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The relationship between mindfulness and well-being has received considerable empirical and theoretical attention in the scientific literature recently, with researchers hypothesizing a number of ways in which the two interact. However, a closer examination of the literature indicates that the two primary conceptualizations of well-being, psychological well-being (PWB) and subjective well-being (SWB), are theoretically distinct, yet regularly conflated and rarely examined in tandem. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore the associations between dispositional mindfulness, SWB, and PWB, with respect to contemplative practice, using canonical correlation analysis to examine data derived from an online sample of 361 respondents (106 contemplative practitioners and 245 non-practitioners). Results indicate that contemplative practitioners typically report significantly higher levels of mindfulness, as well as psychological and SWB. Furthermore, dispositional mindfulness is associated with both PWB and SWB, but more closely associated with PWB, irrespective of contemplative practice experience. Finally, mindfulness and well-being appear to be similarly related regardless of contemplative practice, although our findings suggest that contemplative practitioners and non-practitioners may conceptualize SWB differently. Contemplative practitioners appear to group PWB and SWB together in a unified well-being construct, while non-practitioners appear to conceptualize SWB as distinct from PWB.
Mindfulness-based interventions have been heralded as promising means of alleviating chronic stress. While meta-analyses indicate that mindfulness-based interventions significantly reduce global measures of stress, how mindfulness-based interventions modulate the specific mechanisms underpinning chronic stress as operationalized by the National Institute of Mental Health research domain criteria (RDoC) of sustained threat has not yet been detailed in the literature. To address this knowledge gap, this article aims to (1) review evidence that mindfulness-based interventions ameliorate each of the 10 elements of behavioral dysregulation characterizing sustained threat via an array of mindful counter-regulatory strategies; (2) review evidence that mindfulness-based interventions modify biological domains implicated in sustained threat, such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, as well as brain circuits involved in attentional function, limbic reactivity, habit behavior, and the default mode network; and (3) integrate these findings into a novel conceptual framework of mindful self-regulation in the face of stress-the Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory. Taken together, the extant body of scientific evidence suggests that the practice of mindfulness enhances a range biobehavioral factors implicated in adaptive stress coping and induces self-referential plasticity, leading to the ability to find meaning in adversity. These mechanistic findings can inform the treatment development process to optimize the next generation of mindfulness-based interventions for greater therapeutic efficacy.
OBJECTIVE: A growing body of theoretical and empirical work suggests that mindfulness may support more positive posttraumatic outcomes by reducing posttraumatic stress (PTS) and encouraging posttraumatic growth (PTG). Positive reappraisal (PR), a cognitive coping correlate of dispositional mindfulness (DM) has also been linked with greater PTG. However, neither DM nor PR have been modeled in relation to core posttraumatic constructs such as core belief disruption, intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, PTS and PTG. METHOD: This study explored associations between these constructs in a sample of college students (N = 505), also investigating the impact of contemplative practice involvement on the relationships between the constructs. RESULTS: Results indicate that including DM and PR into established models of PTG increases the model's explanatory power, which distinct cognitive coping pathways connect DM and core belief disruption with PTS as well as PTG, and that contemplative practice involvement substantially alters relationships between the core PTG variables. CONCLUSIONS: The present study contributes to the growing reconceptualization of trauma as linked with both positive and pathogenic outcomes, emphasizing the need to better understand how posttraumatic cognitive coping strategies contribute to more positive outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record
OBJECTIVE: A growing body of theoretical and empirical work suggests that mindfulness may support more positive posttraumatic outcomes by reducing posttraumatic stress (PTS) and encouraging posttraumatic growth (PTG). Positive reappraisal (PR), a cognitive coping correlate of dispositional mindfulness (DM) has also been linked with greater PTG. However, neither DM nor PR have been modeled in relation to core posttraumatic constructs such as core belief disruption, intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, PTS and PTG. METHOD: This study explored associations between these constructs in a sample of college students (N = 505), also investigating the impact of contemplative practice involvement on the relationships between the constructs. RESULTS: Results indicate that including DM and PR into established models of PTG increases the model's explanatory power, which distinct cognitive coping pathways connect DM and core belief disruption with PTS as well as PTG, and that contemplative practice involvement substantially alters relationships between the core PTG variables. CONCLUSIONS: The present study contributes to the growing reconceptualization of trauma as linked with both positive and pathogenic outcomes, emphasizing the need to better understand how posttraumatic cognitive coping strategies contribute to more positive outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record