improved wound healing was observed, there was an increased collagen production and decreased MMP expression, but no significant epidermal hyperplasia and no evidence of skin irritation. The ability to stimulate collagen production and inhibit collagen-degrading enzymes in skin and facilitate more rapid wound closure without irritation should provide a rationale for development of the herbal preparation as a "skin-repair" agent.
Abstract. This study measured arousal responses to multitasking by recording switches between content on personal computers over a day. Results showed that swi
<p>Recent studies have shown that the presence of a caring relational partner can attenuate neural responses to threat. Here we report reanalyzed data from Coan, Schaefer, and Davidson ( 2006 ), investigating the role of relational mutuality in the neural response to threat. Mutuality reflects the degree to which couple members show mutual interest in the sharing of internal feelings, thoughts, aspirations, and joys - a vital form of responsiveness in attachment relationships. We predicted that wives who were high (versus low) in perceived mutuality, and who attended the study session with their husbands, would show reduced neural threat reactivity in response to mild electric shocks. We also explored whether this effect would depend on physical contact (hand-holding). As predicted, we observed that higher mutuality scores corresponded with decreased neural threat responding in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and supplementary motor cortex. These effects were independent of hand-holding condition. These findings suggest that higher perceived mutuality corresponds with decreased self-regulatory effort and attenuated preparatory motor activity in response to threat cues, even in the absence of direct physical contact with social resources.</p>
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Several Indigenous communities around the globe maintain unique conceptions of mental illness and disorder. The Q’eqchi’ Maya of southern Belize represent one Indigenous community that has maintained, due to highly “traditional” ways of life and the strong presence of many active localized healers or bush doctors, distinct conceptions of mental disorders as compared to Western psychiatric nosology. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to understand and interpret Q’eqchi’ nosological systems of mental disorders involving the factors—spiritual, cultural, social, historical, cosmological, or otherwise—implicated in their articulation and construction. Over a period of 9 months, and with the help of cultural advisors from several Q’eqchi’ communities, 94 interviews with five different traditional Q’eqchi’ healers were conducted. This paper demonstrates that the mental illnesses recognized by the Q’eqchi’ healers involved narrative structures with recognizable variations unfolding over time. What we present in this paper are 17 recognizable illnesses of the mind grouped within one of four broad “narrative genres.” Each genre involves a discernible plot structure, casts of characters, themes, motifs, and a recognizable teleology or “directedness.” In narrative terms, the healer’s diagnostic and therapeutic work can be understood as an ability to discern plot, to understand and interpret a specific case within the board, empirically based structure of Q’eqchi’ medical epistemology.
Why some doctors are writing prescriptions for time outdoors
Urbanization has many benefits, but it also is associated with increased levels of mental illness, including depression. It has been suggested that decreased nature experience may help to explain the link between urbanization and mental illness. This suggestion is supported by a growing body of correlational and experimental evidence, which raises a further question: what mechanism(s) link decreased nature experience to the development of mental illness? One such mechanism might be the impact of nature exposure on rumination, a maladaptive pattern of self-referential thought that is associated with heightened risk for depression and other mental illnesses. We show in healthy participants that a brief nature experience, a 90-min walk in a natural setting, decreases both self-reported rumination and neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex (sgPFC), whereas a 90-min walk in an urban setting has no such effects on self-reported rumination or neural activity. In other studies, the sgPFC has been associated with a self-focused behavioral withdrawal linked to rumination in both depressed and healthy individuals. This study reveals a pathway by which nature experience may improve mental well-being and suggests that accessible natural areas within urban contexts may be a critical resource for mental health in our rapidly urbanizing world.
Numerous studies have found evidence for the restorative effects of nature, in which exposure to natural elements can improve both well-being and cognitive performance. The present study investigated whether the restorative effects of nature could be captured within the context of a university learning environment. Undergraduate students were split into two groups and listened to a short lecture. One group was taught within an environment that lacked any natural presence (the “artificial” condition) whereas the other group was taught within a classroom containing some simple natural elements (the “nature-infused” condition). Knowledge retention and mood were assessed. At the end of the lecture, participants in the nature-infused environment scored significantly higher on the test of knowledge than those in the artificial environment. This trend persisted 1 week later but was nonsignificant. Mood was not affected. These findings indicate that incorporating nature into learning environments could have a beneficial effect on student knowledge retention, at least over short periods of time.
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