Displaying 1 - 7 of 7
<p>Mindfulness has been associated with better psychological and physical health; although, the mechanisms of these benefits are poorly understood. We explored the role of mindfulness in stress-health pathways among undergraduates at a large public university. Participants reported on demographic and academic variables and completed data collection at two time points during the academic semester, approximately one month apart. At each collection, measures of mindfulness, perceived stress, and psychological well-being were gathered. Students provided two days of home-based saliva collection for assessment of cortisol. Mean scores were computed for each of the measures, over the two assessments. Hierarchical multiple regressions adjusting for GPA, hours of paid employment per week, minority status, and living situation explored the impact of mindfulness in our stress-health model. Students with higher dispositional mindfulness reported significantly less perceived stress and had lower overall mean diurnal cortisol. Mindfulness was associated with greater psychological well-being. Exploratory analyses suggested that future research should explore the potential mediating or moderating relationships between mindfulness, perceived stress, and cortisol. Findings suggest that mindfulness may help attenuate both psychological and physiological stress responses to college stress.</p>
Dysregulation of emotions is a risk for social anxiety symptoms, whereas dispositional mindfulness has been proposed as assisting with emotion regulation. The aim of the current study was to examine the unique associations of dysregulation and mindfulness with adolescents' social anxiety, while focusing on the conceptual overlap and the empirical connection between dysregulation and mindfulness. Participants were 336 Australian adolescents (53% girls; 12–15 years) who completed questionnaires. Dysregulation and mindfulness were moderately correlated. Factor analysis revealed two factors accounting for 59% of the variance. The first factor, active dysregulation, had high positive loadings for five dysregulation and high negative loadings for two mindfulness subscales. The second factor, passive regulation, had a high negative loading for one dysregulation and high positive loadings for three mindfulness subscales. Both active and passive composite scores had unique associations with heightened anxiety symptoms. Regression analyses of the original subscales indicated that the dysregulation subscale limited strategies, and the mindfulness subscales observing and describing were uniquely associated with anxiety; strategies and observing were associated with more symptoms, whereas describing was associated with fewer. Interventions that address dysregulation and low capacity for mindfulness may be beneficial for adolescents with heightened social anxiety symptoms.
Freedom Project trains prisoners in nonviolent communication and meditation. Two complementary studies of its effects are reported in this article. The first study is correlational; we found decreased recidivism rates among prisoners trained by Freedom Project compared with recidivism rates in Washington state. The second study compared trained prisoners with a matched-pair control group and found improvement in self-reported anger, self-compassion, and certain forms of mindfulness among the trained group. Ratings of role-plays simulating difficult interactions show increased social skills among the group trained by Freedom Project than in the matched controls.
Ours is an era of tension and violence, as the Modern Worldview, which came to dominate muchof the planet in the past three hundred years, is found to be unjust, inhumane even to those who are its beneficiaries, and unsustainable—to the extent that it now elicits nihilism and even terrorism (among those local and abroad, from all kinds of communities). At the same time, a new worldview— sometimes referred to as a Relational Worldview—is struggling to emerge (Rowe, 2012). The Relational Worldview is challenging because it requires human beings to grow into a lifeway oriented to
continuous growth within a pluralistic environment of mutual thriving. Challenge is accentuated by the fact that so many people are swept up in an almost automatic defensive-aggressive retreat from
a public life which has become fearful and dangerous, into fundamentalism, nativism, and terrorism.
The postnatal period confers a high risk for anxiety in women, but few life stage-specific resources are available. This is despite public health policy recommendations for universal screening for mental health problems. Using the first two steps of the four-step United Kingdom Medical Research Council (UKMRC) guidance and with input from consumers, we developed and piloted a supported self-help psychoeducation resource for the management of syndromal or subsyndromal generalised postnatal anxiety. The theoretically sound What Am I Worried About (WAWA) resource uses cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness in a seven-module programme supported by a 30-min telephone consultation with a mental health professional during each module. Results of an open pilot confirm acceptability, safety, non-stigma, feasibility and preliminary efficacy. Subject to successful completion of Step 3 of the UKMRC guidance, WAWA can be provided for anxiety management to women in a stepped-care model in primary postnatal health services.