Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T18:54:14.079Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychobiology of Mindfulness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Abstract

There is controversy about whether mindfulness-based approaches to psychotherapy represent a new wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy or a core process in all psychotherapies. One way of conceptualizing mindfulness is in terms of emotion regulation; mindfulness is a strategy aimed at opposing suppression and avoidance. Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with greater activation in prefrontal cortex and greater deactivation of amygdala during affect labeling. A number of rigorous studies of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression have been positive. However, much remains to be discovered about the underlying mechanisms of and clinical indications for mindfulness-based approaches.

Type
Pearls in Clinical Neuroscience
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Grossman, P. On measuring mindfulness in psychosomatic and psychological research. J Psychosom Res. 2008;64:405408.Google Scholar
2.Bishop, SR, Lau, M, Shapiro, S, et al.Mindfulness: a proposed operational definition. Clin Psychol Sci Pract. 2004;11:230241.Google Scholar
3.Baer, RA, Smith, GT, Hopkins, J, Krietemeyer, J, Toney, L. Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment. 2006;13:2745.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Grossman, P, Niemann, L, Schmidt, S, Walach, H. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res. 2004;57:3543.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Creswell, JD, Way, BM, Eisenberger, NI, Lieberman, MD. Neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness during affect labeling. Psychosom Med. 2007;69:560565.Google Scholar
6.Gross, JJ. Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998;74:224237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Grass, JJ. Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology. 2002;39:281291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Hofmann, SG, Asmundson, GJ. Acceptance and mindfulness-based therapy: new wave or old hat? Clin Psychol Rev. 2008;28:116.Google Scholar
9.Teasdale, JD, Segal, ZV, Williams, JM, Ridgeway, VA, Soulsby, JM, Lau, MA. Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2000;68:615623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Lutz, A, Slagter, HA, Dunne, JD, Davidson, RJ. Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends Cogn Sci. 2008;12:163169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Shapiro, SL, Carlson, LE, Astin, JA, Freedman, B. Mechanisms of mindfulness. J Clin Psychol. 2006;62:373386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Stein, DJ. Emotional regulation: implications for the psychobiology of psychotherapy. CNS Spectr. 2008;13:195198.Google Scholar
13.Milad, MR, Quirk, GJ. Neurons in medial prefrontal cortex signal memory for fear extinction. Nature. 2002;420:7074.Google Scholar
14.Johnstone, T, van Reekum, CM, Urry, HL, Kalin, NH, Davidson, RJ. Failure to regulate: counterproductive recruitment of top-down prefrontal-subcortical circuitry in major depression. J Neurosci. 2007;27:88778884.Google Scholar
15.Ochsner, KN, Gross, JJ. The cognitive control of emotion. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005;9:242249.Google Scholar
16.Herwig, U, Baumgartner, T, Kaffenberger, T, et al.Modulation of anticipatory emotion and perception processing by cognitive control. Neuroimage. 2007;37:652662.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17.Stein, DJ. What is the self? A psychobiological perspective. CNS Spectr. 2007;12:333336.Google Scholar
18.Lieberman, MD, Eisenberger, NI, Crockett, MJ, Tom, SM, Pfeifer, JH, Way, BM. Putting feelings into words: affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychol Sci. 2007;18:421428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Lieberman, MD, Hariri, A, Jarcho, JM, Eisenberger, NI, Bookheimer, SY. An fMRI investigation of race-related amygdala activity in African-American and Caucasian-American individuals. Nat Neurosci. 2005;8:720722.Google Scholar
20.Hariri, AR, Bookheimer, SY, Mazziotta, JC. Modulating emotional responses: effects of a neocortical network on the limbic system. Neuroreport. 2000;11:4348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Urry, HL, van Reekum, CM, Johnstone, T, et al.Amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are inversely coupled during regulation of negative affect and predict the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion among older adults. J Neurosci. 2006;26:44154425.Google Scholar
22.Farb, NA, Segal, ZV, Mayberg, H, et al.Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2007;2:313322.Google Scholar
23.Newberg, AB, Iversen, J. The neural basis of the complex mental task of meditation: neurotransmitter and neurochemical considerations. Med Hypotheses. 2003;61:282291.Google Scholar
24.Vermetten, E, Douglas Bremner, J. Functional brain imaging and the induction of traumatic recall: a cross-correlational review between neuroimaging and hypnosis. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2004;52:280312.Google Scholar
25.Kakigi, R, Nakata, H, Inui, K, et al.Intracerebral pain processing in a Yoga Master who claims not to feel pain during meditation. Eur J Pain. 2005;9:581589.Google Scholar
26.Cahn, BR, Polich, J. Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP and neuroimaging studies. Psychol Bull. 2006;132:180211.Google Scholar
27.Lutz, A, Brefczynski-Lewis, J, Johnstone, T, Davidson, RJ. Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: effects of meditative expertise. PloS ONE. 2008;3:e1897.Google Scholar
28.Lazar, SW, Bush, G, Gollub, RL, Fricchione, GL, Khalsa, G, Benson, H. Functional brain mapping or the relaxation response and meditation. Neuroreport. 2000;11:15811585.Google Scholar
29.Hölzel, BK, Ott, U, Hempel, H, et al.Differential engagement of anterior cingulate and adjacent medial frontal cortex in adept meditators and non-meditators. Neurosci Lett. 2007;421:1621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Brefczynski-Lewis, JA, Lutz, A, Schaefer, HS, Levinson, DB, Davidson, RJ. Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007;104:1148311488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.Hölzel, BK, Ott, U, Gard, T, et al.Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2008;3:5561.Google Scholar
32.Kjaer, TW, Bertelsen, C, Piccini, P, Brooks, D, Alving, J, Lou, HC. Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2002;13:255259.Google Scholar
33.O'Loughlin, RE, Zuckerman, M. Mindfulness as a moderator of the relationship between dehydroepiandrosterone and reported physical symptoms. Pers Individ Dif. 2008;44:11931202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34.Carlson, LE, Speca, M, Faris, P, Patel, KD. One year pre-post intervention follow-up of psychological, immune, endocrine and blood pressure outcomes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in breast and prostate cancer outpatients. Brain Behav Immun. 2007;21:10381049.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.Davidson, RJ, Kabat-Zinn, J, Schumacher, J, et al.Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosom Med. 2003;65:564570.Google Scholar
36.Chambers, R, Lo, BC, Allen, NB. The impact of intensive mindfulness training on attentional control, cognitive style, and affect. Cognit Ther Res. 2008;32:303322.Google Scholar
37.Arch, JJ, Craske, MG. Mechanisms of mindfulness: emotion regulation following a focused breathing induction. Behav Res Ther. 2006;44:18491858.Google Scholar
38.Ortner, CN, Kilner, SJ, Zelazo, PD. Mindfulness meditation and reduced emotional interference on a cognitive task. Motiv Emot. 2007;31:271283.Google Scholar
39.Stein, DJ, van Honk, J, Ipser, J, Solms, M, Panksepp, J. Opioids: from physical pain to the pain of social isolation. CNS Spectr. 2007;12:669–670, 672674.Google Scholar
40.Stein, DJ, Mayberg, H. Placebo: the best pill of all. CNS Spectr. 2005;10:440442.Google Scholar
41.Stein, DJ. Empathy: at the heart of the mind. CNS Spectr. 2005;10:280283.Google Scholar
42.Michal, M, Beutel, ME, Jordan, J, Zimmermann, M, Wolters, S, Heidenreich, T. Depersonalization, mindfulness, and childhood trauma. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2007;195:693696.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
43.Drabant, EM, Hariri, AR, Meyer-Lindenberg, A, et al.Catechol O-methyltransferase val158met genotype and neural mechanisms related to affective arousal and regulation. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:13961406.Google Scholar
44.Taylor, SE, Eisenberger, NI, Saxbe, D, Lehman, BJ, Lieberman, MD. Neural responses to emotional stimuli are associated with childhood family stress. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;60:296301.Google Scholar
45.Block-Lerner, J, Adair, C, Plumb, JC, Rhatigan, DL, Orsillo, SM. The case for mindfulness-based approaches in the cultivation of empathy: does nonjudgmental, present-moment awareness increase capacity for perspective-taking and empathic concern? J Marital Fam Ther. 2007;33:501516.Google Scholar
46.Higley, JD, Mehlman, PT, Higley, SB, et al.Excessive mortality in young free-ranging male non-human primates with low cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid concentrations. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996;53:537543.Google Scholar
47.Taylor, SF, Liberzon, I. Neural correlates of emotion regulation in psychopathology. Trends Cogn Sci. 2007;11:413418.Google Scholar
48.Brown, KW, Ryan, RM. Perils and promise in defining and measuring mindfulness: Observations from experience. Clin Psychol Sci Pract. 2004;11:242248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
49.Rosch, E. More than mindfulness: when you have a tiger by the tail, let it eat you. Psychol Inq. 2007;18:258264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50.Lau, MA, Bishop, SR, Segal, ZV, et al.The Toronto Mindfulness Scale: development and validation. J Clin Psychol. 2006;62:14451467.Google Scholar
51.Walach, H, Buchheld, N, Buttenmuller, V, Kleinknecht, N, Schmidt, S. Measuring mindfulness: the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). Pers Individ Dif. 2006;40:15431555.Google Scholar
52.Cardaciotto, L, Herbert, JD, Forman, EM, Moitra, E, Farrow, V. The assessment of present-moment awareness and acceptance: The Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale. Assessment. 2008;15:204223.Google Scholar
53.Baer, RA, Smith, GT, Allen, KB. Assessment of mindfulness by self-report: the Kentucky inventory of mindfulness skills. Assessment. 2004;11:191206.Google Scholar
54.Feldman, G, Hayes, A, Kumar, S, et al.Mindfulness and emotion regulation: the development and initial validation of the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R). J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2007;29:177190.Google Scholar
55.Hayes, SC. Acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, and the third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies. Behav Ther. 2004;35:639665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
56.Martin, JR. Mindfulness: a proposed common factor. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. 1997;7:291312.Google Scholar
57.Hayes, SC, Luoma, JB, Bond, FW, Masuda, A, Lillis, J. Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes. Behav Res Ther. 2006;44:125.Google Scholar
58.Brown, KW, Ryan, RA, Creswell, JD. Mindfulness: theoretical foundations and evidence for its salutary effects. Psychol Inq. 2007;18:211237.Google Scholar
59.Ivanovski, B, Malhi, GS. The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditation. Acta Neuropsychiatrica. 2007;19:7691.Google Scholar
60.Toneatto, T, Nguyen, L. Does mindfulness meditation improve anxiety and mood symptoms? A review of the controlled research. Can J Psychiatry. 2007;52:260266.Google Scholar
61.Coelho, HF, Canter, PH, Ernst, E. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: evaluating current evidence and informing future research. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2007;75:10001005.Google Scholar
62.Allen, NB, Blashki, G, Gullone, E. Mindfulness-based psychotherapies: a review of conceptual foundations, empirical evidence and practical considerations. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2006;40:285294.Google Scholar
63.Grepmair, L, Mitterlehner, F, Loew, T, Bachler, E, Rother, W, Nickel, M. Promoting mindfulness in psychotherapists in training influences the treatment results of their patients: a randomized, double-blind, controlled study. Psychother Psychosom. 2007;76:332338.Google Scholar
64.Masicampo, EJ, Baumeister, RR. Relating mindfulness and self-regulatory processes. Psychol Inq. 2007;18:255258.Google Scholar