Mindfulness
As we approach our meditation retreat in Martha’s Vineyard, I wanted to write more about the virtues of meditation and relaxation. Meditation can be considered a spiritual experience or just a physical experience, but most importantly for me, the rewards of meditation can be understood in scientific terms and through the clinical medical practice literature. In this blog, I wanted to share with you the work of the eminent researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn.
According to psychologist and researcher Kabat-Zinn, the Buddhist Mindfulness meditation approach focuses on the present moment with the goal of dispassionate self-observation. Mindfulness is a concept stemming from ancient Buddhist philosophy and is practiced in order to achieve what they call enduring happiness and to gain insight into a view of the true nature of existence.
In 1979, Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in which patients are taught relaxation/meditation techniques and counselled to accept their problems rather than to modify or suppress them. Clients meditate for 30–45 minutes in session and are assigned approximately 45 minutes of daily meditation, using audio-recorded instructions. The mindfulness practices are intended to increase awareness and acceptance, teaching clients to observe physical, cognitive, emotional, or craving states without reacting.
In 1982, Kabat-Zinn published findings that MBSR significantly improved chronic pain among 51 refractory patients in an uncontrolled study. After 10 weeks of MBSR, 50% of patients had a 50% or greater level of pain relief, 65% had a 33% or greater level of pain relief. Subsequent researchers adapted MBSR for cigarette and substance abuse, developing a program called Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) which is an 8-week, group based, psychoeducational intervention that is based on similar paradigm as used for MBSR for chronic pain. Four studies have evaluated the effectiveness of MBRP in the treatment of substance use disorders. In a controlled, pilot-study, Bowen and colleagues (2009) studied 165 individuals with substance abuse disorders who recently completed outpatient or/and inpatient treatment. The MBRP group reported significantly lower levels of craving following treatment, in comparison to a treatment-as-usual control group.
Davis et al (2007) reported 56% abstinence in smokers (confirmed biologically) after 6 weeks of MBSR course for smokers. Brewer et al completed a controlled, randomised study on 88 smokers found that eight sessions of mindfulness training over 4 weeks resulted in greater reduction in smoking than the American Lung Association Freedom From Smoking Program with significantly better abstinence at 17 weeks after the training. This mindfulness construct has been incorporated into many contemporary psychotherapies, such as Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. We don’t just have clinical data, we also have scientific support from brain scans that suggest that mindfulness practice is associated with neuroplastic changes in various regions of the brain such as the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction.
In two words, MINDFULNESS HELPS!!
In my next blog, I’ll talk about the virtues of one of the most popular forms of meditation, called Transcendental Meditation or TM.
Until next time, best wishes to all!
Ken Rosenberg, MD, uppereasthealth.com
