<p>Twenty-six younger (ages 18–36 years) and 19 older (ages 60–88 years) healthy right-handed men and women were tested for interhemispheric transfer by using visual evoked potentials lo laterally presented checkerboards. Interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) was estimated by subtracting latencies for both P100 and N160 peaks of the waveform contralateral to the stimulus from the waveform ipsilateral to the stimulus for homologous sites. The quality of interhemispheric transfer was estimated by comparing peak-to-peak amplitudes for homologous sites. IHTT did not change across age, but there was a suppression of the waveform over the indirectly stimulated hemisphere in the older participants. The significance of this finding for age-related changes in functions mediated by the corpus callosum is discussed.</p>
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<p>Matthew Akester provides a rejoinder to Melvyn Goldstein's response to his review of Melvyn C. Goldstein, <em>A History of Modern Tibet,</em> Volume 2: <em>The Calm before the Storm, 1951-55</em> in JIATS issue 4 (Bill McGrath 2010-05-13).</p>
A psychologist explains why we should accept that we will never live in the Anthropocene.
In the past years, the number of mindfulness‐based intervention and prevention programs has increased steadily. In order to achieve the intended program outcomes, program implementers need to understand the essential and indispensable components that define a program's success. This chapter describes the complex process of identifying the core components of a mindfulness and yoga program for urban early adolescents through the systematic study of fidelity of implementation of the intervention. The authors illustrate the CORE Process [(C) Conceptualize Core Components; (O) Operationalize and measure; (R) Run analyses and Review implementation findings; and (E) Enhance and refine], based on data gained from a mindfulness and yoga intervention study conducted as a community‐academic partnership in Baltimore city.
Mindfulness encompasses four core skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, and accepting without judgment; which aim to increase one's awareness, tolerance, and acceptance of internal experiences (Baer et al., 2004). Despite promising clinical results that mindfulness reduces alcohol craving and relapse, complementary etiological research is underdeveloped. Theory suggests that those who are motivated to drink to change internal states (reduce negative/increase positive affect) are at risk for elevated alcohol use. The ability to accept one's affective state should preclude internally-motivated drinking, and thus, elevated alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to parse out which mindfulness skills are central to alcohol use. We hypothesized that accepting without judgment would be a unique negative predictor of internally-motivated drinking (drinking for coping and enhancement motives) and alcohol use. Students (N=76) completed self-report measures of past month alcohol use and four motives for drinking: to cope, for enhancement, to conform, and for social reasons. Partially supporting our hypotheses, accepting without judgment was negatively associated with drinking for coping motives, but was unassociated with drinking for enhancement motives. Interestingly, acceptance without judgment was negatively associated with drinking for conformity motives (to reduce social rejection). Unexpectedly, acting with awareness, but not accepting without judgment, was a negative predictor of alcohol use. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing coping- and conformity-motivated drinking and alcohol use by young adults may benefit from incorporating mindfulness skills training (i.e., accepting without judgment; acting with awareness).
Lalande, Lloyd <https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Lalande,_Lloyd.html>, Bambling, Matthew, King, Robert, & Lowe, Roger <https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Lowe,_Roger.html> (2011) Breathwork: An additional treatment option for depression and anxiety? Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy: on the cutting edge of modern developments in psychotherapy, 42(2), pp. 113-119.
Breathwork is an increasingly popular experiential approach to psychotherapy based on the use of a specific breathing technique, however, claims of positive mental health outcomes rely on anecdotal clinical evidence. To ascertain the likely efficacy of breathwork this review clarifies the approach and its theoretical assumptions and examines relevant empirical research relating to breathing inhibition, suppression of inner experience, and possible neurological and physiological effects. Additionally, research into mindfulness-based psychotherapy and yoga breathing-based interventions with comparable features to breathwork are examined. Findings suggest qualified support for the key theoretical assumptions of a three component breathwork model, referred to as Integrative Breathwork Therapy (IBT), and its possible utility in the treatment of anxiety and depression. Further research aimed at exploring specific efficacy of this approach for these disorders may yield a useful additional treatment option utilising a different process of change to existing treatments.
BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and massage may be useful adjunctive therapies for chronic musculoskeletal pain.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of studying MBSR and massage for the management of chronic pain and estimate their effects on pain and mood.
DESIGN: Randomized trial comparing MBSR or massage with standard care.
PARTICIPANTS: Thirty patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
MEASUREMENTS: Pain was assessed with 0 to 10 numeric rating scales. Physical and mental health status was measured with the SF-12.
RESULTS: The study completion rate was 76.7%. At week 8, the massage group had average difference scores for pain unpleasantness of 2.9 and mental health status of 13.6 compared with 0.13 (P<.05) and 3.9 (P<.04), respectively, for the standard care group. These differences were no longer significant at week 12. There were no significant differences in the pain outcomes for the MBSR group. At week 12, the mean change in mental health status for the MBSR group was 10.2 compared with — 1.7 in the standard care group (P<.04).
CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to study MBSR and massage in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Mindfulness-based stress reduction may be more effective and longer-lasting for mood improvement while massage may be more effective for reducing pain.
<p>A study of the life and work of the important Jonang figure Dölpopa Sherap Gyentsen, including his philosophical view of gzhan stong.(Yaroslav Komarovski 2004-04-16)</p>
During the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of cancer in adolescents. While recent studies have illustrated remarkable resilience in youth living with cancer, they can also face daunting acute and chronic adjustment struggles, cognitive and school problems, family and peer relational difficulties, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and other anxiety disorders. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), increasingly shown to be effective in a variety of medical and mental health settings, may be particularly beneficial for adolescents with cancer. This paper reviews evidence from clinical trials of MBIs showing a variety of benefits for adult cancer patients, adolescents with anxiety disorders and chronic pain, and clinically healthy teenagers, which collectively point to likely benefits of MBIs for teen cancer patients. The authors also explore ways that the particular psychological problems often faced by teen cancer patients, including anxiety about the future, may be especially well suited to mindfulness approaches such as learning to observe physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions, as well as cultivating compassion towards themselves and others. The paper concludes with an exploration of unanswered and potential research questions regarding the future use of MBIs with adolescents with cancer, and potentially with teenagers with other chronic diseases.
This chapter argues that the major role of the nervous system involves initiating actions in response to challenges in the environment. In humans, the most important system for control of activity of the skeletal muscles starts in the motor area of the cerebral cortex, which in humans lies just in front of the central sulcus. A large fiber tract, called the cortico-spinal tract, connects the motor cortex with the spinal cord. The primary motor cortex is the source of most of the cortico-spinal axons, but its activity is strongly influenced by the pallidum, striatum, cerebellum, and many other cortical regions, including the somato-sensory area of the cortex. The brain translates these high-level plans into the initiation of contraction of dozens of muscles needed to carry out the required movements. All motor control systems act through alpha motor neurons, which are the final pathway to muscles. These motor neurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord activate the skeletal muscles of the limbs and trunk.
Traditional sources attribute to Khyung po rnal 'byor, the founder of the Shangs pa bka' brgyud lineage, a lifespan of 150 years beginning in a tiger year, usually thought to be 978 or 990. A careful examination of the chronological indications given in his rnam thar, however, suggest that it is implausible to hold that Khyung po was born prior to the middle years of the eleventh century. The present communication surveys the relevant evidence for Khyung po's dating, and demonstrates the reasons for which traditional historians regarded his career as beginning a full half century or more earlier than it actually did. It will be seen that the questions raised here are pertinent to the larger problems surrounding the "authenticity" of Shangpa origins overall. (Than Garson 2005-09-22)
The study of emotional communication has focused predominantly on the facial and vocal channels but has ignored the tactile channel. Participants in the current study were allowed to touch an unacquainted partner on the whole body to communicate distinct emotions. Of interest was how accurately the person being touched decoded the intended emotions without seeing the tactile stimulation. The data indicated that anger, fear, disgust, love, gratitude, and sympathy were decoded at greater than chance levels, as well as happiness and sadness, 2 emotions that have not been shown to be communicated by touch to date. Moreover, fine-grained coding documented specific touch behaviors associated with different emotions. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to the study of emotion-related communication.
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<p>The study of the rise and institutions of the Tibetan empire of the seventh to ninth centuries, and of the continuing development of Tibetan civilization during the obscure period that followed, have aroused growing interest among scholars of Inner Asia in recent decades. The six contributions presented here represent refinements in substance and method characterizing current work in this area. A chapter by Brandon Dotson provides a new perspective on law and divination under the empire, while the post-imperial international relations of the Tsong kha kingdom are analyzed by Bianca Horlemann. In "The History of the Cycle of Birth and Death," Yoshiro Imaeda's investigation of a Dunhuang narrative appears in a revised edition, in English for the first time. The problem of oral transmission in relation to the Tibetan Dunhuang texts is then taken up in the contribution of Sam van Schaik. In the final section, Matthew Kapstein and Carmen Meinert consider aspects of Chinese Buddhism in their relation to religious developments in Tibet.</p>
BACKGROUND:The EUDAIMON study focuses on fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), a prevalent chronic condition characterized by pain, fatigue, cognitive problems and distress. According to recent reviews and meta-analyses, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a promising therapeutic approach for patients with FMS. The measurement of biomarkers as part of the analysis of MBSR effects would help to identify the neurobiological underpinnings of MBSR and increase our knowledge of FMS pathophysiology. The main objectives of this 12-month RCT are: firstly, to examine the effectiveness and cost-utility for FMS patients of MBSR as an add-on to treatment as usual (TAU) versus TAU + the psychoeducational programme FibroQoL, and versus TAU only; secondly, to examine pre-post differences in brain structure and function, as well as levels of specific inflammatory markers in the three study arms and; thirdly, to analyse the role of some psychological variables as mediators of 12-month clinical outcomes.
METHODS:
Effectiveness, cost-utility, and neurobiological analyses performed alongside a 12-month RCT. The participants will be 180 adult patients with FMS recruited at the Sant Joan de Déu hospital (St. Boi de Llobregat, Spain), randomly allocated to one of the three study arms: TAU + MBSR vs. TAU + FibroQol vs. TAU. A comprehensive assessment to collect functional, quality of life, distress, costs, and psychological variables will be conducted pre-, post-intervention, and at 12-month post-intervention. Fifty per cent of study participants will be evaluated at pre- and post-treatment using Voxel-Based Morphometry, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, pseudo-continuous Arterial Spin Labeling, and resting state fMRI. A cytokine multiplex kit of high-sensitivity will be applied (cytokines IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 + high-sensitivity CRP test).
DISCUSSION:
The findings obtained from this RCT will indicate whether MBSR is potentially cost-effective for FMS and contribute to knowledge of any brain and inflammatory changes associated with MBSR in FMS patients. Specifically, we will determine whether there are morphometric and functional changes associated with participation in MBSR in brain regions related to meta-awareness, body awareness, memory consolidation-reconsolidation, emotion regulation and in networks postulated to underpin the sensory-discriminative, cognitive-evaluative and affective-motivational aspects of the pain experience.
Given curiosity’s fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two factor model—motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; 5 items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; 5 items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II.
Pairing full-length scholarly essays with shorter pieces drawn from scholarly blogs and conference presentations, as well as commissioned interviews and position statements, Debates in the Digital Humanities 2016 reveals a dynamic view of a field in negotiation with its identity, methods, and reach. Pieces in the book explore how DH can and must change in response to social justice movements and events like #Ferguson; how DH alters and is altered by community college classrooms; and how scholars applying DH approaches to feminist studies, queer studies, and black studies might reframe the commitments of DH analysts. Numerous contributors examine the movement of interdisciplinary DH work into areas such as history, art history, and archaeology, and a special forum on large-scale text mining brings together position statements on a fast-growing area of DH research. In the multivalent aspects of its arguments, progressing across a range of platforms and environments, Debates in the Digital Humanities 2016 offers a vision of DH as an expanded field's new possibilities, differently structured.
The Depression Workbook (2nd. edition) is for personal use by adults, family members, supporters and health care providers. It can be used as a guide for mental health recovery groups and programs. To make this book easily accessible it should be included in libraries. Health care providers will benefit from having a reference copy and copies to loan to the people they support.
The Depression Workbook (2nd. edition) is for personal use by adults, family members, supporters and health care providers. It can be used as a guide for mental health recovery groups and programs. To make this book easily accessible it should be included in libraries. Health care providers will benefit from having a reference copy and copies to loan to the people they support.
Objective:In college student samples, the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems has been found to be mediated by drinking-to-cope motives. Mindfulness-based interventions suggest that mindfulness may attenuate the conditioned response of using substances in response to negative emotional states, and trait mindfulness has been shown to be a protective factor associated with experiencing fewer alcohol-related problems. In the present study, we examined trait mindfulness as a moderator of the indirect associations of depressive symptoms on alcohol-related problems via drinking-to-cope motives.Method:Participants were undergraduate students at a large, southeastern university in the United States who drank at least once in the previous month (n = 448). Participants completed an online survey regarding their personal mental health, coping strategies, trait mindfulness, and alcohol use behaviors. The majority of participants were female (n = 302; 67.4%), identified as being either White nonHispanic (n = 213; 47.5%) or African American (n = 119; 26.6%), and reported a mean age of 22.74 (SD = 6.81) years. Further, 110 (25%) participants reported having a previous and/or current experience with mindfulness mediation.Results:As hypothesized, the indirect effects from depressive symptoms to alcohol-related problems via drinking-to-cope motives were weaker among individuals reporting higher levels of mindfulness than among individuals reporting lower and average levels of mindfulness.Conclusions:The present study suggests a possible mechanism through which mindfulness-based interventions may be efficacious among college students: decoupling the associations between depressive symptoms and drinking-to-cope motives.
A Clear and Effective Approach to Learning DBT SkillsFirst developed for treating borderline personality disorder, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has proven effective as treatment for a range of other mental health problems, especially for those characterized by overwhelming emotions. Research shows that DBT can improve your ability to handle distress without losing control and acting destructively. In order to make use of these techniques, you need to build skills in four key areas-distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook, a collaborative effort from three esteemed authors, offers straightforward, step-by-step exercises for learning these concepts and putting them to work for real and lasting change. Start by working on the introductory exercises and, after making progress, move on to the advanced-skills chapters. Whether you are a professional or a general reader, whether you use this book to support work done in therapy or as the basis for self-help, you'll benefit from this clear and practical guide to better managing your emotions.
Background: Studies of rumination suggest that self-focused attention is maladaptive and perpetuates depression. Conversely, self-focused attention can be adaptive, facilitating self-knowledge and the development of the alternative functional interpretations of negative thoughts and feelings on which cognitive therapy of depression depends. Increasing evidence suggests there are distinct varieties of self-focus, each with distinct functional properties. This study tested the prediction that in depressed patients brief inductions of analytical versus experiential self-focus would differentially affect overgeneral autobiographical memory, a phenomenon associated with poor clinical course. It was predicted that, relative to analytical self-focus, experiential self-focus would reduce overgeneral memory. Methods: 28 depressed patients either thought analytically about, or focused on their momentary experience of, identical symptom-focused induction items from [Cogn. Emotion 7 (1993) 561] rumination task. Participants completed the Autobiographical Memory Test [J. Abnorm. Psychol. 95 (1986) 144] before and after self-focus manipulations. Results: Experiential self-focus reduced overgeneral memory compared to analytical self-focus. Analytical and experiential self-focus did not differ in their effects on mood. Limitations: In the absence of a reference condition, only conclusions concerning the relative effects of analytical and experiential self-focus can be made. Conclusions: Results (1) support the differentiation of self-focus into distinct modes of self-attention with distinct functional effects in depression; (2) provide further evidence for the modifiability of overgeneral memory; and (3) provide further evidence for the dissociation of overgeneral memory and depressed mood. Clinically, results support the usefulness of training recovered depressed patients in adaptive experiential forms of self-awareness, as in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
Mindfulness practices are increasingly being utilized as a method for cultivating well-being. The term mindfulness is often used as an umbrella for a variety of different practices and many mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) contain multiple styles of practice. Despite the diversity of practices within MBIs, few studies have investigated whether constituent practices produce specific effects. We randomized 156 undergraduates to one of four brief practices: breath awareness, loving-kindness, gratitude, or to an attention control condition. We assessed practice effects on affect following brief training, and effects on affect and behavior after provocation with a stressor (i.e., Cold pressor test). Results indicate that gratitude training significantly improved positive affect compared to breath awareness (d = 0.58) and loving-kindness led to significantly greater reductions in implicit negative affect compared to the control condition (d = 0.59) immediately after brief practice. In spite of gains in positive affect, the gratitude group demonstrated increased reactivity to the stressor, reporting the CPT as significantly more aversive than the control condition (d = 0.46) and showing significantly greater increases in negative affect compared to the breath awareness, loving-kindness, and control groups (ds = 0.55, 0.60, 0.65, respectively). Greater gains in implicit positive affect following gratitude training predicted decreased post-stressor likability ratings of novel neutral faces compared to breath awareness, loving-kindness, and control groups (ds = - 0.39, -0.40, -0.33, respectively) as well. Moreover, the gratitude group was significantly less likely to donate time than the loving-kindness group in an ecologically valid opportunity to provide unrewarded support. These data suggest that different styles of contemplative practice may produce different effects in the context of brief, introductory practice and these differences may be heightened by stress. Implications for the study of contemplative practices are discussed.
Mindfulness practices are increasingly being utilized as a method for cultivating well-being. The term mindfulness is often used as an umbrella for a variety of different practices and many mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) contain multiple styles of practice. Despite the diversity of practices within MBIs, few studies have investigated whether constituent practices produce specific effects. We randomized 156 undergraduates to one of four brief practices: breath awareness, loving-kindness, gratitude, or to an attention control condition. We assessed practice effects on affect following brief training, and effects on affect and behavior after provocation with a stressor (i.e., Cold pressor test). Results indicate that gratitude training significantly improved positive affect compared to breath awareness (d = 0.58) and loving-kindness led to significantly greater reductions in implicit negative affect compared to the control condition (d = 0.59) immediately after brief practice. In spite of gains in positive affect, the gratitude group demonstrated increased reactivity to the stressor, reporting the CPT as significantly more aversive than the control condition (d = 0.46) and showing significantly greater increases in negative affect compared to the breath awareness, loving-kindness, and control groups (ds = 0.55, 0.60, 0.65, respectively). Greater gains in implicit positive affect following gratitude training predicted decreased post-stressor likability ratings of novel neutral faces compared to breath awareness, loving-kindness, and control groups (ds = - 0.39, -0.40, -0.33, respectively) as well. Moreover, the gratitude group was significantly less likely to donate time than the loving-kindness group in an ecologically valid opportunity to provide unrewarded support. These data suggest that different styles of contemplative practice may produce different effects in the context of brief, introductory practice and these differences may be heightened by stress. Implications for the study of contemplative practices are discussed.
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