My summer graduate students in mindfulness wrote their final papers on mindfulness interventions with a specific population. In the last few days, reading their papers has been a deep source of inspiration. A world of possibility is opening up in the field of mental health through
My summer graduate students in mindfulness wrote their final papers on mindfulness interventions with a specific population. In the last few days, reading their papers has been a deep source of inspiration. A world of possibility is opening up in the field of mental health through the arrival of mindfulness. Students explored mindfulness in the treatment of hypochondria, PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and skin diseases. They looked at mindfulness in the treatment of couples, children with social and emotional disorders, urban youth, and college students. Reasearch supports all of their findings. Four of the five books used in their course were published after 2000. Two were published in 2010 and 2011. Much of the research quoted in these final papers took place in the last five years. Some of the most interesting research was published in 2011.
fMRI, a brain mapping technology, allows researchers to identify brain activity while is is happening. Recent studies using fMRI are able to show how attention improves after a short period of mindfulness meditation by mapping a more efficient brain at work. A recent study of depression relapse shows that MBCT (a combination of mindfulness and cognitive therapy) is more effective at preventing relapse than the standard treatment using anti-depressants.
A recent German study shows that introducing mindfulness into the training of therapists produces better outcomes for their clients. This study follows the therapy of newly trained therapists and shows more rapid improvement in clients whose therapists received training in mindfulness. If you are thinking that these therapists had a history of ongoing meditation and instruction over several years, think again. In this study, the therapists practiced one hour of guided sitting practice each morning before beginning their day. Even this period of practice resulted in a statistically significant improvement in client well-being over a control group of clients whose therapists didn’t meditate.
A recent smoking cessation study using brain scanning technology showed that a one time 10 minute body scan reduced craving for cigarettes in the minutes after the body scan took place. In the field of multi-cultural awareness, a recent study showed that mindfulness meditation is an effective component of multi-cultural awareness. The study found that in terms of appropriate behavior in multicultural interactions being able to observe thought as thought is more important than what the content of the thought actually is. In other words, a generally culturally aware person who has little ability to recognize the thought they are thinking is more likely to make a cultural blunder than a person with greater prejudice but more awareness of what they are thinking as it happens.
The studies I listed are the tip of the iceberg. They are just the ones that spark my imagination and interest. The wave of mindfulness as a treatment is a powerful influence on the world of psychology and psychotherapy. And everybody stands to gain from this emerging knowledge. I have a colleague who says that mindfulness is supporting the emerging of a new definition of mental health. Much of the understanding of mental health has been informed be the post-Freudian edict that a healthy human being can work and love effectively. The new definition informed by the emergence of mindfulness into the field is that mental health is the capacity to meet life as it is.
Karen Beetle is a therapist and mindfulness teacher. You can reach her at firstname.lastname@example.org or 424-7516.