Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation has been present in cultures, societies and spiritual teachings for thousands of years. Mindfulness is a form of meditation that focuses awareness on breathing and encourages positive attitudes to achieve a healthy balanced mental state. [Mosby’s medical dictionary] The benefits of meditation have mostly been anecdotal. However, in recent decades, meditation has been studied which has led to a better understanding of the effects on the mind. Meditation can have many positive results, such as helping treat depression and anxiety, reducing the need for medications associated with these troubling disorders, and improving daily life through practicing mindfulness mediation.

I was stricken with a bout of depression and anxiety

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy [MBCT] is an eight-week systematic plan of therapy courses that teach clients the art of mindfulness meditation. They gain the ability to rethink themselves, apart from their thoughts and feelings, which are the main cause of their problems. Instead they focus on modifying their mental state (body and mind) through breathing and meditation. The Cambridge group conducted a randomised control study, in which they found that the group practising MBCT had more positive results than the control group (the group treated with anti-depressants) as 64% did not relapse from their depression after the follow up, whereas the control group only had a 22% rate without relapse. Other results showed that the group practicing mindfulness meditation was 3 times more likely to avoid relapse. Not only is the relapse rate much lower with MBCT, but also there are no harmful side effects associated with it, as it is practicing the art of mindfulness meditation paired with gentle therapy questions. Mindfulness meditation directly deals with modifying the negative emotions and thoughts of an individual, where medications cause chemical changes in the brain that is generally not healthy [APA]. The triggers of depression and anxiety are imbedded in the brain of the sufferers,

Claire Morgan, a 35-year-old biologist, “self-described optimist”, was struggling with her finances, and her relationship with her boyfriend was having troubles. She than starting experiencing unusual symptoms, out of nowhere she began feeling very agitated; she couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t sleep at night and felt shaky, common signs of depression and anxiety. After six weeks she went to visit her doctor and he immediately diagnosed depression and anxiety. She wasn’t sure about it, since she was experiencing other symptoms like diarrhea, weight loss and vomiting. He prescribed her an antidepressant. This only made her feel worse; she developed the shakes as well as suicidal thoughts. Her general practitioner changed the medication three weeks later, and after mentioning her suicidal thoughts to her doctor she was put under the supervision of a mental health team. Six weeks later she was put on another anti-depressant, also a tranquillizer and an anti-psychotic. Claire now sleeping 14 hours a day and not being able to work, she had to live off of her boyfriend’s earnings. 'I was zombified, but still felt the anxiety and the terror, and that didn't seem right. However, my doctor simply increased my dose.' After six straining months of seemingly endless miserableness the doctor knew it wasn’t working. The doctor suggested to Claire electric shock therapy, she