The Neurobiology of Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation, Mindfulness, and Prayer: Three Spiritual Modalities Utilized for Healing

This paper describes three spiritual practices utilized for healing. These modalities-meditation, mindfulness, and prayer-share a spiritual foundation and appear to operate, in part, through mind-body connections that can be accessed to ameliorate physical and psychological symptoms and to promote health. For each modality, this paper discusses pertinent conceptual issues, summarizes empirical evidence suggestive of a role in healing, and outlines theoretical support for such a relationship. Also discussed is a fourth modality, energy healing, and how it might be studied, as well as why further investigation of spiritual healing is merited and a worthwhile topic for medical research.

Depressive symptoms prospectively increase risk for new onset cigarette and ENDS dependence symptoms

Little research has examined the new onset of cigarette and Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) dependence symptoms among young adults. This study aims to 1) examine new onset cigarette and ENDS dependence symptoms over a 4.5-year period and 2) examine how depressive symptoms impact new onset dependence symptoms among young adults. Participants were drawn from 24 colleges in Texas who were participating in a multi-wave cohort study (2014-2019). The present study included 4536 participants aged 18-25 who did not report cigarette or ENDS dependence symptoms at wave 1 (64.1% female; 65.2% non-white; m age = 20.62 [SD = 1.80] at wave 1). Cox's regression models were employed to determine the hazard of new onset cigarette and ENDS dependence symptoms overall and the impact of depressive symptoms. Models controlled for sociodemographic factors and other tobacco product use. 14.4% of participants reported new onset cigarette dependence symptoms and 14.6% reported new onset ENDS dependence symptoms over the 4.5 years of the study. Depressive symptoms significantly predicted increased risk for new onset cigarette (HR = 1.30, CI = [1.21, 1.39]) and ENDS (HR = 1.20, CI = [1.12, 1.29]) dependence symptoms. Young adults exhibited dependence symptoms for cigarettes and ENDS products at similar rates across the 4.5 years of the study. Elevated depressive symptoms increased risk of new onset cigarette and ENDS dependence symptoms, advancing evidence for the self-medication hypothesis. Tobacco and nicotine prevention and cessation programs and messaging are needed particularly among young adults who experience depressive symptoms.

Bio-Psycho-Socio-Spirito-Cultural Factors of Burnout: A Systematic Narrative Review of the Literature

Background: Burnout is a widespread, multifactorial, and mainly psychological phenomenon. The pathogenesis of burnout is commonly described within the bio-psycho-social model of health and disease. Recent literature suggests that the phenomenon of burnout may be broader so that the three dimensions might not reflect the multifaceted and complex nature of the syndrome. Consequently, this review aims to identify the diversity of factors related to burnout, to define overarching categories based on these, and to clarify whether the bio-psycho-social model adequately describes the pathogenesis of burnout-holistically and sufficiently. Method: Five online databases (PubMed, PubPsych, PsychARTICLES, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and Google Scholar) were systematically searched using defined search terms to identify relevant studies. The publication date was set between January 1981 and November 2020. Based on the selected literature, we identified factors related to burnout. We aggregated these factors into a comprehensible list and assigned them to overarching categories. Then, we assigned the factors to the dimensions of an extended model of health and disease. Results: We identified a total of 40 burnout-related factors and 10 overarching categories. Our results show that in addition to biological, psychological, and socio-environmental factors, various factors that can be assigned to a spiritual and work cultural dimension also play an important role in the onset of burnout. Conclusion: An extended bio-psycho-socio-spirito-cultural model is necessary to describe the pathogenesis of burnout. Therefore, future studies should also focus on spiritual and work cultural factors when investigating burnout. Furthermore, these factors should not be neglected in future developments of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention options.

Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program on Psychological Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Symptom Severity in Patients with Somatic Symptom Disorder

Background:

Patients with somatic symptom disorder (SSD) had a poor quality of life and suffered from depression, anxiety, and stress. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a psychological treatment with remarkable effects on several psychological disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the MBSR program on psychological symptoms, quality of life, and symptom severity in patients with SSD.

Materials and Methods:

The patients with SSD were randomly divided into two groups of receiving venlafaxine alone and venlafaxine with an 8-week MBSR program. Depression, anxiety, and stress with their severities were assessed along with the quality of life, the number of physical symptoms and their severities, as well as SSD severity before and after the intervention. Subsequently, the results were compared between the two groups.

Results:

This study included 37 patients with SSD who referred to Shariati Psychosomatic Clinic, Isfahan, Iran, with a mean age of 37.08 ± 8.26 years. It should be noted that 37.8% of the participants were male. The intervention group obtained significantly lower scores in depression, anxiety, stress, and their severities, compared to the control group. Moreover, the number of physical symptoms, their severity, and the severity of SSD were significantly decreased more in the intervention group rather than the controls.

Conclusion:

The MBSR accompanied by prescribing venlafaxine can significantly reduce the severity of SSD, as well as the number and severity of physical symptoms. Moreover, it can reduce depression, anxiety, stress, and their severity. The MBSR can be used as complementary medicine for the treatment of patients with SSD.

Meditation and the brain - Neuronal correlates of mindfulness as assessed with near-infrared spectroscopy

Mindfulness meditation as a therapeutic intervention has been shown to have positive effects on psychological problems such as depression, pain or anxiety disorders. In this study, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to detect differences in hemodynamic responses of meditation experts (14 participants) and a control group (16 participants) in a resting and a mindfulness condition. In both conditions, the sound of a meditation bowl was used to find group differences in the auditory system and adjacent cortical areas. Different lateralization patterns of the brain were found in expert meditators while being in a resting state (amplified left hemisphere) or being in mindfulness state (amplified right hemisphere). Compared to the control group, meditation experts had a more widespread pattern of activation in the auditory cortex, while resting. In the mindfulness condition, the control group showed a decrease of activation in higher auditory areas (BA 1, 6 and 40), whereas the meditation experts had a significant increase in those areas. In addition, meditation expert had highly activated brain areas (BA 39, 40, 44 and 45) beyond the meditative task itself, indicating possible long-term changes in the brain and their positive effects on empathy, meta cognitive skills and health.

Neurobiological Aspects of Mindfulness in Pain Autoregulation: Unexpected Results from a Randomized-Controlled Trial and Possible Implications for Meditation Research

Background: Research has demonstrated that short meditation training may yield higher pain tolerance in acute experimental pain. Our study aimed at examining underlying mechanisms of this alleged effect. In addition, placebo research has shown that higher pain tolerance is mediated via endogenous neuromodulators: experimental inhibition of opioid receptors by naloxone antagonized this effect. We performed a trial to discern possible placebo from meditation-specific effects on pain tolerance and attention. Objectives: It was proposed that (i) meditation training will increase pain tolerance; (ii) naloxone will inhibit this effect; (iii) increased pain tolerance will correlate with improved attention performance and mindfulness. Methods: Randomized-controlled, partly blinded trial with 31 healthy meditation-naïve adults. Pain tolerance was assessed by the tourniquet test, attention performance was measured by Attention Network Test (ANT), self-perceived mindfulness by Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. 16 participants received a 5-day meditation training, focusing on body/breath awareness; the control group (N = 15) received no intervention. Measures were taken before the intervention and on 3 consecutive days after the training, with all participants receiving either no infusion, naloxone infusion, or saline infusion (blinded). Blood samples were taken in order to determine serum morphine and morphine glucuronide levels by applying liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Results: The meditation group produced fewer errors in ANT. Paradoxically, increases in pain tolerance occurred in both groups (accentuated in control), and correlated with reported mindfulness. Naloxone showed a trend to decrease pain tolerance in both groups. Plasma analyses revealed sporadic morphine and/or morphine metabolite findings with no discernable pattern. Discussion: Main objectives could not be verified. Since underlying study goals had not been made explicit to participants, on purpose (framing effects toward a hypothesized mindfulness-pain tolerance correlation were thus avoided, trainees had not been instructed how to 'use' mindfulness, regarding pain), the question remains open whether lack of meditation effects on pain tolerance was due to these intended 'non-placebo' conditions, cultural effects, or other confounders, or on an unsuitable paradigm. Conclusion: Higher pain tolerance through meditation could not be confirmed.

Changes in Mood States Are Induced by Smelling Familiar and Exotic Fragrances

Familiar fragrances usually induce positive mood states and elicit favorable evaluation. Relaxation is also widely thought to improve mood state. Yet experimental evidence on the effect of two different stimuli, fragrance smelling and breathing relaxation, on mood state, and fragrance evaluation is lacking. This study aimed to test (1) the effect of two familiar fragrances, lavender and myrtle, and two exotic fragrances, bergamot and ravensara, on perceived mood states before and after relaxation, (2) the effect of relaxation on perceived mood states for each fragrance, and (3) the effect of relaxation on fragrance evaluation as defined by adjectives. We hypothesized that mood states and assessment of the fragrances would differently be affected both in familiar vs. non-familiar fragrances and also before and after relaxation. Participants (n = 127) completed questionnaires on their mood states at baseline (T0). They were then presented with each of the four fragrances separately and asked to report on mood state and to assess the fragrances with adjectives before (T1) and after (T2) breathing relaxation. Analyses of the T0–T1 delta values of mood states by ANOVA repeated measures and post hoc comparisons showed that mood states were affected by fragrance smelling with no clear differences observed between familiar and exotic fragrances. The same analyses of T1–T2 values showed no differences in mood state after breathing relaxation and fragrance smelling. Fragrance assessment by adjectives indicated a non-conclusive trend for familiar and exotic fragrances. In sum, mood states induced by the fragrance smelling stimulus (T0–T1) were not changed by the addition of the second stimulus of relaxation (T1–T2), indicating that the former stimulus was stronger than the latter. On the other hand, the cognitive component represented by adjective-based assessment of fragrances was slightly modified by the relaxation stimulus.

Flourishing in the Workplace Through Meditation and Mindfulness

We believe that Hyland, Lee, and Mills (2015) introduced important considerations concerning the importance of mindfulness for research and practice in industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology, and we applaud their effort. We also feel that some equally important points were neglected or given scant attention. We amplify their introduction in three ways. We discuss (a) how construct confusion is common when new constructs are introduced and how paying attention to the type of meditation practice used to induce mindfulness will enhance construct clarity, (b) how using forms of meditation that employ physical movement and other activities to induce mindfulness expand the choices for intervention and training, and (c) how meditation and mindfulness provide a valuable bridge linking positive psychology and I-O psychology theory and practice.

Subjective expansion of extended time-spans in experienced meditators

Experienced meditators typically report that they experience time slowing down in meditation practice as well as in everyday life. Conceptually this phenomenon may be understood through functional states of mindfulness, i.e., by attention regulation, body awareness, emotion regulation, and enhanced memory. However, hardly any systematic empirical work exists regarding the experience of time in meditators. In the current cross-sectional study, we investigated whether 42 experienced mindfulness meditation practitioners (with on average 10 years of experience) showed differences in the experience of time as compared to 42 controls without any meditation experience matched for age, sex, and education. The perception of time was assessed with a battery of psychophysical tasks assessing the accuracy of prospective time judgments in duration discrimination, duration reproduction, and time estimation in the milliseconds to minutes range as well with several psychometric instruments related to subjective time such as the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale and the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. In addition, subjective time judgments on the current passage of time and retrospective time ranges were assessed. While subjective judgements of time were found to be significantly different between the two groups on several scales, no differences in duration estimates in the psychophysical tasks were detected. Regarding subjective time, mindfulness meditators experienced less time pressure, more time dilation, and a general slower passage of time. Moreover, they felt that the last week and the last month passed more slowly. Overall, although no intergroup differences in psychophysical tasks were detected, the reported findings demonstrate a close association between mindfulness meditation and the subjective feeling of the passage of time captured by psychometric instruments.