Mindfulness and stress. Who does it help?

Mindfulness - being aware in the present moment in an open and non-judgemental fashion - is used to help with a number of different psychological problems. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been shown to be helpful to people but there has been little research into whether it is more effective in certain people or not. Researchers from Santa Clara University in California studied 30 people. 15 of them formed a control group while 15 of them received MBSR. MBSR was found to increase mindfulness, wellbeing and empathy in assessments carried out two and 12 months later. However, those participants who already had the highest levels of mindfulness before the MBSR treatment started showed the greatest levels of improvement.

Shapiro, Shauna L. - The Moderation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Effects by Trait Mindfulness: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial Journal of Clinical Psychology doi: 10.1002/jclp.20761

Eating disorders and mindfulness

Mindfulness - being aware of the present moment in an open and non-judgmental fashion - has become something incorporated into the treatment of more and more mental-health problems. People with eating disorders often have trouble regulating their emotional, cognitive and physical experiences and an inability to recognise when they feel hungry or full. Natasha Hepworth, who works in a private clinic in Melbourne, Australia, studied the effectiveness of a Mindful Eating Group in a study of 33 patients being treated there. The group was designed to increase the participants' awareness of hunger and satiety cues. After taking part in the group for 10 weeks the participants showed significant improvements in their scores on the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) assessment tool.

Hepworth, Natasha S. - A Mindful Eating Group as an Adjunct to Individual Treatment for Eating Disorders: a Pilot Study Eating Disorders, 19:6–16, 2011

Mindfulness, conditional goal setting and depression

People sometimes say to themselves 'I'll be happy when I've got a new car,' or 'I'll have achieved domestic bliss as soon as I've painted the front room.' Psychologists call this way of thinking Conditional Goal Setting and in a number of studies it has been associated with depression. Mindfulness is another way of thinking which derives from Buddhism and which stresses living in the moment, being aware of one's thoughts and surroundings in the present and being open-minded and non-judgmental. Buddhism is also against the idea that happiness is dependent on the achievement of other goals such as material posessions or exam results and a team of researchers from Oxford University and the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London studied 31 depressed patients to see whether there was a link between people's mindfulness and their conditional goal setting - both of which were measured with questionnaires. They found a significant association between 'increased dispositional mindfulness' and reduced conditional goal setting - an indication of another way in which mindfulness might reduce depression.

Crane, Catherine ... [et al] - The relationship between dispositional mindfulness and conditional goal setting in depressed patients British Journal of Clinical Psychology September 2010, 49(3), 281-290

Mindfulness and the military

Cultivating mindfulness - the ability to be aware and attentive to the present moment without emotional reactivity or volatility - has proved helpful for people with anxiety and depression and a new study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University has found it can also be useful for the Marines. 48 Marine reservists took part in the study. 31 of them did Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training and 17 did not. The programme blended mindfulness skills training and information and skills aobut stress, trauma and resilience in the body. The group who did the mindfulness training showed an increase in working memory capacity and a decrease in negative mood over the eight-week course in contrast to the control group who showed a decrease in working memory and an increase in negative mood over the same period.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/02/18/mindfulness-training-helpful-for-the-military/11562.html

Mindfulness and child-abuse victims

It is estimated that over a quarter of adult women in the U.S. were victims of childhood sexual abuse. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are common in these survivors and a number of different kinds of therapies are used to treat them. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine looked into the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in treating these women. Mindfulness has been described as 'moment-to-moment, non-judgmental attention and awareness actively cultivated and developed through meditation.' As well as meditation MBSR also includes course material that dwells on the impermanent and changeable nature of thoughts and judgments in a way influenced by CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy). The researchers studied 27 adult abuse survivors who took an eight-week MBSR programme with daily home practice. The participants also had three refresher courses over a follow-up period of 24 weeks. The study found that after eight weeks depressive symptoms had reduced by 65%. There were statistically-significant improvements in all the measures used by the study, improvements which were sustained over 24 weeks. Symptoms of avoidance and numbing were greatly reduced among people who had PTSD. The intervention was safe and acceptable to the participants and compliance to home practice and class attendance was good.

Kimbrough, Elizabeth ... [et al] - Mindfulness intervention for child abuse survivors Journal of Clinical Psychology January 2010, 66(1), 17-33

Mindfulness and anxiety

A lot of so-called 'third-wave' behaviour therapy uses techniques based on the concept of mindfulness - being aware of the moment in a non-judgemental way - including mindfulness-based stress reduction, dialectical behaviour therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MCBT). A team of researchers from South Korea looked at the effectiveness of MCBT in treating panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. They studied 46 people - some with panic disorder and others with genralized anxiety disorder - and divided them into tow groups. One group received MCBT and the other group received anxiety disorder education. After eight weeks the MCBT group demonstrated significantly more improvement as far as anxiety and depression were concerned. However in terms of somatization (mental-health problems masquerading as physical ones), interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid thoughts and psychoticism there was no difference between the two groups.

Kim, Yong Woo ... [et al] - Effectiveness of mindulness-based cognitive therapy as an adjuvant to pharmacotherapy in patients with panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder Depression and Anxiety July 2009, 26(7), 601-606

Unravelling the marvels of mindfulness

Mindfulness has been defined as "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." There has been a growing interest in mindfulness over the last few years and it has been shown to be effective in pain management, improving the function of the immune system, preventing relapses in depression, reducing anxiety and decreasing stress. However, less is known about how mindfulness works and under what circumstances. Researches at Fort Lewis College in Colorado studied 57 students. They were divided into four groups. One group did nothing (the control group), another group did a course of brief meditation focusing on breathing, sound and bodily sensations focusing on accepting whatever arises, a third group concentrated on extending compassion, friendliness, joy and peace to themselves and others and a fourth group did both meditation courses. The longer combined meditation group significantly reduced anxiety and negative affect and increased hope. The whole effect of the mindfulness intervention could be explained by its impact on cognitive distortions*, negative thoughts such as "it would be awful if...", "I couldn't cope with...," "People will think I'm a failure if..." etc.

Sears, Sharon and Kraus, Sue - I think therefore I om: cognitive distortions and coping style as mediators for the effects of mindfulness meditation on anxiety, positive and negative affect, and hope Journal of Clinical Psychology June 2009, 65(6), 561-573

*see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortions for an explanation of cognitive distortions

Mindfulness and cognition

Mindfulness is a form of meditation with rooots in Buddhist spiritual practices that has been used in a number of ways in clinical psychology including mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and dialectical behaviour therapy. Mindfulness meditation is distinguished from concentration-based meditation which trains participants to focus their attention on a single stimulus such as an object or a word. By contrast mindfulness meditation involves a broader observation of one's present moment experience i.e. physical sensations, thoughts and feelings. There is a growing body of research suggesting that mindfulness-based techniques are effective for a wide variety of conditions including depression, stress, anxiety and pain but less research on the underlying mechanisms whereby mindfulness affects cognition. A team of researchers in Canada studied 72 people to compare how MBSR affected people's concentration, attention and cognition as well as their emotional well-being and mindfulness. Those people who had undertaken an MBSR course showed improvements in emotional well-being and mindfulness but no improvements in attention. However, those people who had improved their mindfulness were better at picking objects out of drawings when asked to do so.

Anderson, Nicole D. ... [et al] - Mindfulness-based stress reduction and attentional control Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy November-December 2007, 14(6), 449-463