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Stoliker D, Novelli L, Vollenweider FX, Egan GF, Preller KH, Razi A. Neural Mechanisms of Resting-State Networks and the Amygdala Underlying the Cognitive and Emotional Effects of Psilocybin. Biol Psychiatry 2024; 96:57-66. [PMID: 38185235 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin, alter perceptual and cognitive systems that are functionally integrated with the amygdala. These changes can alter cognition and emotions that are hypothesized to contribute to their therapeutic utility. However, the neural mechanisms of cognitive and subcortical systems altered by psychedelics are not well understood. METHODS We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance images collected during a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 24 healthy adults under 0.2 mg/kg psilocybin to estimate the directed (i.e., effective) changes between the amygdala and 3 large-scale resting-state networks involved in cognition. These networks are the default mode network, the salience network, and the central executive network. RESULTS We found a pattern of decreased top-down effective connectivity from these resting-state networks to the amygdala. Effective connectivity decreased within the default mode network and salience network but increased within the central executive network. These changes in effective connectivity were statistically associated with behavioral measures of altered cognition and emotion under the influence of psilocybin. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that temporary amygdala signal attenuation is associated with mechanistic changes to resting-state network connectivity. These changes are significant for altered cognition and perception and suggest targets for research investigating the efficacy of psychedelic therapy for internalizing psychiatric disorders. More broadly, our study suggests the value of quantifying the brain's hierarchical organization using effective connectivity to identify important mechanisms for basic cognitive function and how they are integrated to give rise to subjective experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Devon Stoliker
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Leonardo Novelli
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Franz X Vollenweider
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Gary F Egan
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Katrin H Preller
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Adeel Razi
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program, CIFAR, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Heshmati R, Kheiriabad M, Azmoodeh S, Ghasemi A, Pfaltz M. Pathways Linking Parental Care and Control to Loneliness in Breast Cancer Patients with A History of Childhood Maltreatment: Exploring the Mediating Roles of Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression and Self-Discrepancy. JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE 2024; 39:2261-2289. [PMID: 38158727 DOI: 10.1177/08862605231218678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for loneliness and is linked to breast cancer. Parental bonding experienced during one's childhood also plays a significant role in increasing or decreasing the risk of loneliness later in life. Previous research has highlighted the significance of ambivalence over emotional expression (AEE) and self-discrepancy in the psychological adaptation of breast cancer patients, particularly concerning the impact of parental care and control experienced by patients in their relationship with their parents during childhood. Nevertheless, previous studies have not examined the mediating effects of AEE and self-discrepancy on parental care and control, as well as loneliness, in breast cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate whether AEE and self-discrepancy mediate the association of childhood parental care and control with loneliness in breast cancer patients with a history of childhood maltreatment. One hundred and thirty-three breast cancer patients who were receiving chemotherapy within the first 3 months post-diagnosis were recruited from one private and three public hospitals in Tabriz, Iran, to complete questionnaires. Parental bonding, loneliness, AEE, and self-discrepancy were assessed using the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, Ambivalence over the Expression of Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ), and Self-Discrepancies Scale (S-DS). Mediation models were tested using structural equation modeling. Effects of parental care (β = -.17, p < .05) and control (β = .21, p < .001) on loneliness were significant. Furthermore, both AEE (β = .19, p < .05) and self-discrepancy (β = .23, p < .01) significantly predicted loneliness. The pathway between parental care and AEE was significant (β = -.21, p < .001), as was the direct effect of parental control on self-discrepancy (β = .19, p < .05). Bootstrapping results showed that AEE significantly mediated the relationship between parental care and loneliness (95% confidence interval [CI] [-0.09, -0.01]). In addition, there was a significant indirect effect from parental control to loneliness via self-discrepancy (95% CI [0.11, 0.01]). These findings suggest that AEE and self-discrepancy could potentially be utilized in preventing or addressing loneliness in breast cancer patients who have a history of childhood maltreatment. Future research could, for example, assess whether integrating psychosocial interventions focusing on these variables as part of medical care can improve the mental health status of this subgroup of breast cancer patients who have experienced childhood maltreatment.
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Perez-Diaz O, Góngora D, González-Mora JL, Rubia K, Barrós-Loscertales A, Hernández SE. Enhanced amygdala-anterior cingulate white matter structural connectivity in Sahaja Yoga Meditators. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0301283. [PMID: 38547155 PMCID: PMC10977753 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To study the white matter connections between anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula and amygdala as key regions of the frontal-limbic network that have been related to meditation. DESIGN Twenty experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty nonmeditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using Diffusion Weighted Imaging, using a 3T scanner, and their white matter connectivity was compared using diffusion tensor imaging analyses. RESULTS There were five white matter fiber paths in which meditators showed a larger number of tracts, two of them connecting the same area in both hemispheres: the left and right amygdalae and the left and right anterior insula; and the other three connecting left anterior cingulate with the right anterior insula, the right amygdala and the left amygdala. On the other hand, non-meditators showed larger number of tracts in two paths connecting the left anterior insula with the left amygdala, and the left anterior insula with the left anterior cingulate. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that long-term practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with larger white matter tracts strengthening interhemispheric connections between limbic regions and connections between cingulo-amygdalar and cingulo-insular brain regions related to top-down attentional and emotional processes as well as between top-down control functions that could potentially be related to the witness state perceived through the state of mental silence promoted with this meditation. On the other hand, reduced connectivity strength in left anterior insula in the meditation group could be associated to reduced emotional processing affecting top-down processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar Perez-Diaz
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Daylín Góngora
- Department of Microeconomics and Public Economics, Maastricht University School of Business and Economics & Maastricht University - Center of Neuroeconomics, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - José L González-Mora
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Katya Rubia
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alfonso Barrós-Loscertales
- Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón de la Plana, Castellón, Spain
| | - Sergio Elías Hernández
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
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Lee SJ, Lee M, Kim HB, Huh HJ. The Relationship Between Interoceptive Awareness, Emotion Regulation and Clinical Symptoms Severity of Depression, Anxiety and Somatization. Psychiatry Investig 2024; 21:255-264. [PMID: 38569583 PMCID: PMC10990629 DOI: 10.30773/pi.2023.0221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The primary objective of this study was to examine the associations among emotion regulation strategies, interoceptive awareness, and psychological distress measures-namely, depression, anxiety, and somatization. Additionally, we aimed to explore the predictive power of various facets of interoceptive awareness in determining the severity of symptoms for each mental disorder. METHODS A cohort of 130 outpatients diagnosed with depression/anxiety disorder were recruited, and 20 subjects exhibiting incomplete responses were excluded from the dataset, leading to a final sample size of 110 outpatients. The clinical symptoms were measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and the usage of emotion-regulation strategies and interoceptive awareness was assessed with Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), respectively. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine whether emotion-regulation strategies and interoceptive awareness explain the statistically significant variance in each of the symptoms. RESULTS In the depression model, cognitive reappraisal, accept, and attention regulation showed significant associations, while in the anxiety model, cognitive reappraisal, attention regulation, trust, and notice emerged as significant factors. Lastly, cognitive reappraisal and attention regulation were found to be significant contributors to the final model for somatization. CONCLUSION The inclusion of MAIA subscales improved the predictive ability of the regression model, highlighting the independent association between interoceptive awareness-particularly attention regulation-and clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression. Additionally, the study underscores the relevance of considering the specific pathological context when implementing interventions, as evidenced by the positive associations between the accept subscale and depression and between the notice subscale and anxiety, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su Jin Lee
- Department of Psychology, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Mimi Lee
- Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyeong Beom Kim
- Department of Social Welfare, Soongsil University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyu Jung Huh
- Department of Psychiatry, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Incheon, Republic of Korea
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Mösler T, Poppek S, Leonhard C, Collet W. Reflective Skills, Empathy, Wellbeing, and Resilience in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Trainees Participating in Mindfulness-Based Self-Practice/Self-Reflection. Psychol Rep 2023; 126:2648-2668. [PMID: 35499138 PMCID: PMC10652655 DOI: 10.1177/00332941221094482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Self-Practice/Self-Reflection (SP/SR) is an aspect of therapist training and professional development aimed at enhancing therapy skills, empathy, wellbeing, and resilience in the ultimate furtherance of client outcomes. For many decades, intensive SP/SR has been a required part of therapist training in many countries but relatively little is known about the effect of SP/SR. Studies have found cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) therapists trained under a Beckian CBT paradigm benefitted from more time limited Beckian SP/SR. Mindfulness-based CBT is a more recent third-wave CBT paradigm with psychological process aims similar to those of SP/SR. While training in mindfulness-based CBT often has prominent SP/SR aspects, and mindfulness practice has been shown to benefit health care providers personally and professionally, to date no evaluations have been reported specifically of effects of participation of CBT trainees in stand-alone mindfulness-based SP/SR that meets regulatory requirements for more intensive SP/SR. A study on SP/SR training meeting German requirements is reported here. Post-graduate CBT trainees (N = 95) were assigned to delayed or immediate SP/SR with those in the delayed SP/SR condition crossing-over into SP/SR training after two baseline evaluations on a variety of reflective skill, wellbeing, and resilience measures spaced six to 9 months apart before participating in 120-150 hours of stand-alone mindfulness-based SP/SR followed by a third reevaluation on all study measures. Participants assigned to the immediate SP/SR condition underwent identical SP/SR training with pre/post assessments. Results indicate participation in intensive stand-alone mindfulness-based SP/SR resulted in favorable changes in measures operationalizing all variables. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for training and professional development of CBT therapists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Mösler
- Institut für Verhaltenstherapie, Verhaltensmedizin und Sexuologie, Nuremberg/Fuerth, Germany
| | - Sandra Poppek
- Institut für Verhaltenstherapie, Verhaltensmedizin und Sexuologie, Nuremberg/Fuerth, Germany
| | - Christoph Leonhard
- Institut für Verhaltenstherapie, Verhaltensmedizin und Sexuologie, Nuremberg/Fuerth, Germany
- The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Wilfried Collet
- Institut für Verhaltenstherapie, Verhaltensmedizin und Sexuologie, Nuremberg/Fuerth, Germany
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van Kleef RS, Müller A, van Velzen LS, Marie Bas-Hoogendam J, van der Wee NJA, Schmaal L, Veltman DJ, Rive MM, Ruhé HG, Marsman JBC, van Tol MJ. Functional MRI correlates of emotion regulation in major depressive disorder related to depressive disease load measured over nine years. Neuroimage Clin 2023; 40:103535. [PMID: 37984226 PMCID: PMC10696117 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) often is a recurrent and chronic disorder. We investigated the neurocognitive underpinnings of the incremental risk for poor disease course by exploring relations between enduring depression and brain functioning during regulation of negative and positive emotions using cognitive reappraisal. We used fMRI-data from the longitudinal Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety acquired during an emotion regulation task in 77 individuals with MDD. Task-related brain activity was related to disease load, calculated from presence and severity of depression in the preceding nine years. Additionally, we explored task related brain-connectivity. Brain functioning in individuals with MDD was further compared to 35 controls to explore overlap between load-effects and general effects related to MDD history/presence. Disease load was not associated with changes in affect or with brain activity, but with connectivity between areas essential for processing, integrating and regulating emotional information during downregulation of negative emotions. Results did not overlap with general MDD-effects. Instead, MDD was generally associated with lower parietal activity during downregulation of negative emotions. During upregulation of positive emotions, disease load was related to connectivity between limbic regions (although driven by symptomatic state), and connectivity between frontal, insular and thalamic regions was lower in MDD (vs controls). Results suggest that previous depressive load relates to brain connectivity in relevant networks during downregulation of negative emotions. These abnormalities do not overlap with disease-general abnormalities and could foster an incremental vulnerability to recurrence or chronicity of MDD. Therefore, optimizing emotion regulation is a promising therapeutic target for improving long-term MDD course.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rozemarijn S van Kleef
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Amke Müller
- Department of Psychology, Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Laura S van Velzen
- Orygen Parkville, VIC, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam
- Developmental and Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
| | - Nic J A van der Wee
- Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
| | - Lianne Schmaal
- Orygen Parkville, VIC, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Dick J Veltman
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC location VUMC & Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Maria M Rive
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC location AMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Triversum, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, GGZ Noord-Holland Noord, Hoorn, the Netherlands
| | - Henricus G Ruhé
- Department of Psychiatry, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jan-Bernard C Marsman
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Marie-José van Tol
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
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Empl M, Löser S, Spille P, Rozwadowska A, Ruscheweyh R, Straube A. Effects of Introvision, a self-regulation method with a mindfulness-based perception technique in migraine prevention: a monocentric randomized waiting-list controlled study (IntroMig Study). J Headache Pain 2023; 24:146. [PMID: 37924063 PMCID: PMC10623798 DOI: 10.1186/s10194-023-01684-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Migraine is a brain disorder with recurrent headache attacks and altered sensory processing. Introvision is a self-regulation method based on mindfulness-like perception techniques, developed at the University of Hamburg. Here, we examined the effect of Introvision in migraine prevention. METHODS Migraineurs with at least five headache days per month were block-randomized to the experimental group (EG) or waiting list group (WL), the latter starting Introvision training six weeks after the EG. Participants learned Introvision in six weekly on-site group sessions with video-conference support followed by three individual video-conference sessions. Headache diaries and questionnaires were obtained before Introvision training and three months after the last individual Introvision session. RESULTS Fifty-one patients completed the study. The primary outcome, headache days of the EG after Introvision training compared to those of the WL before the training, showed no significant effect (10.6 ± 7.7, n = 22; vs. 10.9 ± 6.3, n = 29, p = 0.63; Mann-Whitney-U-Test). The secondary outcome, comparing pooled EG and WL data before and after Introvision training, revealed a significant reduction of headache days (from 11.7 ± 6.5 to 9.8 ± 7.0; p = 0.003; Wilcoxon-paired-Test) as well as of acute medication intake and Headache-Impact-Test 6 (HIT-6) scores and increased self-efficacy as quantified by increased FKMS-scores (FKMS: german short form of the Headache Management Self-Efficacy Scale (HMSE)). CONCLUSION Although the study did not reach its primary endpoint, several secondary outcome parameters in the pooled (non-controlled) pre-post analysis showed an improvement with a decrease in monthly headache days by 1.9 days/ month. A larger randomized controlled trial has to corroborate these preliminary findings. TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT03507400, Registration date 09.03.2018.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Empl
- Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.
- Practice Munich, Munich, Germany.
| | | | | | - Agnieszka Rozwadowska
- Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Kbo Hospital, Haar, Germany
| | - Ruth Ruscheweyh
- Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Andreas Straube
- Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
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Sebri V, Durosini I, Pravettoni G. How to address the body after breast cancer? A proposal for a psychological intervention focused on body compassion. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1085837. [PMID: 36698594 PMCID: PMC9868453 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1085837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Sebri
- Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy,*Correspondence: Valeria Sebri ✉
| | - Ilaria Durosini
- Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Gabriella Pravettoni
- Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy,Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
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Weder BJ. Mindfulness in the focus of the neurosciences - The contribution of neuroimaging to the understanding of mindfulness. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:928522. [PMID: 36325155 PMCID: PMC9622333 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.928522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mindfulness affects human levels of experience by facilitating the immediate and impartial perception of phenomena, including sensory stimulation, emotions, and thoughts. Mindfulness is now a focus of neuroimaging, since technical and methodological developments in magnetic resonance imaging have made it possible to observe subjects performing mindfulness tasks. OBJECTIVE We set out to describe the association between mental processes and characteristics of mindfulness, including their specific cerebral patterns, as shown in structural and functional neuroimaging studies. METHODS We searched the MEDLINE databank of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics via PubMed using the keywords: "mindfulness," "focused attention (FA)," "open monitoring (OM)," "mind wandering," "emotional regulation," "magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)" and "default mode network (DMN)." This review extracted phenomenological experiences across populations with varying degrees of mindfulness training and correlated these experiences with structural and functional neuroimaging patterns. Our goal was to describe how mindful behavior was processed by the constituents of the default mode network during specific tasks. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Depending on the research paradigm employed to explore mindfulness, investigations of function that used fMRI exhibited distinct activation patterns and functional connectivities. Basic to mindfulness is a long-term process of learning to use meditation techniques. Meditators progress from voluntary control of emotions and subjective preferences to emotional regulation and impartial awareness of phenomena. As their ability to monitor perception and behavior, a metacognitive skill, improves, mindfulness increases self-specifying thoughts governed by the experiential phenomenological self and reduces self-relational thoughts of the narrative self. The degree of mindfulness (ratio of self-specifying to self-relational thoughts) may affect other mental processes, e.g., awareness, working memory, mind wandering and belief formation. Mindfulness prevents habituation and the constant assumptions associated with mindlessness. Self-specifying thinking during mindfulness and self-relational thinking in the narrative self relies on the default mode network. The main constituents of this network are the dorsal and medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. These midline structures are antagonistic to self-specifying and self-relational processes, since the predominant process determines their differential involvement. Functional and brain volume changes indicate brain plasticity, mediated by mental training over the long-term.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno J. Weder
- Support Centre for Advanced Neuroimaging (SCAN), Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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Approaching or Decentering? Differential Neural Networks Underlying Experiential Emotion Regulation and Cognitive Defusion. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12091215. [PMID: 36138951 PMCID: PMC9496919 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12091215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2022] [Revised: 06/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study investigated the bottom-up experiential emotion regulation in comparison to the cognitiveve top down-approach of cognitive defusion. Rooted in an experiential- and client-centered psychotherapeutic approach, experiential emotion regulation involves an active, non-intervening, accepting, open and welcoming approach towards the bodily felt affective experience in a welcoming, compassionate way, expressed in ‘experiential awareness’ in a first phase, and its verbalization or ‘experiential expression’ in a second phase. Defusion refers to the ability to observe one’s thoughts and feelings in a detached manner. Nineteen healthy participants completed an emotion regulation task during fMRI scanning by processing highly arousing negative events by images. Both experiential emotion regulation and cognitive defusion resulted in higher negative emotion compared to a ‘watch’ control condition. On the neurophysiological level, experiential emotion regulation recruited brain areas that regulate attention towards affective- and somatosensorial experience such as the anterior cingulate cortex, the paracingulate gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the prefrontal pole, areas underlying multisensory information integration (e.g., angular gyrus), and linking body states to emotion recognition and awareness (e.g., postcentral gyrus). Experiential emotion regulation, relative to the control condition, also resulted in a higher interaction between the anterior insular cortex and left amygdala while participants experienced less negative emotion. Cognitive defusion decreased activation in the subcortical areas such as the brainstem, the thalamus, the amygdala, and the hippocampus. In contrast to cognitive defusion, experiential emotion regulation relative to demonstrated greater activation in the left angular gyrus, indicating more multisensory information integration. These findings provide insight into different and specific neural networks underlying psychotherapy-based experiential emotion regulation and cognitive defusion.
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11
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Common and distinct neural bases of multiple positive emotion regulation strategies: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neuroimage 2022; 257:119334. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Revised: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
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Rethinking Mindfulness in Education within Two Frameworks: Articulating the “Threefold Model of Mindful Wisdom” with the “Theory of Mental Interference”. RELIGIONS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/rel13010066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The existent trend of implementing mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) into public education came along with an increasing scientific record regarding the definitional construct of mindfulness, effects of various mindfulness-based interventions and their basic mechanisms. In terms of the rising definitional discourse in the interdisciplinary field of mindfulness, the “threefold model of mindful wisdom” (TMMW) was proposed. In the present paper’s quest of rethinking mindfulness in education, the relevance of the TMMW for didactics in modern Western educational systems (with special interest on the region of Germany) is examined, affirmed in several points and—with the aid of the “Theory of Mental Interference” (TMI)—methodically linked to individual learners’ needs. The TMI has been developed at the University of Hamburg since 1984 by Wagner and colleagues. This is compatible with the TMMW with regard to the concept of self and basic psychological mechanisms of “mindful exercises”. Its basic approach conceives the epistemic level of cognitive processes (1) to be unbiased by affect and (2) to be different from a level of mental interference, which in case of an arising default habitually interferes with the cognitive processes. Implications for further research, for modern educational systems and for MBPs in education are discussed.
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Ito E, Tadaka E. Effectiveness of the Online Daily Diary (ONDIARY) program on family caregivers of advanced cancer patients: A home-based palliative care trial. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2021; 46:101508. [PMID: 34781203 DOI: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2021.101508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES There are many effective palliative care programs for patients with advanced cancer. However, little is known about effective programs for family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer, especially in home-based palliative care settings. This study aimed to determine the effect of the Online Daily Diary (ONDIARY) program on the quality of life (QOL) of family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer in home-based palliative care settings. METHODS This study used a quasi-experimental design with a control group. The sample comprised 60 family caregivers (intervention group n = 30, control group n = 30) of patients with advanced cancer receiving home-based palliative care. The intervention group was assigned to the ONDIARY program in addition to usual care, and the control group was assigned to usual care. Group allocation was not randomized. The ONDIARY program is a 7-day online diary intervention program that aims to enhance emotional competence. Outcome measures were feasibility assessment, and primary and secondary outcome assessment. Primary and secondary outcome measures were the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) and the six-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). Repeated measures analysis of variance was performed on each measure, with group and group × time interactions. RESULTS There was a significant group × time interaction in CQOLC scores (F = 9.324, P = 0.003). The CQOLC scores of family caregivers in the intervention group were maintained after the intervention, whereas those in the control group declined. There was no significant difference in K6 scores between the two groups. CONCLUSION The results suggest that the ONDIARY program in addition to usual care has potential to be effective in preventing decline and maintaining QOL of family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer in home-based palliative care settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eriko Ito
- Department of Community Health Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
| | - Etsuko Tadaka
- Department of Community and Public Health Nursing, Graduate School of Health Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
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14
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De Coninck S, Aben B, Van den Bussche E, Mariën P, Van Overwalle F. Embodying Stressful Events: No Difference in Subjective Arousal and Neural Correlates Related to Immersion, Interoception, and Embodied Mentalization. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:640482. [PMID: 34054442 PMCID: PMC8161507 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.640482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Repetitive thought about oneself, including one's emotions, can lead to both adaptive and maladaptive effects. Construal level of repetitive self-referential thought might moderate this. During interoception, which engages areas such as the insula, the anterior and/or posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the somatosensory cortex, concrete low level construal self-referential thought is applied, which has been shown to lead to more positive emotions after upsetting events. Contrarily, during immersion, related to neural activity in the default mode network (DMN), abstract high level construal self-referential thought is applied, which is linked to depression. The current study investigated whether the integration of concrete and abstract self-referential thought by means of embodied mentalization leads to less subjective arousal, decreased DMN activity and increased somatosensory activity as compared to immersion, and to more DMN activity as compared to interoception. In the fMRI scanner, participants imagined stressful events while adopting immersion, interoception or embodied mentalization. After each imagined stressful event, participants rated their subjective arousal and how difficult it was to apply the mode of self-referential thought. Results showed that participants felt that immersion was easier to apply than embodied mentalization. However, no differences in subjective arousal or neural activity were found between immersion, interoception and embodied mentalization. Possible reasons for this lack of significant differences are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah De Coninck
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Brain, Body and Cognition and Center of Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.,Research Units Sustainable Resources, Smart Organizations and Inclusive Society, University College Leuven Limburg, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Bart Aben
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Eva Van den Bussche
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Peter Mariën
- Faculty of Language and Literature, Centre for Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Frank Van Overwalle
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Brain, Body and Cognition and Center of Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
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15
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Nellessen N, Onur OA, Richter N, Jacobs HIL, Dillen KNH, Reutern BV, Langen KJ, Fink GR, Kukolja J. Differential neural structures, intrinsic functional connectivity, and episodic memory in subjective cognitive decline and healthy controls. Neurobiol Aging 2021; 105:159-173. [PMID: 34090179 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.04.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 04/05/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The neural correlates of subjective cognitive decline (SCD; i.e., without objectifiable deficit) remain to be elucidated. Possible causes of SCD include early neurodegeneration related to Alzheimer's disease or functional and structural changes related to sub-clinical depression. We investigated the relationship between episodic memory performance or memory complaints and structural or functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures in participants with SCD (n=18) but without psychiatric disorders and healthy controls (n=31). In SCD, memory complaints were not associated with memory performance but with sub-clinical depression and executive functions. SCD-associated memory complaints correlated with higher amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus (specifically subiculum) gray matter density. In controls, but not in SCD, mesiotemporal gray matter density and superior frontal gyrus functional connectivity predicted memory performance. In contrast, in SCD, only a trend toward a correlation between memory performance and gray matter density in the parietooccipital lobes was observed. In our memory-clinic sample of SCD, we did not observe incipient neurodegeneration (limited to structural and functional MRI) but rather sub-clinical depression underlying subjective cognitive complaints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nils Nellessen
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, 42283 Wuppertal, Germany; Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
| | - Oezguer A Onur
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
| | - Nils Richter
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Heidi I L Jacobs
- Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Centre Limburg; Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands; Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kim N H Dillen
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Boris von Reutern
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Karl J Langen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Gereon R Fink
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Juraj Kukolja
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, 42283 Wuppertal, Germany; Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
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16
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Dahl CJ, Wilson-Mendenhall CD, Davidson RJ. The plasticity of well-being: A training-based framework for the cultivation of human flourishing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:32197-32206. [PMID: 33288719 PMCID: PMC7768706 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014859117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Research indicates that core dimensions of psychological well-being can be cultivated through intentional mental training. Despite growing research in this area and an increasing number of interventions designed to improve psychological well-being, the field lacks a unifying framework that clarifies the dimensions of human flourishing that can be cultivated. Here, we integrate evidence from well-being research, cognitive and affective neuroscience, and clinical psychology to highlight four core dimensions of well-being-awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. We discuss the importance of each dimension for psychological well-being, identify mechanisms that underlie their cultivation, and present evidence of their neural and psychological plasticity. This synthesis highlights key insights, as well as important gaps, in the scientific understanding of well-being and how it may be cultivated, thus highlighting future research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cortland J Dahl
- Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53703;
| | | | - Richard J Davidson
- Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53703;
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
- Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53705
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719
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17
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Berkovich-Ohana A, Furman-Haran E, Malach R, Arieli A, Harel M, Gilaie-Dotan S. Studying the precuneus reveals structure-function-affect correlation in long-term meditators. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 15:1203-1216. [PMID: 33210139 PMCID: PMC7745150 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2019] [Revised: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Aviva Berkovich-Ohana
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,Faculty of Education, The Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Edna Furman-Haran
- Life Sciences Core Facilities, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Rafael Malach
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Amos Arieli
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Michal Harel
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Sharon Gilaie-Dotan
- School of Optometry and Vision Science, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.,UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Brain Sciences, London, UK
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18
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Sebri V, Triberti S, Pravettoni G. Injured Self: Autobiographical Memory, Self-Concept, and Mental Health Risk in Breast Cancer Survivors. Front Psychol 2020; 11:607514. [PMID: 33250833 PMCID: PMC7672015 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Sebri
- Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.,Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Stefano Triberti
- Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.,Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Gabriella Pravettoni
- Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.,Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
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19
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Lutz J, Berry MP, Napadow V, Germer C, Pollak S, Gardiner P, Edwards RR, Desbordes G, Schuman-Olivier Z. Neural activations during self-related processing in patients with chronic pain and effects of a brief self-compassion training - A pilot study. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2020; 304:111155. [PMID: 32799058 PMCID: PMC8100920 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Revised: 06/09/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Chronic pain negatively affects psychological functioning including self-perception. Self-compassion may improve self-related functioning in patients with chronic pain but understanding of the neural mechanisms is limited. In this study, twenty patients with chronic low back pain read negative self-related situations and were instructed to be either self-reassuring or self-critical while undergoing fMRI. Patients rated their feelings of self-reassurance and self-criticism during each condition, and brain responses were contrasted with neutral instructions. Trait self-compassion measures (SCS) were also acquired. Brain activations during self-criticism and self-reassurance were localized to prefrontal, self- and emotion-processing areas, such as medial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Self-reassurance resulted in more widespread and stronger activations relative to self-criticism. Patients then completed a brief self-compassion training (8 contact hours, 2 weeks home practice). Exploratory pre-post comparisons in thirteen patients found that feelings of self-criticism were significantly reduced and brain activations were greater in the anterior insula and prefrontal cortical regions such as dlPFC. Pre-post increases in dlPFC activation correlated with increased self-compassion (SCS), suggesting that early self-compassion skills might primarily target self-criticism via dlPFC upregulation. Future controlled studies on self-compassion training in chronic pain populations should extend these results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Lutz
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th St., Charlestown, MA 02129; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 21A, Cambridge, MA 02141
| | - Michael P Berry
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th St., Charlestown, MA 02129
| | - Vitaly Napadow
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th St., Charlestown, MA 02129
| | - Christopher Germer
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 21A, Cambridge, MA 02141
| | - Susan Pollak
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 21A, Cambridge, MA 02141
| | - Paula Gardiner
- Program for Integrative Medicine and Healthcare Disparities, Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, 771 Albany St, Boston, MA 02118
| | - Robert R Edwards
- Department of Anesthesiology, Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women's Hospital, 850 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill, MA 02457
| | - Gaelle Desbordes
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th St., Charlestown, MA 02129
| | - Zev Schuman-Olivier
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 21A, Cambridge, MA 02141.
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20
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Fazia T, Bubbico F, Iliakis I, Salvato G, Berzuini G, Bruno S, Bernardinelli L. Short-Term Meditation Training Fosters Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: A Pilot Study. Front Psychol 2020; 11:558803. [PMID: 33192816 PMCID: PMC7649763 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.558803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The practice of meditation has been historically linked to beneficial effects, not only in terms of spirituality but also in terms of well-being, general improvement of psychophysiological conditions and quality of life. The present study aims to assess the beneficial effects of a short-term intervention (a combination of 12 practical 1-h sessions of meditation, called Integral Meditation, and lectures on neuroscience of meditation) on psychological indicators of well-being in subjects from the general population. We used a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, in which all participants (n = 41, 17 men and 24 women, with a mean age of 41.1 years) underwent the same intervention. Out of these, 24 had already experienced meditation practice, but only 12 in a continuative way. Effects were assessed by the standardized Italian version of three self-report questionnaires: Core Outcome in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). The questionnaires were filled in at baseline and immediately after the last meditation session. Linear mixed effect models were used to evaluate pre-post treatment changes on each outcome. Participants showed a general, close to a statistically significant threshold, improvement in the total score of CORE-OM and its different domains. The total score of FFMQ (β = 0.154, p = 0.012) indicates a statistically significant increase in the level of mindfulness as well as in the domains acting with awareness (β = 0.212, p = 0.024), and non-judging of inner experiences (β = 0.384, p < 0.0001). Lastly, we observed a statistically significant improvement in the cognitive reappraisal ERQ domain (β = 0.541, p = 0.0003). Despite some limitations (i.e., small sample size, lack of a randomised control group and sole use of "soft" measurements, such as self-report questionnaires), this study offers promising results regarding the within-subject effectiveness of our intervention that includes a meditation practice on psychological indicators, thus providing interesting preliminary results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Fazia
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Francesco Bubbico
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Ioannis Iliakis
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Gerardo Salvato
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST "Grande Ospedale Metropolitano" Niguarda, Milan, Italy
| | - Giovanni Berzuini
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | | | - Luisa Bernardinelli
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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21
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Solomonov N, Victoria LW, Dunlop K, Respino M, Hoptman MJ, Zilcha-Mano S, Oberlin L, Liston C, Areán PA, Gunning FM, Alexopoulos GS. Resting State Functional Connectivity and Outcomes of Psychotherapies for Late-Life Depression. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2020; 28:859-868. [PMID: 32376080 PMCID: PMC7369214 DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2020.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 04/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Problem solving therapy (PST) and "Engage," a reward-exposure" based therapy, are important treatment options for late-life depression, given modest efficacy of antidepressants in this disorder. Abnormal function of the reward and default mode networks has been observed during depressive episodes. This study examined whether resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of reward and DMN circuitries is associated with treatment outcomes. METHODS Thirty-two older adults with major depression (mean age = 72.7) were randomized to 9-weeks of either PST or "Engage." We assessed rsFC at baseline and week 6. We placed seeds in three a priori regions of interest: subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Outcome measures included the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) and the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale (BADS). RESULTS In both PST and "Engage," higher rsFC between the sgACC and middle temporal gyrus at baseline was associated with greater improvement in depression severity (HAMD). Preliminary findings suggested that in "Engage" treated participants, lower rsFC between the dACC and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex at baseline was associated with HAMD improvement. Finally, in Engage only, increased rsFC from baseline to week 6 between NAcc and Superior Parietal Cortex was associated with increased BADS scores. CONCLUSION The results suggest that patients who present with higher rsFC between the sgACC and a structure within the DMN may benefit from behavioral psychotherapies for late life depression. "Engage" may lead to increased rsFC within the reward system reflecting a reconditioning of the reward systems by reward exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nili Solomonov
- Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine (NS, LWV, LO, FMG, and GSA), White Plains, NY.
| | - Lindsay W Victoria
- Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine (NS, LWV, LO, FMG, and GSA), White Plains, NY
| | - Katharine Dunlop
- Feil Family Brain Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine (KD and CL), New York, NY
| | | | - Matthew J Hoptman
- The Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (MJH), Orangeburg, NY; New York University School of Medicine (MJH), New York, NY
| | - Sigal Zilcha-Mano
- Columbia University (SZM), New York, NY; Haifa University (SZM), Haifa, Israel
| | - Lauren Oberlin
- Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine (NS, LWV, LO, FMG, and GSA), White Plains, NY
| | - Conor Liston
- Feil Family Brain Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine (KD and CL), New York, NY
| | - Patricia A Areán
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (PAA), University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA
| | - Faith M Gunning
- Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine (NS, LWV, LO, FMG, and GSA), White Plains, NY
| | - George S Alexopoulos
- Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine (NS, LWV, LO, FMG, and GSA), White Plains, NY
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22
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Billones R, Saligan L. What Works in Mindfulness Interventions for Medically Unexplained Symptoms? A Systematic Review. Asian Pac Isl Nurs J 2020; 5:1-11. [PMID: 32704524 PMCID: PMC7373253 DOI: 10.31372/20200501.1082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background/Purpose: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been used in medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). This systematic review describes the literature investigating the general effect of MBIs on MUS and identifies the effects of specific MBIs on specific MUS conditions. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Guidelines (PRISMA) and the modified Oxford Quality Scoring System (Jadad score) were applied to the review, yielding an initial 1,556 articles. The search engines included PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE, and PsychINFO using the search terms: mindfulness, or mediations, or mindful or MBCT or MBSR and medically unexplained symptoms or MUS or Fibromyalgia or FMS. A total of 24 articles were included in the final systematic review. Results/Conclusions: MBIs showed large effects on: symptom severity (d = 0.82), pain intensity (d = 0.79), depression (d = 0.62), and anxiety (d = 0.67). A manualized MBI that applies the four fundamental elements present in all types of interventions were critical to efficacy. These elements were psycho-education sessions specific to better understand the medical symptoms, the practice of awareness, the nonjudgmental observance of the experience in the moment, and the compassion to ones’ self. The effectiveness of different mindfulness interventions necessitates giving attention to improve the gaps that were identified related to home-based practice monitoring, competency training of mindfulness teachers, and sound psychometric properties to measure the mindfulness practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruel Billones
- National Institute of Nursing Research, NIH, United States
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23
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Grecucci A, Messina I, Amodeo L, Lapomarda G, Crescentini C, Dadomo H, Panzeri M, Theuninck A, Frederickson J. A Dual Route Model for Regulating Emotions: Comparing Models, Techniques and Biological Mechanisms. Front Psychol 2020; 11:930. [PMID: 32581903 PMCID: PMC7287186 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this article is to present recent applications of emotion regulation theory and methods to the field of psychotherapy. The term Emotion Regulation refers to the neurocognitive mechanisms by which we regulate the onset, strength, and the eventual expression of our emotions. Deficits in the regulation of emotions have been linked to most, if not all, psychiatric disorders, with patients presenting either dysregulated emotions, or dysfunctional regulatory strategies. We discuss the implications of regulating emotions from two different theoretical perspectives: the Cognitive Emotion Regulation (CER), and the Experiential-Dynamic Emotion Regulation (EDER) model. Each proposes different views on how emotions are generated, dysregulated and regulated. These perspectives directly influence the way clinicians treat such problems. The CER model views emotional dysregulation as due to a deficit in regulation mechanisms that prioritizes modifying or developing cognitive skills, whilst the EDER model posits emotional dysregulation as due to the presence of dysregulatory mechanisms that prioritizes restoring natural regulatory processes. Examples of relevant techniques for each model are presented including a range of cognitive-behavioral, and experiential (including both dynamic and cognitive) techniques. The aim of the paper is to provide a toolbox from which clinician may gain different techniques to enhance and maintain their patient’s capacity for emotional regulation. Finally, the biological mechanisms behind the two models of emotion regulation are discussed as well as a proposal of a dual route model of emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Grecucci
- Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Irene Messina
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
| | - Letizia Amodeo
- Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Gaia Lapomarda
- Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Cristiano Crescentini
- Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Harold Dadomo
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.,Parma Schema Therapy Center, Parma, Italy
| | - Marta Panzeri
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | | | - Jon Frederickson
- Washington School of Psychiatry, Washington, DC, WA, United States
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24
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Casals-Gutiérrez S, Abbey H. Interoception, mindfulness and touch: A meta-review of functional MRI studies. INT J OSTEOPATH MED 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijosm.2019.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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25
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Muzik O, Diwadkar VA. Hierarchical control systems for the regulation of physiological homeostasis and affect: Can their interactions modulate mood and anhedonia? Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 105:251-261. [PMID: 31442518 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2018] [Revised: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Predominant concepts assert that conscious willful processes do not assert a significant influence on autonomic functions associated with physiological homeostasis (e.g., thermal regulation). The singular purpose of this review is to promote a reappraisal of concepts regarding the circumscribed role of hierarchical control systems. To effect this reappraisal, we assess the interaction between top-down and bottom-up regulatory mechanisms, specifically by highlighting the intersection between the "physiological" (specifically thermoregulatory pathways) and the "psychological" (specifically mood/anhedonia related processes). This reappraisal suggests that the physiological and psychological processes can interact in unanticipated ways, and is grounded in multiple lines of recent experimental evidence. For example, behavioral techniques that through a combination of hormesis (forced breathing, cold exposure) and meditation appear to exert unusual effects on homeostatic function (cold tolerance) and suppression of aberrant auto-immune responses. The molecular correlates of these effects (the putative release of endogenous cannabinoids and endorphins) may exert salutary effects on mood/anhedonia, even more significant than those exerted by cognitive behavioral techniques or meditation alone. By focusing on this interaction, we present a putative mechanistic model linking physiology with psychology, with particular implications for disturbances of mood/anhedonia. We suggest that volitional changes in breathing patterns can activate primary control centers for descending pain/cold stimuli in periaqueductal gray, initiating a stress-induced analgesic response mediated by endocannabinoid/endorphin release. The analgesic effects, and the feelings of euphoria generated by endocannbinoid release are prolonged via a top-down "outcome expectancy" control mechanism regulated by cortical areas. By focusing on modification strategies that principally target homeostatic function (but may also exert ancillary effects on mood), we articulate a novel framework for how hierarchical control systems for the regulation of physiological homeostasis and affect interact. This interaction may allow practitioners of focused modification strategies to assert increased control over key components of the affective system, allowing for viable treatment approaches for patients with disturbances of mood/anhedonia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Otto Muzik
- Departments of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA.
| | - Vaibhav A Diwadkar
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA
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Alterations in Brain Structure and Amplitude of Low-frequency after 8 weeks of Mindfulness Meditation Training in Meditation-Naïve Subjects. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10977. [PMID: 31358842 PMCID: PMC6662752 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47470-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 07/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing neuroimaging evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation expertise is related to different functional and structural configurations of the default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN) and the executive network at rest. However, longitudinal studies observing resting network plasticity effects in brains of novices who started to practice meditation are scarce and generally related to one dimension, such as structural or functional effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate structural and functional brain network changes (e.g. DMN) after 40 days of mindfulness meditation training in novices and set these in the context of potentially altered depression symptomatology and anxiety. We found overlapping structural and functional effects in precuneus, a posterior DMN region, where cortical thickness increased and low-frequency amplitudes (ALFF) decreased, while decreased ALFF in left precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex correlates with the reduction of (CES-D) depression scores. In conclusion, regional overlapping of structural and functional changes in precuneus may capture different components of the complex changes of mindfulness meditation training.
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Deckert M, Schmoeger M, Auff E, Willinger U. Subjective emotional arousal: an explorative study on the role of gender, age, intensity, emotion regulation difficulties, depression and anxiety symptoms, and meta-emotion. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2019; 84:1857-1876. [PMID: 31098662 PMCID: PMC7478944 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01197-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Subjective emotional arousal in typically developing adults was investigated in an explorative study. 177 participants (20-70 years) rated facial expressions and words for self-experienced arousal and perceived intensity, and completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS-D). Exclusion criteria were psychiatric or neurological diseases, or clinically relevant scores in the HADS-D. Arousal regarding faces and words was significantly predicted by emotional clarity. Separate analyses showed following significant results: arousal regarding faces and arousal regarding words constantly predicted each other; negative faces were predicted by age and intensity; neutral faces by gender and impulse control; positive faces by gender and intensity; negative words by emotional clarity; and neutral words by gender. Males showed higher arousal scores than females regarding neutral faces and neutral words; for the other arousal scores, no explicit group differences were shown. Cluster analysis yielded three distinguished emotional characteristics groups: "emotional difficulties disposition group" (mainly females; highest emotion regulation difficulties, depression and anxiety scores; by trend highest arousal), "low emotional awareness group" (exclusively males; lowest awareness regarding currently experienced emotions; by trend intermediate arousal), and a "low emotional difficulties group" (exclusively females; lowest values throughout). No age effect was shown. Results suggest that arousal elicited by facial expressions and words are specialized parts of a greater emotional processing system and that typically developing adults show some kind of stable, modality-unspecific dispositional baseline of emotional arousal. Emotional awareness and clarity, and impulse control probably are trait aspects of emotion regulation that influence emotional arousal in typically developing adults and can be regarded as aspects of meta-emotion. Different emotional personality styles were shown between as well as within gender groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Deckert
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Michaela Schmoeger
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Eduard Auff
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Ulrike Willinger
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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28
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Meditation focused on self-observation of the body impairs metacognitive efficiency. Conscious Cogn 2019; 70:116-125. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 02/27/2019] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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29
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Oostvogels I, Bongers IL, Willems A. The role of emotion regulation, coping, self-reflection and insight in staff interaction with patients with a diagnosis of personality disorder in forensic settings. J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 2018; 25:582-600. [PMID: 30489675 DOI: 10.1111/jpm.12506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2018] [Revised: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 11/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Interaction between staff and patients with a diagnosis of personality disorder in forensic settings is important for quality of care, but research is lacking on what determines this interaction. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Insight, emotion-focused coping and emotion regulation of staff influence the interaction between staff and these patients. Staff who understand their own thoughts, feelings and behaviour better (more insight) needed less support, encouragement or back-up from their patients. Staff who cope by getting upset, blaming themselves or fantasizing about solutions (emotion-focused coping) on the contrary needed more support from their patients. Emotion regulation had an impact on the relation between coping and hostile staff behaviour. When staff get upset (emotion-focused coping) and try to think differently about the situation (reappraisal), this makes them behave in a more hostile manner towards their patients. When staff suppress their emotions and also distract themselves or engage in social activities (avoidance-focused coping), they behave in a less hostile manner towards their patients. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: In order to provide compassionate care for their patients, staff ought to be trained in self-compassion. This may help them not to get upset, blame themselves or fantasize about solutions and to understand their own thoughts, feelings and behaviour better. As a result, staff may need less support, encouragement or back-up from their patients. Context is important: Staff ought to suppress their emotions when emotions run high, but only when they also care for themselves by distracting themselves or engaging in social activities. Facing and regulating their emotions by changing what they think about the situation (reappraisal) may be more appropriate once emotions have settled down. This may help staff to remain compassionate towards their patients in the long run and avoid burn-out or compassion fatigue due to ignoring their own needs and boundaries. ABSTRACT: Introduction Research is lacking on what determines interaction between staff and patients with a diagnosis of personality disorder in forensic settings. Aim To test whether coping, self-reflection, insight and emotion regulation are related to the behaviour of staff towards these patients, and to test the possible moderating and mediating effect of emotion regulation. Method Using a cross-sectional design, 76 direct care staff of a forensic clinic completed questionnaires on all variables. Relations were tested using simple linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses. Results Insight and emotion-focused coping of staff were related to seeking less and more support from patients, respectively. Emotion regulation by reappraisal combined with emotion-focused coping was associated with more hostile behaviour by staff, and suppression combined with avoidance-focused coping with less hostile behaviour. Conclusion Insight, emotion-focused coping and emotion regulation of staff influence the quality of care of patients with a diagnosis of personality disorder in forensic settings. Future research ought to include contextual factors. Implications for practice Enhancing self-compassion may improve insight and reduce emotion-focused coping. Context is important: Taking the needs of staff into account may involve suppressing emotions combined with avoidance in a highly emotional situation while facing and reappraising the situation when emotions are low.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ilja L Bongers
- GGzE Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.,Scientific Center for Care and Wellbeing (Tranzo), Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
| | - Arno Willems
- Expertisecentrum, Koraal, Sittard, The Netherlands
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Lee TW, Xue SW. Does emotion regulation engage the same neural circuit as working memory? A meta-analytical comparison between cognitive reappraisal of negative emotion and 2-back working memory task. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0203753. [PMID: 30212509 PMCID: PMC6136767 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 08/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Research into cognitive emotion regulation (ER) extends our understanding of human cognition, which is capable of processing objective information and is crucial in maintaining subjective/internal homeostasis. Among various ER strategies, the alleviation of negative emotion via reappraisal is of particular importance for adaptation and psychological well-being. Although still debated, previous neuroimaging studies tend to infer that the reappraisal ER is mediated by the capability of working memory (WM), which has not been examined empirically. This meta-analytical study of published neuroimaging literature used activation likelihood estimation (ALE) to compare the neural circuits that regulate negative emotion (reappraisal tasks; 46 studies/1254 subjects) and execute WM (2-back tasks; 50 studies/1312 subjects), with special emphasis on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Taking the canonical WM network as a reference, ALE results revealed that the dorsal midline PFC was partly shared by both ER and WM, whereas ER-specific PFC structures were delineated in the inferior, middle, and superior frontal cortices, as well as in the posterior brain regions. The peak coordinates of ER in the middle frontal cortex were dorsal to those of WM by 15.1 mm (left) and 21.6 mm (right). The results support specialized emotion-related neural substrates in the PFC, negating the assumption that reappraisal ER and WM rely on the same neural resources. The holistic picture of "emotional brain" may need to incorporate the emotion-related PFC circuit, together with subcortical and limbic emotion centers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tien-Wen Lee
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
- Department of Psychiatry, Dajia Lee's General Hospital, Lee's Medical Corporation, Taichung, Taiwan
- * E-mail:
| | - Shao-Wei Xue
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
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31
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Beblo T, Pelster S, Schilling C, Kleinke K, Iffland B, Driessen M, Fernando S. Breath Versus Emotions: The Impact of Different Foci of Attention During Mindfulness Meditation on the Experience of Negative and Positive Emotions. Behav Ther 2018; 49:702-714. [PMID: 30146138 DOI: 10.1016/j.beth.2017.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2016] [Revised: 11/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Mindfulness meditation yields beneficial effects on the processing of emotions. However, it is still unclear whether the focus of attention during meditation influences these effects. In the present study we aimed at comparing the effects of breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation on the immediate and delayed processing of negative and positive emotions. The study included 65 adult novice meditators who were exposed to positively and negatively valenced film clips. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions. While watching the films at t1, they were asked to mindfully focus on their breath (condition 1), on emotions (condition 2), or on nothing in particular (condition 3). Ten minutes later at t2, comparable film clips were shown but all participants watched them without taking up a mindful attitude. Dependent measures were emotional states at t1 and t2. Participants of both meditation conditions particularly showed a more preferable delayed emotional reaction to negative stimuli than participants of the control condition. Breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation may constitute effective emotion regulation strategies to deal with negatively valenced emotional states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Beblo
- Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany; University of Bielefeld.
| | | | | | | | | | - Martin Driessen
- Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany; University of Bielefeld
| | - Silvia Fernando
- Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany
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32
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Herwig U, Opialla S, Cattapan K, Wetter TC, Jäncke L, Brühl AB. Emotion introspection and regulation in depression. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2018; 277:7-13. [PMID: 29778804 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2018.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2017] [Revised: 04/13/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Depressed patients suffer from an impairment to voluntarily influence and regulate their unpleasant emotional state. Strengthening the mental ability to interfere with dysfunctional emotion processing may be beneficial in treating depression. According to models of emotion processing this may be done by successful down-regulation of enhanced amygdala activity. We investigated short periods of intentional emotion-introspection compared with cognitive self-reflection as two domains of self-awareness in terms of effects on emotion regulation. Thirty depressed patients performed twelve second periods of emotion-introspection, self-reflection and a neutral condition during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We analyzed brain activation in the patients with depression by means of whole brain, region of interest and connectivity analyses. Amygdala activity decreased during emotion-introspection relative to self-reflection and to the neutral condition, whereby left amygdala was inversely activated relative to the left insula. Insula activity itself was correlated with medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation. In conclusion, depressed patients are able to down-regulate amygdala activity by emotion-introspection. This may be interpreted as well-working emotion regulation supposedly induced by PFC connections mediated via insula. The finding supports the application of emotion-introspection, a mindfulness-related process, in a clinical setting as an element of psychotherapy to train and improve emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uwe Herwig
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zürich, Switzerland; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany; Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy AR, Herisau, Switzerland.
| | - Sarah Opialla
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Katja Cattapan
- Sanatorium Kilchberg/Zürich, Private Hospital of Psychiatry, Kilchberg, Switzerland; University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Thomas C Wetter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Department of Neuropsychology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Annette B Brühl
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zürich, Switzerland
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33
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Cai RY, Richdale AL, Uljarević M, Dissanayake C, Samson AC. Emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder: Where we are and where we need to go. Autism Res 2018; 11:962-978. [PMID: 29979494 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Revised: 03/04/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Emotion dysregulation is a common issue experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and has been associated with a wide range of negative mental and physical health outcomes. This commentary highlights the role emotion dysregulation plays in ASD by first considering the literature on emotion regulation (ER) in the general population and then summarizing the ER research in ASD. Based on the evaluation of previous research findings, we conclude that individuals with ASD have more ER difficulties and consistently self-report or demonstrate a less adaptive pattern of ER strategy use. In addition, the higher prevalence of internalizing and externalizing issues seen in ASD are associated with the greater habitual use of some ER strategies and less habitual use of others. Conceptual and methodological limitations are discussed, including the use of coping measures and single-method approaches, and ASD gender distribution. We propose a set of new directions for investigating ER in ASD, incorporating knowledge from other literatures on the role of flexibility in healthy adaptation, overlaps between flexibility and executive function deficits, the adaptive value of up-regulation of positive emotions, and the importance of emotional self-awareness. Increasing our capacity for identifying the mechanisms underlying co-morbid affective disorders can ultimately inform the design of effective interventions to maximize the wellbeing of individuals with ASD. Autism Res 2018, 11: 962-978. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY Research has shown that people diagnosed with autism tend to have difficulties with regulating their own emotions. This commentary article summarizes the main information from emotion regulation research conducted both in autism and in other populations. We make suggestions on how we can improve emotion regulation research in autism, with the ultimate goal being to use the learning gained from research to design effective interventions that can improve the wellbeing of people with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ru Ying Cai
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Level 3 Foxtail Building, Long Pocket, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia
| | - Amanda L Richdale
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Level 3 Foxtail Building, Long Pocket, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia
| | - Mirko Uljarević
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Level 3 Foxtail Building, Long Pocket, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia
| | - Cheryl Dissanayake
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Level 3 Foxtail Building, Long Pocket, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia
| | - Andrea C Samson
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, Chemin des Mines 9, Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford School of Medicine, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305.,Swiss Distance Learning University, Brig, Switzerland, Überlandstrasse 12, Brig, 3900, Switzerland
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Mattan BD, Kubota JT, Li T, Dang TP, Cloutier J. Motivation Modulates Brain Networks in Response to Faces Varying in Race and Status: A Multivariate Approach. eNeuro 2018; 5:ENEURO.0039-18.2018. [PMID: 30225341 PMCID: PMC6140103 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0039-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2018] [Revised: 08/05/2018] [Accepted: 08/06/2018] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous behavioral and neuroimaging work indicates that individuals who are externally motivated to respond without racial prejudice tend not to spontaneously regulate their prejudice and prefer to focus on nonracial attributes when evaluating others. This fMRI multivariate analysis used partial least squares analysis to examine the distributed neural processing of race and a relevant but ostensibly nonracial attribute (i.e., socioeconomic status) as a function of the perceiver's external motivation. Sixty-one white male participants (Homo sapiens) privately formed impressions of black and white male faces ascribed with high or low status. Across all conditions, greater external motivation was associated with reduced coactivation of brain regions believed to support emotion regulation (rostral anterior cingulate cortex), introspection (middle cingulate), and social cognition (temporal pole, medial prefrontal cortex). The reduced involvement of this network irrespective of target race and status suggests that external motivation is related to the participant's overall approach to impression formation in an interracial context. The findings highlight the importance of examining network coactivation in understanding the role of external motivation in impression formation, among other interracial social processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bradley D. Mattan
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
| | - Jennifer T. Kubota
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
- Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
| | - Tianyi Li
- College of Business Administration, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607
| | - Tzipporah P. Dang
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
| | - Jasmin Cloutier
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
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35
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Wenger S, Drott J, Fillipo R, Findlay A, Genung A, Heiden J, Bradt J. Reducing Opioid Use for Patients With Chronic Pain: An Evidence-Based Perspective. Phys Ther 2018; 98:424-433. [PMID: 29669085 DOI: 10.1093/ptj/pzy025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2017] [Accepted: 02/09/2018] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
Abstract
The implementation of recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to move away from opioids and toward nonpharmacological therapies for the treatment of chronic pain could involve a difficult transition period for patients and practitioners. The focus of treatment should shift from eliminating pain completely to minimizing the impact of pain on quality of life. Many patients with chronic pain take opioids either because opioids were previously prescribed as a first-line treatment for chronic pain, on the basis of old standards of care, or because opioids were initially prescribed for acute pain. Patients currently taking opioids will need a tapering period during which they transition their pain management to interdisciplinary care and nonpharmacological treatments. To provide useful treatment options, physical therapists need to have a good understanding of the neuroscientific mechanisms of chronic pain, biopsychosocial components of chronic pain management, issues related to opioid use, and pain management strategies used by other health care professionals. Armed with knowledge and good communication skills, physical therapists can work within an interdisciplinary team to adapt care to each patient's needs and abilities. This perspective article provides guidance for physical therapists to effectively treat patients with chronic pain during the opioid tapering process. A framework has been created to help health care providers structure their reasoning as they collaborate to develop a unique approach for each patient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Wenger
- Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Drexel University, 1601 Cherry Street, Room 758, MS 7-502, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (USA). Dr Wenger is a board-certified orthopaedic clinical specialist
| | - Jason Drott
- Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Drexel University
| | - Rebecca Fillipo
- Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Drexel University
| | - Alyssa Findlay
- Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Drexel University
| | - Amanda Genung
- Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Drexel University
| | - Jessica Heiden
- Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Drexel University
| | - Joke Bradt
- Department of Creative Arts Therapies, Drexel University. Dr Bradt is a board-certified music therapist
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Interoception and Its Interaction with Self, Other, and Emotion Processing: Implications for the Understanding of Psychosocial Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2018; 20:28. [PMID: 29594580 DOI: 10.1007/s11920-018-0890-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW We review evidence for the potential importance of interoception, i.e., the processing of signals arising from inside the body, for deficient psychosocial functioning in borderline personality disorder (BPD). RECENT FINDINGS Evidence suggests that variability in interoception interacts with higher-order psychological functions such as self, other, and emotion processing. These domains are characteristically impaired in BPD, suggesting a likely causal role of disturbed interoception in the etiology of the disorder. The inability to identify and describe one's own emotional states represents a proxy of impaired interoception which might further mediate between the perception of inner physiological conditions and psychosocial functioning in BPD. There is preliminary evidence explaining how early life stress might adversely affect central interoceptive representation and psychosocial functioning in BPD. Based on these findings and the specific pattern of disturbances in BPD, we propose the crucial role of interoception in an integrated biobehavioral model for BPD.
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37
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Torre JB, Lieberman MD. Putting Feelings Into Words: Affect Labeling as Implicit Emotion Regulation. EMOTION REVIEW 2018. [DOI: 10.1177/1754073917742706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Putting feelings into words, or “affect labeling,” can attenuate our emotional experiences. However, unlike explicit emotion regulation techniques, affect labeling may not even feel like a regulatory process as it occurs. Nevertheless, research investigating affect labeling has found it produces a pattern of effects like those seen during explicit emotion regulation, suggesting affect labeling is a form of implicit emotion regulation. In this review, we will outline research on affect labeling, comparing it to reappraisal, a form of explicit emotion regulation, along four major domains of effects—experiential, autonomic, neural, and behavioral—that establish it as a form of implicit emotion regulation. This review will then speculate on possible mechanisms driving affect labeling effects and other remaining unanswered questions.
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38
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Vandekerckhove M. Neural networks in bottom up 'experiential emotion regulation'. Behav Brain Res 2018; 383:111242. [PMID: 29454977 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2017] [Revised: 12/28/2017] [Accepted: 01/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Emotion regulation influences how and when we experience emotion, impacting our sense of self and well being. While previous brain research on emotion regulation has focused on gray matter correlates of emotion regulation, this study represents a first exploratory study on white matter integrity of brain networks of 'emotional approach' as a bottom up experiential emotion regulation-strategy. Responding to the gap between cognitive and affective approaches of emotion regulation, pertaining to some of the daily emotional stressors, the present study investigates brain pathways of individual differences in 'emotional approach', or the tendency to affectively acknowledge, understand and express emotional experience (cf. [1]). Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI-MRI) measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusion (MD) evaluated dispositional emotion regulation in a group of 21 women with a 'high emotional approach' (HEA) (N = 11) and a 'low emotional approach' (LEA) (N = 10). HEA exhibited more FA of the cingulum, supporting emotion processing and emotion regulation, whereas LEA correlated to a higher FA in the right corticospinal tracts, supporting automatic action tendencies and a higher FA in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), supporting cognitive control and monitoring of emotion. LEA also correlated with an increase in MD in the body (p. = 0.05) and in the splenium of the corpus callosum (CC). A higher FA in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (IFL) may indicate higher visual- affective integration within emotion processing, whereas more MD in the body and splenium of the CC decreases interhemispheric integration of emotional information within emotion processing and emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Vandekerckhove
- Research group of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences, Department of Clinical and Lifespan psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Brussels, Belgium; Department of Imaging and Clinical Studies, University Clinic, UZ-Jette, Laarbeeklaan 2, 1090 Jette, Belgium.
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39
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Ellard KK, Barlow DH, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Gabrieli JDE, Deckersbach T. Neural correlates of emotion acceptance vs worry or suppression in generalized anxiety disorder. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2017; 12:1009-1021. [PMID: 28402571 PMCID: PMC5472113 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2017] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent emotion dysregulation models of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) propose chronic worry in GAD functions as a maladaptive attempt to regulate anxiety related to uncertain or unpredictable outcomes. Emotion acceptance is an adaptive emotion regulation strategy increasingly incorporated into newer cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches to GAD to counter chronic worry. The current study explores the mechanisms of emotion acceptance as an alternate emotion regulation strategy to worry or emotion suppression using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Twenty-one female participants diagnosed with GAD followed counterbalanced instructions to regulate responses to personally relevant worry statements by engaging in either emotion acceptance, worry or emotion suppression. Emotion acceptance resulted in lower ratings of distress than worry and was associated with increased dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation and increased ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC)-amygdala functional connectivity. In contrast, worry showed significantly greater distress ratings than acceptance or suppression and was associated with increased precuneus, VLPFC, amygdala and hippocampal activation. Suppression did not significantly differ from acceptance in distress ratings or amygdala recruitment, but resulted in significantly greater insula and VLPFC activation and decreased VLPFC-amygdala functional connectivity. Emotion acceptance closely aligned with activation and connectivity patterns reported in studies of contextual extinction learning and mindful awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen K Ellard
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David H Barlow
- Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - John D E Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Thilo Deckersbach
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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40
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Guendelman S, Medeiros S, Rampes H. Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: Insights from Neurobiological, Psychological, and Clinical Studies. Front Psychol 2017; 8:220. [PMID: 28321194 PMCID: PMC5337506 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 190] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2016] [Accepted: 02/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
There is increasing interest in the beneficial clinical effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). Research has demonstrated their efficacy in a wide range of psychological conditions characterized by emotion dysregulation. Neuroimaging studies have evidenced functional and structural changes in a myriad of brain regions mainly involved in attention systems, emotion regulation, and self-referential processing. In this article we review studies on psychological and neurobiological correlates across different empirically derived models of research, including dispositional mindfulness, mindfulness induction, MBIs, and expert meditators in relation to emotion regulation. From the perspective of recent findings in the neuroscience of emotion regulation, we discuss the interplay of top-down and bottom-up emotion regulation mechanisms associated with different mindfulness models. From a phenomenological and cognitive perspective, authors have argued that mindfulness elicits a "mindful emotion regulation" strategy; however, from a clinical perspective, this construct has not been properly differentiated from other strategies and interventions within MBIs. In this context we propose the distinction between top-down and bottom-up mindfulness based emotion regulation strategies. Furthermore, we propose an embodied emotion regulation framework as a multilevel approach for understanding psychobiological changes due to mindfulness meditation regarding its effect on emotion regulation. Finally, based on clinical neuroscientific evidence on mindfulness, we open perspectives and dialogues regarding commonalities and differences between MBIs and other psychotherapeutic strategies for emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simón Guendelman
- Social Cognition Group, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt UniversitätBerlin, Germany
| | - Sebastián Medeiros
- Research Unit on Psychotherapeutic Interventions and Change Processes, Millennium Institute for Research in Depression and PersonalitySantiago, Chile
- Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de ChileSantiago, Chile
| | - Hagen Rampes
- Community Mental Health Team East, Central North West London Foundation NHS Foundation TrustLondon, UK
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41
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Scheibner HJ, Bogler C, Gleich T, Haynes JD, Bermpohl F. Internal and external attention and the default mode network. Neuroimage 2017; 148:381-389. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2016] [Revised: 12/17/2016] [Accepted: 01/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
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Cockerham D, Malaia E. Neuroscience-Based Approaches to Teaching Students on the Autism Spectrum. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PSYCHOLOGIE-JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1027/2151-2604/a000265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. An understanding of the relationship between emotions, cognition, and learning can provide insight into learning needs for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This article discusses current research and new theories on ASD from three different perspectives: the behavioral sciences, neuroscience, and education. The rapid increase of ASD diagnoses in children worldwide, and an understanding of autism as one of the developmental disorders affecting a spectrum of neural networks in a growing brain, indicates that educational implications from the combined insights may strengthen the development of strategies and interventions not only for ASD individuals, but for neurotypical children as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debbie Cockerham
- Learning Technologies Department, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
| | - Evie Malaia
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Wassenaar, The Netherlands
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43
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Gotink RA, Meijboom R, Vernooij MW, Smits M, Hunink MM. 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction induces brain changes similar to traditional long-term meditation practice – A systematic review. Brain Cogn 2016; 108:32-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2016.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 152] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2015] [Revised: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 07/05/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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Neural correlates of mindful self-awareness in mindfulness meditators and meditation-naïve subjects revisited. Biol Psychol 2016; 119:21-30. [PMID: 27377788 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2015] [Revised: 05/09/2016] [Accepted: 06/27/2016] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Mindful self-awareness is central to mindfulness meditation and plays a key role in its salutary effects. It has been related to decreased activation in cortical midline structures (CMS) and amygdala, and increased activation in somatosensory regions. However, findings in untrained individuals are contradictory, and scarce in experienced meditators. Using fMRI, we investigated experienced mindfulness meditators (LTM, n=21, average 4652 practice-hours) and matched meditation-naïve participants (MNP, n=19) during short periods of mindful self-awareness (FEEL) and self-referential thinking (THINK). We report somatosensory activations and decreases in CMS during FEEL for both groups, but significantly stronger decreases in prefrontal CMS in LTM. LTM further showed decreases in language-related and amygdala regions, but the latter was not significantly different between groups. Overall, higher activations in amygdala and mid-line regions during FEEL were related to levels of depressiveness. Neural patterns of mindful self-awareness emerge already in MNP but more pronounced in LTM. Specifically, meditation training might reduce self-reference and verbalization during mindful awareness. We further corroborate the suggested link between mindfulness and healthy self-related functions on the neural level. Longitudinal studies need to corroborate these findings.
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Doll A, Hölzel BK, Mulej Bratec S, Boucard CC, Xie X, Wohlschläger AM, Sorg C. Mindful attention to breath regulates emotions via increased amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity. Neuroimage 2016; 134:305-313. [PMID: 27033686 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.03.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2015] [Revised: 03/16/2016] [Accepted: 03/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Mindfulness practice is beneficial for emotion regulation; however, the neural mechanisms underlying this effect are poorly understood. The current study focuses on effects of attention-to-breath (ATB) as a basic mindfulness practice on aversive emotions at behavioral and brain levels. A key finding across different emotion regulation strategies is the modulation of amygdala and prefrontal activity. It is unclear how ATB relevant brain areas in the prefrontal cortex integrate with amygdala activation during emotional stimulation. We proposed that, during emotional stimulation, ATB down-regulates activation in the amygdala and increases its integration with prefrontal regions. To address this hypothesis, 26 healthy controls were trained in mindfulness-based attention-to-breath meditation for two weeks and then stimulated with aversive pictures during both attention-to-breath and passive viewing while undergoing fMRI. Data were controlled for breathing frequency. Results indicate that (1) ATB was effective in regulating aversive emotions. (2) Left dorso-medial prefrontal cortex was associated with ATB in general. (3) A fronto-parietal network was additionally recruited during emotional stimulation. (4) ATB down regulated amygdala activation and increased amygdala-prefrontal integration, with such increased integration being associated with mindfulness ability. Results suggest amygdala-dorsal prefrontal cortex integration as a potential neural pathway of emotion regulation by mindfulness practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anselm Doll
- Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
| | - Britta K Hölzel
- Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany
| | - Satja Mulej Bratec
- Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
| | - Christine C Boucard
- Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany
| | - Xiyao Xie
- Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany
| | - Afra M Wohlschläger
- Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
| | - Christian Sorg
- Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; Department of Nuclear Medicine, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany; TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Germany.
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Herwig U, Dhum M, Hittmeyer A, Opialla S, Scherpiet S, Keller C, Brühl AB, Siegrist M. Neural Signaling of Food Healthiness Associated with Emotion Processing. Front Aging Neurosci 2016; 8:16. [PMID: 26903859 PMCID: PMC4748030 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2015] [Accepted: 01/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to differentiate healthy from unhealthy foods is important in order to promote good health. Food, however, may have an emotional connotation, which could be inversely related to healthiness. The neurobiological background of differentiating healthy and unhealthy food and its relations to emotion processing are not yet well understood. We addressed the neural activations, particularly considering the single subject level, when one evaluates a food item to be of a higher, compared to a lower grade of healthiness with a particular view on emotion processing brain regions. Thirty-seven healthy subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while evaluating the healthiness of food presented as photographs with a subsequent rating on a visual analog scale. We compared individual evaluations of high and low healthiness of food items and also considered gender differences. We found increased activation when food was evaluated to be healthy in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and precuneus in whole brain analyses. In ROI analyses, perceived and rated higher healthiness was associated with lower amygdala activity and higher ventral striatal and orbitofrontal cortex activity. Females exerted a higher activation in midbrain areas when rating food items as being healthy. Our results underline the close relationship between food and emotion processing, which makes sense considering evolutionary aspects. Actively evaluating and deciding whether food is healthy is accompanied by neural signaling associated with reward and self-relevance, which could promote salutary nutrition behavior. The involved brain regions may be amenable to mechanisms of emotion regulation in the context of psychotherapeutic regulation of food intake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uwe Herwig
- Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry in ZürichZürich, Switzerland; Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH ZürichZürich, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Dhum
- Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zürich Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Anna Hittmeyer
- Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry in Zürich Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Opialla
- Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry in Zürich Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sigrid Scherpiet
- Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry in Zürich Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Carmen Keller
- Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zürich Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Annette B Brühl
- Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry in ZürichZürich, Switzerland; Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH ZürichZürich, Switzerland
| | - Michael Siegrist
- Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zürich Zürich, Switzerland
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48
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Yang W, Chen Q, Liu P, Cheng H, Cui Q, Wei D, Zhang Q, Qiu J. Abnormal brain activation during directed forgetting of negative memory in depressed patients. J Affect Disord 2016; 190:880-888. [PMID: 26639452 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.05.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2014] [Revised: 05/14/2015] [Accepted: 05/14/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The frequent occurrence of uncontrollable negative thoughts and memories is a troubling aspect of depression. Thus, knowledge on the mechanism underlying intentional forgetting of these thoughts and memories is crucial to develop an effective emotion regulation strategy for depressed individuals. Behavioral studies have demonstrated that depressed participants cannot intentionally forget negative memories. However, the neural mechanism underlying this process remains unclear. In this study, participants completed the directed forgetting task in which they were instructed to remember or forget neutral or negative words. Standard univariate analysis based on the General Linear Model showed that the depressed participants have higher activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), superior parietal gyrus (SPG), and inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) than the healthy individuals. The results indicated that depressed participants recruited more frontal and parietal inhibitory control resources to inhibit the TBF items, but the attempt still failed because of negative bias. We also used the Support Vector Machine to perform multivariate pattern classification based on the brain activation during directed forgetting. The pattern of brain activity in directed forgetting of negative words allowed correct group classification with an overall accuracy of 75% (P=0.012). The brain regions which are critical for this discrimination showed abnormal activation when depressed participants were attempting to forget negative words. These results indicated that the abnormal neural circuitry when depressed individuals tried to forget the negative words might provide neurobiological markers for depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjing Yang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Qunlin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Peiduo Liu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Hongsheng Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Qian Cui
- School of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 611731, China
| | - Dongtao Wei
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Qinglin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
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van der Horn HJ, Liemburg EJ, Aleman A, Spikman JM, van der Naalt J. Brain Networks Subserving Emotion Regulation and Adaptation after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. J Neurotrauma 2016; 33:1-9. [DOI: 10.1089/neu.2015.3905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Harm J. van der Horn
- Department of Neurology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Edith J. Liemburg
- BCN NeuroImaging Center of the Department of Neuroscience, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - André Aleman
- BCN NeuroImaging Center of the Department of Neuroscience, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jacoba M. Spikman
- Department of Neuropsychology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Joukje van der Naalt
- Department of Neurology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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50
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Altered processing of self-related emotional stimuli in mindfulness meditators. Neuroimage 2016; 124:958-967. [PMID: 26455808 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2015] [Revised: 09/23/2015] [Accepted: 09/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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