With recently discharged veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) as our subjects, this study examines the neuroanatomical underpinnings as well as cognitive and perceptual biases associated with the progression of early onset Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We are comparing the efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; treatment) to Supportive Therapy (ST; control) as early interventions …
Continue reading “Neural Correlates of PTSD Prevention with MBSR in Iraq Veterans”
This study examines the effects of a contemplative education intervention for Asian Indian adolescents living and going to high school in Singapore. The intervention aims to (a) reduce adolescents’ perceived levels of life stress and (b) enhance their ability to regulate their attention. While relaxation techniques have generally been found effective in dealing with adolescent …
This study uses a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to analyze EEG data collected during two 3-month long intensive meditation retreats in four steps. First, novel tools were developed for preprocessing the EEG data. Second, in order to identify the cortical correlates of meditation, longitudinal changes in the cortical activity were measured using spectral analysis. Three main …
Previous studies have indicated that mindfulness and other forms of meditation training are associated with improvements in sleep quality. However, none of these studies used objective polysomnographic sleep recordings. The aim of this study was to examine whether mindfulness meditation was associated with improvements in objectively measured sleep, according to polysomnography (PSG), and to relate …
Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8 week course that teaches participants to change their patterns of reacting to stress. To accomplish this goal, participants practice meditation to increase their ability to attend to emotions and develop the ability to attend to their patterns of reactivity. In theory, this awareness will eventually enable participants to …
Continue reading “Dissociable neural modes of self-reference and emotion regulation”
Prior studies have focused on the impact of mindfulness-based interventions on alleviating physical or psychological symptoms or difficulties (e.g., Teasdale et al., 2000; Ma & Teasdale, 2004), or on enhancing positive states, including mindfulness itself (E.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003). Relatively little work has focused on cognitive measures that might reflect the presence or absence …
The effect of meditation on pain perception was investigated. Zen meditators and controls were instructed to attend, in different ways, to painful and non-painful thermal stimuli. Conditions included: a) baseline, b) concentration: attend exclusively to the left calf, c) mindfulness: attend to the left calf and observe, moment to moment, in a non-judgmental manner. Meditators …
Continue reading “The neurobiology of mindfulness meditation for the control of pain”
Most meditation traditions integrate attention to the internal state of the body into the practice of meditation, and teach that a central effect of the meditative practice is increased awareness of the body. To test whether meditators have increased body awareness we examined the performance of two groups of experienced meditators compared to one group …
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is seriously debilitating and common, with 5-10% incidence in general population and over 30% in combat veterans. PTSD symptoms include emotional dysregulation, intrusive, distressing trauma memories, nightmares, and ‘flashbacks’. Our laboratory has reported exaggerated a.) first-person emotional b.) psychophysiological and c.) neuroendocrine responses to trauma recall in combat PTSD patients, and …
The objective of present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a primary prevention program—“Mindfulness Education” (ME)—a classroom-based program designed to foster children’s mindful awareness, psychological well-being, and social-emotional competencies. This study will provide an examination of multiple areas of functioning—cognitive, affective, behavioural, interpersonal and physiological through the collection of data from multiple-informants (self-reports, peer …
