Providing care for a frail older adult is a stressful experience that may affect psychological and physical health of caregivers. When caregivers are elderly and the care recipient suffers from a neurocognitive disorder such as dementia, the burden and resulting stress is greatly increased. Many interventions involving support groups, counseling, and education have been implemented …
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Hedonic sustainability in the BOLD response to selfish and altruistic rewards
Psychological well-being is known to be related to factors of affective chronometry, in particular, the ability to sustain positive responses (hedonic sustainability) and the ability to rapidly recover from negative responses. Both of these are under the phenomenological umbrella of “emotion regulation” and the methodological umbrella of “affective chronometry”. Here we focus on recovery from …
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Exploring the impact of meditation on stress and psychopathology: Attentional allocation as a potential mechanism of active change following meditation training
Attentional function is one possible mechanism underlying meditation’s impact on stress and psychopathology, but few studies examine this newly discovered factor. Attentional allocation, in the context of cognitive and emotional self-regulation, may underlie changes observed following meditation training and practice. Additionally, meditation’s potential to ameliorate subjective and biochemical reactions to an acute stressor remains unexplored. …
Application of the neurovisceral integration model to mindfulness: Implications for stress regulation and the development of insomnia
Despite the burgeoning of mindfulness research, it remains unclear which components of mindfulness are directly related to symptom reduction. Furthermore, little is known about the experience of daily life mindfulness or the relationship between stress regulation and mindfulness in insomnia patients. Using a neurovisceral integration model of self-regulation, the proposed study seeks to examine the …
Examining the psychological effects of intensive meditation retreats for teenage youth
We posit that daily stressors exert a harmful impact on adolescents’ social-emotional health. Importantly, not all youth who experience these risks succumb to poor outcomes. We hypothesize that adolescents’ mindfulness, a state of consciousness involving a receptive attention to and awareness of present moment experiences, serves as a protective factor by helping youth regulate and …
An objective comparison of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for the treatment of insomnia in individuals with cancer using wrist actigraphy: A randomized, non-inferiority trial
Many individuals with cancer report problems achieving an adequate and restorative sleep. This difficulty is due in part to the cognitive and somatic arousal that can accompany a stressful life experience. Unfortunately, chronic sleep deprivation is linked to poor physical and psychological health and an increased risk of mortality. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) …
The FACE Study: Faces, Attention, Compassion, and Emotion
While the mien of meditation masters such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama is often remarked upon as a powerful component of the fruit of their practice, little is known scientifically about links between the practice of meditation and changes in facial expression and whether these changes would be linked to emotional and/or physiological variables. …
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Effects of mindfulness meditation on cell aging processes
Chronic stress and major depressive disorder are associated with accelerated cellular aging, indicated by shortened telomeres in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Psychological distress is also related to greater oxidative stress, a known cause of telomere shortening. The primary aim of the proposed research is to determine whether mindfulness meditation reduces oxidative stress and increases …
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Does mindfulness training change the processing of social threat?
Mindfulness training is theorized to lead to a shift in perspective, a so-called “reperceiving”. The observing of inner experiences, thoughts, and emotions leads to a dis-identification from these contents of consciousness, which facilitates exposure and is thought to result in a reduction in emotional reactivity and to more adaptive responding in situations of social threat. …
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Neuropeptide levels in meditation
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or other forms of meditation have been found to decrease blood pressure, improve sleep, decrease anxiety and stress, decrease cortisol, induce the immune response, and produce other health benefits. However, the mechanism of action of meditation’s beneficial effect on health is uncertain. The peptide neurohormone oxytocin is generally considered to have …
