The new issue of the Association for Psychological Science's journal
*Perspectives on Psychological Science* includes an article: "How Does
Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual
and Neural Perspective ."
The authors are Britta K. Holzel, Sara W. Lazar, Tim Gard, Zev Schuman-Olivier,
David R. Vago, and Ulrich Ott.
Here's how the article begins:
[begin excerpt]
Mindfulness meditation has been reported to produce beneficial effects on a
number of psychiatric, functional somatic, and stress-related symptoms and has
therefore increasingly been incorporated into psychotherapeutic programs (cf.,
Baer, 2003; Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004).
A large body of research documents the efficacy of mindfulness-based
interventions in the treatment of a number of clinical disorders, including
anxiety (Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010; Roemer, Orsillo, &
Salters-Pedneault, 2008), depression (Hofmann et al., 2010; Teasdale et al.,
2000), substance abuse (Bowen et al., 2006), eating disorders (Tapper et al.,
2009), and chronic pain (Grossman, Tiefenthaler-Gilmer, Raysz, & Kesper, 2007).
Furthermore, mindfulness meditation positively influences aspects of physical
health, including improved immune function (Carlson, Speca, Faris, & Patel,
2007; Davidson et al., 2003), reduced blood pressure and cortisol levels
(Carlson et al., 2007), and increased telomerase activity1 (Jacobs et al.,
2010).
Not only has mindfulness successfully been used in the treatment of disorders
and improvement of health; it has also been shown to produce positive effects on
psychological well-being in healthy participants (Carmody & Baer, 2008; Chiesa &
Serretti, 2009) and to enhance cognitive functioning (Jha, Krompinger, & Baime,
2007; Ortner, Kilner, & Zelazo, 2007; Pagnoni & Cekic, 2007; Slagter et al.,
2007).
Historically, mindfulness is a concept stemming from ancient Buddhist philosophy
(Bhikkhu, 2010), and is practiced to achieve enduring happiness (Ekman,
Davidson, Ricard, & Wallace, 2005) and to gain insight into a view of the true
nature of existence (Olendzki, 2010).
[end excerpt]
Here's another excerpt:
[begin excerpt]
In current research contexts, mindfulness is typically defined as nonjudgmental
attention to experiences in the present moment (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).
Bishop et al. (2004) suggest a two-component model of mindfulness, where the
first component is the regulation of attention in order to maintain it on the
immediate experience, and the second component involves approaching one's
experiences with an orientation of curiosity, openness, and acceptance,
regardless of their valence and desirability.
Mindfulness is typically cultivated in formal meditation practices, such as
sitting meditation, walking meditation, or mindful movements (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).
The practice of mindfulness meditation encompasses focusing attention on the
experience of thoughts, emotions, and body sensations, simply observing them as
they arise and pass away.
[end excerpt]
Another excerpt:
[begin excerpt]
Several neuroscientific studies have reported the ACC to be implicated in
meditation (Cahn & Polich, 2006). Using functional MRI (fMRI), Holzel et al.
(2007) pursued the question of which brain region would be distinctly activated
when meditators performed focused attention meditation.
Compared with age-, gender-, and education-matched controls, experienced
meditators showed greater activation in the rostral ACC (Holzel et al., 2007),
suggesting an effect of meditation practice on ACC activity.
A similar effect (greater rostral ACC activation in meditators compared with
controls) was identified when individuals engaged in a mindfulness practice
while awaiting unpleasant electric stimulation (Gard et al., 2010).
Five days of Integrative Body-Mind Training may lead to greater activation of
the rostral ACC during the resting state (Tang et al., 2009).
Although ACC activation might initially be enhanced when acquiring greater
attentional control, it might later decrease with higher levels of expertise,
when the focus of attention is so steady that monitoring distractions becomes
superfluous (Brefczynski-Lewis, Lutz, Schaefer, Levinson, & Davidson, 2007).
In addition to these functional findings, structural MRI data also indicate that
meditation practice might exert an influence on the ACC.
Cortical thickness in the dorsal ACC was greater in experienced meditators
compared with control subjects in an analysis of brain gray matter (Grant,
Courtemanche, Duerden, Duncan, & Rainville, 2010), and 11 hr of Integrative
Body-Mind Training led to an increase in white matter integrity in the ACC (Tang
et al., 2010).
In line with the assumption that ACC function is strengthened through
concentrative meditation, electroencephalogram data document increased frontal
midline theta rhythm during meditation (Aftanas & Golocheikine, 2002; Kubota et
al., 2001).
Frontal midline theta is associated with attention demanding tasks and
presumably reflects ACC (and medial prefrontal cortex) activity (Asada, Fukuda,
Tsunoda, Yamaguchi, & Tonoike, 1999).
[end excerpt]
Here's how the article ends: "Mindfulness as a state, trait, and clinical
intervention has been extensively researched over the last two decades; however,
knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of mindfulness is still in its infancy.
Future work should identify additional components of mindfulness and establish
to what extent the components described in this article are truly distinct
mechanisms or how they can be integrated into fewer components. We believe that
it will be necessary both to further differentiate each component and to further
integrate them into a comprehensive model. This future empirical work is
critical in order to optimally apply mindfulness in the clinical domain and to
advance techniques that aim at cultivating a healthy mind and increased
well-being."
The author note provides the following contact info: Britta K. Holzel, Bender
Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig-University, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10 H,
35394 Giessen, Germany E-mail: <britta@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>.
Ken Pope