If you’ve ever felt too depressed to solve a problem, it might be because your brain is having a hard time regulating your emotions.
One solution? Mindfulness training.
Zindel Segal, PhD and his colleagues at the University of Toronto were curious to see whether mindfulness training could alter the experience of emotions, particularly sadness.
They randomly assigned 36 participants to one of two groups.
The first group received mindfulness-based stress reduction training, where mindfulness was taught through meditation, yoga, and self-guided CDs for 8 weeks. The second group was put on a waitlist to serve as a control.
Both groups were given brain scans and their images recorded.
They were then shown sets of edited film clips to provoke their emotions. Half of the clips were neutral, including wood-cutting and gardening. The other half were sad clips taken from two Hollywood films.
Participants watched the clips in sets alternating between neutral and sad to limit residual emotions.
In between the clips, participants had a 30-second reflection period. Afterward, they were asked to rate their level of sadness on a scale from 1 to 5.
Both groups reported similar levels of sadness after watching the videos.
But the scans after viewing the film clips revealed a significant difference in the brains of the two groups, specifically in the areas that were activated and deactivated.
The control group had greater activations in the left side of their brains, including areas for memory retrieval, language, and most importantly, self-referencing.
On the other hand, the group that received mindfulness training had more balanced activations in both the left and right sides of the brain. In other words, the mindfulness group showed less self-referencing while experiencing emotion than the control group.
These results suggest that by reducing the activation of the region associated with the self, mindfulness can help patients view their emotions from a more detached perspective.
Personally, that has certainly been true for me.
This means that patients may be able to think more clearly and generate new strategies to resolve their issues without emotional interference.
If you’d like to know more, you can find the full study in the 10th volume of Emotion, 2010.
Improved clarity during emotional periods is just one of the benefits of mindfulness.
Has mindfulness ever helped your clients maintain clarity during difficult emotional periods? Please share your experience in the comments below.
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Mindfulness as a practice establishes a platform to literally reestablish thought patterns. Those new thought patterns require emotional activation. Physical activity can also reinforce these new patterns to become autonomic, replacing the outdated thought patterns that activate decomposing behaviors. Meditation and Mindfulness also can serve to develop core muscle strength to enhance posture, become aware and regulate internal organ function, reset our “runaway train” thought patterns that cause insomnia, poor cognition and memory and more. However, to advance toward lasting lifestyle change, additional support systems are necessary.
We are evaluating a technology based on waveform (bio-harmonic resonance) that serves as a tuning fork for healthy alignment of homeostasis of mind and body. We are excited to launch it commercially.
Thank you for the article Ruth!
Be well
It is a pet peeve of mind to use the word “detached” when talking about mindfulness, meditation, etc. There is no “distance” or break from. Maybe this is being pedantic, but I think it would be helpful to be more concise about the ability to be a self-observer and not succumb to emotional action and reaction. Being aware and having “brain strength” to stay mindful is NOT the same as being detached.
Food for thought about the many researchers and writers who are now investigating mindfulness and its potential.
The word “detached,” in my opinion, exactly describes the quality of self-observation mindfulness meditation helps develop. I understand your point about being aware (and “brain strength” as you call it) and I agree that it is something different than being detached. However, I think both are critical components of the process. I’m not sure why you would object to identifying detachment as a component or quality of the process.
In meditation, as thoughts arise, three things need to happen: 1. become aware of the thought, 2. let it go and 3. return to awareness of current moment. It seems to me that by the time I become aware of the thought, my brain is already several steps ahead, down the path of rumination and speculation, sinking into a quagmire of what-ifs, etc. To consciously detach at that point is very helpful. I would say it is a separate step, even though it happens almost simultaneously with returning my attention to the current moment, which often takes repeated efforts – it’s a process.
I would think that if writers and researchers were to ignore the “detaching” part of the process, they would be missing a key element. Likewise, if they were to describe the process solely as one of detachment, with no mention of self-awareness or self-observation, they would also be missing the boat.
Just my two cents, as someone who practices mindfulness and finds it incredibly helpful in life.
Great article! A majority of my clients have experienced rapid shifts in their ability to regulate their emotions. Through the work of Eckhart Tolle and his mindfulness concepts a majority of my clients have magnified their capacity to be present as well.
as a psychiatrist who focuses on psychotherapy for anxiety and depression as well as couples counseling and marriage therapy i use mindfulness mediation with all my patients and teach this as a basic skill as part of therapy for any problem.
It is good to see the scientific research that proves the power of the mind to develop its ability to self reflect and respond to emotions and experiences rather than automatically react in maladaptive patterns. Thank you for these references i print them out for my patients.
Larry Drell, MD
Washington, DC
drdrell.com
counselingandtherapydc.com/links has info on anxiety, depression treatment and couples therapy incorporating mindfulness meditation
I discovered mindfulness on the internet when I was desperate for help with my anxiety, depression, and insomnia… Ian Lewis with Beat Anxiety Now was my first savior and gave me hopefulness in a time when I really had lost my own. From there… I started getting the Psych Central newsletters where I was introduced to Elisha Goldstein and The Now Effect. I have been practicing Mindfulness and Transcendental Meditation for the past year.
Acceptance of myself and compassion for others..including myself have really given me new perspective and I wake in the morning eager to see what the world has in store for me. I am not afraid of recurring depressions because I have the tools to deal with it before it gets out of control.
Mindfulness is really a major breakthrough and wonderful lifestyle that allows me to stay in tune with myself and create awareness of what is going on inside my body and mind. Thankyou to all who have studied this subject. Its a life saver!!! And the webinars are really fun and interesting. I plan on attending them all.
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I have my own personal mindfulness practice and I am currently working on my Masters in Social Work. My goal is to thuroughly understand how to utilize mindfulness practice in the field of Social Work at the individual, group and community levels.
I teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (8 weeks course) in Reykjavík and I practice informal and formal mindfulness every day.
Its exciting knowing that a psych from Iceland is connected to this group. Wow!
As a personal historian and writer of inspirational materials and booklets, I have myself read many books by spiritual teachers such as Ernest Holmes whose “change your thinking; change your life” is the greatest discovery humankind has made in the 21st century. The truth is . . . we create our own realities by our thoughts, words and actions, many of them unconscious. This affects us individually and collectively. In 2001, Chris Bache wrote in the IONS Noetic Sciences Review: “I believe the sustainability crisis is at its core a crisis of consciousness. Without being overly simplistic, it can be described as a crisis generated by our lack of deep self-awareness.” Tara spoke of this last evening, of our “forgetting who we are.” I sometimes think many of us were never told or never knew who we really are, what power we have to create lives of purpose and meaning or also to destroy our lives and the lives of others with anger and sadness and regret. I am finding this series on mindfulness a wonderful forum and a significant way to learn how to put into practice these methods of quieting the mind. After all, we can read about this every day, but it doesn’t help us at all until we actually practice it and activate it into our lives moment by precious moment.
I teach mindfulness exercises to all of my clients. I hold a Zen Meditation meeting once per month at my office / studio to practice “going within.” Many report a feeling of calm, and peace. I appreciate your findings on mindfulness.
I am not a therapist but I am in therapy for very long time. I am just a client/patient that seeking to help myself. I found Tara Brach talk very important and helpful. having mindful practice as part of therapy is what keep me from deeper depression.