Research related to Mindfulness – Page 8

Mindfulness and ADD

February 3, 2010June 10, 2010 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

We all can suffer from a lack of ability to focus or pay attention, especially when we are stressed. However, for some people, such as children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), focusing is a much greater problem. Symptoms for the disorder include impulsiveness, hyperactivity and poor concentration. The number of cases of ADD has increased significantly in recent times, which may partly be due to the way modern society has developed: Our current way of living puts a very high demand on attention while, as we have noted in a recent blog entry, encouraging a significant amount of distraction and multi-tasking.

There are concerns with some of the medications used to treat ADD so alternatives to medication are highly sought after. A very interesting study of mindfulness meditation as a treatment for adults and adolescents with ADD was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders (Zylowka, et al.,2008). The study took typical mindfulness training and adapted it to make it more user friendly for people with ADD. They called this eight week programme ‘Mindful Awareness Practices for ADHD’, or MAPS. They found improvement in self-reports of ADD symptoms. In-attention and hyperactivity improved significantly – as measured before the class, at the conclusion, and 3 months after the training was completed. Indeed, they found that there was actually even more improvement at the post 3 month mark than right after the training itself. As Dr Zylowka noted “We always think that our brain makes our mind, but it may work the other way. You can have an impact on your biology”

Mindfulness meditation has three basic steps. These are, firstly, bringing attention to an “attentional anchor” such as breathing. Then noticing when distraction occurs and letting go of the distraction and, finally, refocusing back to the “attentional anchor”. As such it can be seen as a form of “attention training” programme, and as such, examining the impact of such training on ADD becomes a very interesting question to pursue.

“Mindfulness meditation training in adults and adolescents with ADHD”. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11, 737-746.

Meditation and Insomnia

January 25, 2010June 11, 2010 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Meditation may be an effective behavioral intervention in the treatment of insomnia, according to research presented in June 2009. Results indicate that patients saw improvements in subjective sleep quality and sleep diary parameters while practicing meditation.

The study divided participants with chronic primary insomnia into two groups. Primary insomnia is sleeplessness that cannot be attributed to an existing medial, psychiatric or environmental cause. One group practiced yoga and meditation while the other group, the control group, didn’t. At the end of the two-month-long trial, the patients who practiced yoga/meditation experienced improved sleep quality and sleep time. Sleep latency, total sleep time, total wake time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep quality and depression all improved in the patients who used meditation. “Results of the study show that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night,” said Ramadevi Gourineni, MD, director of the insomnia program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Evanston, Ill.

Ramadevi Gourineni, et al. “Effects of Meditation on Sleep in Individuals with Chronic Insomnia” American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Abstract ID: 0874.

Mindfulness and attachment

January 21, 2010June 12, 2010 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

There are interesting possible links between the practice of meditation and the healing of attachment patterns which are at the basis of all our relationships. Our early relationships with our primary caregivers laid down a pattern or paradigm which can be activated in later relationships. This paradigm can be very deeply ingrained in our unconscious and in the neural patterns of the brain. Luckily, like all neural patterns they can be changed, even if this takes a lot of time. One possible effect of meditation is that it allows the healing of excessive needs in relation to others by developing a greater contentment and balance with ourselves. This seems to be supported by the following quotation from Daniel Siegel on the brain and how it functions. Although it comes from a neurological point of view it seems to me to agree with the more Buddhist view of the mind’s natural wakefulness which I referred to in the previous post.

Each of us needs periods in which our minds can focus inwardly. Solitude is an essential experience for the mind to organize its own processes and create an internal state of resonance. In such a state, the self is able to alter its constraints by directly reducing the input from interactions with others. As the mind goes through alternating phases of needing connection and needing solitude, the states of mind are cyclically influenced by combinations of external and internal processes. We can propose that such a shifting of focus allows the mind to achieve a balanced self-organizational flow in the states of mind across time. Respecting the need for solitude allows the mind to “heal” itself – which in essence can be seen as releasing the natural self-organizational tendencies of the mind to create a balanced flow of states. Solitude permits the self to reflect on engrained patterns and intentionally alter reflexive responses to external events that have been maintaining the dyadic dysfunction.

Daniel J. Siegal, The Developing Mind p., 235

The effect of mindfulness on the Brain

January 19, 2010 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

From Dan Siegal, the author of The Mindful Brain:

Studies show that the ways we intentionally shape our internal focus of attention in mindfulness practice induces a state of brain activation during the practice. With repetition, an intentionally created state can become an enduring trait of the individual as reflected in long-term changes in brain function and structure. This is a fundamental property of neuroplasticity—how the brain changes in response to experience. Here, the experience is the focus of attention in a particular manner.

First, a “left-shift” has been noted in which the left frontal activity of the brain is enhanced following MBSR training. This electrical change in brain function is thought to reflect the cultivation of an “approach state,” in which we move toward, rather than away from, a challenging external situation or internal mental function such as a thought, feeling, or memory. Naturally, such an approach state can be seen as the neural basis for resilience.

Second, the degree of this left-shift is proportional to the improvement seen in immune function. Our mind not only finds resilience, but our body’s ability to fight infection is improved. At the University of California, Los Angeles, David Cresswell and his colleagues have found that MBSR improves immune function even in those with HIV.