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Annotated Bibliography on Mindfulness and Mental Health
Annotated Bibliography on Mindfulness and Mental Health
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Mindfulness interventions are gaining increasing support for the reason that it teaches an essential skill that benefits an individual’s mental health. By participating in learning and practicing mindfulness, the individual consequently fosters a skill. That is, learning to recognize emotions and behaviors and then self-monitor them with a mindful and non-judgmental awareness. These interventions have the potential to develop an individual’s greater self-awareness, increased impulse control and decrease emotional reactivity to difficult situations (396). Although clinicians consider mindfulness analogous to various established approaches, Thompson and Gilbert accentuate the importance of separating mindfulness from other techniques. In particular, …show more content…
Authors Thompson and Gilbert identify differences between both populations in terms of developmental abilities. The fact is, that teaching mindfulness to children and adolescents needs to be developmentally appropriate. What is not clear is the specific stage needed to be reached before participating in mindfulness interventions. Those who follow Piagetian framework suggest that participants of mindfulness should attain the stage of ‘formal operations’, known for abstract and hypothetical reasoning that generally occurs around the age of 12 years old (398). Contrastingly, clinicians using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) perspective results can be seen in Piaget’s ‘concrete operations’ stage, generally from age 7-12 (398). This perspective requires a sense of self-awareness, modification of habitual behavioral tendencies and utilization of metaphors that help abstract ideas to be understood (398). Comparatively, mindfulness requirement is similar to that of cognitive-based therapy. It is likely, that useful work can be carried out within this younger age range. However, Thompson and Gilbert suggest “researchers will have to establish the lower age limit for teaching mindfulness empirically. Before that has taken place, rather than imposing an unevidenced cut-off point, it may be more practical to use standard adult practices as a template from which modifications and adaptations can be made” (398). To further the authors argument. Brain changes observed in adult practitioners through electroencephalographic measurements, present changes in white matter (responsible for relaying and communicating to other brain areas) and in anterior cingulate cortex (involved in the development of self-regulation) (6). Neuroimaging studies indicate that meditation causes change to the central nervous system and lead to different
This is noted because the words for “mindfulness” themselves are varied and textured and come in many different definitions, as well as narratives. Having noted that, it is interesting to see that the same thing can be found in the Western tradition of understanding mindfulness in the third-wave psychotherapies.
Mindfulness is a concept or practice that was founded nearly 2600 years ago. It is a very integral component of the Buddhist faith and is believed to be associated with many benefits including self-control, tolerance, flexibility, objectivity, concentration, mental clarity, emotional intelligence, kindness, compassion, acceptance, and equanimity.
Mindfulness is used as a therapy to treat many problems related to mental health such as stress, anxiety or even eating disorders (Hooker and Fodor, 2008). In addition majority of techniques used in mindfulness originate from Buddhist traditions (Rosenberg, 1998, Cited in Thompson and Gauntlett-Gilbert, 2008). Professionals working with children in mental health settings may find mindfulness applicable. The different techniques used in these types of settings teach self-awareness, increased impulse control and decreased emotional reactivity to difficult events (Thompson and Gauntlett-Gilbert). Research conducted on adults has shown that these effects can be obtained in the long term which suggests that mindfulness can be applied to children who are going through developmental challenges and have still yet to encounter
"Sit with your hands resting in your lap or on your knees, keeping your back straight. Your neck should be relaxed, with your chin slightly tucked in. [..] Take five deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. On the last exhalation, allow your eyes to close. Slowly settle into your body" (Puddicombe, 2013, para. 5).
For thousands of years people have practiced mediation for spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Albeit there are many mediation types, in this paper I will be discussing and focusing on mindfulness mediation. Before further exploring mindfulness mediation, it is crucial to define mediation as a whole. Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016 state “Meditation can be defined as a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual’s core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional capacities” (p.213). Having that in mind, we can dive into mindfulness mediation. Mindfulness meditation is defined as “nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016).” A useful analogy to consider is going to the gym, going to the gym allows one to enhance the body, well similarly, practicing mindfulness is akin to taking the mind to the psychic gym, it enhances it. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present all while dismissing discursive thoughts and maintaining a special focus on breathing.
One must first understand that due to neuroplasticity, the brain is known to rewire itself after different experiences. A paper in the prestigious Nature Review, acknowledged twenty-one studies that found positive changes in neurological activity after mindfulness. Researchers observed enhanced meta-awareness in the frontal cortex, which controls executive functions; Hippocampus (memory) improvements; and changes in the corpus callosum (communication between hemispheres). (Tang, Hölzel and Posner) One notable study prompted further research into mindfulness. In this study, the participants had never undergone meditation or mindfulness training and after only eight weeks showed an increase in the elusive grey matter density and thickness in brain regions for attention, self-awareness, and memory. (Hölzel, Carmody and Vangel) With such stunning neurological changes visible on MRI images, one researcher said, “[this] is like reversing the assumed cortical thinning associated with ageing.” (Dobkin and Hassed 19) With mounting evidence for mindfulness, professionals began to find applications of mindfulness
To begin with, mindfulness is when someone can pay attention to the present moment “without being devoted to different points of view” (Martin, 1997). Along with staying focused on the present moment, mindfulness is when the particular person does not judge the current experience as the person tries to comprehend the present situation. Mindfulness makes a person reflect on one’s self by not only figuring out one’s thoughts, but also the feelings that go along with it. The complex nature of mindfulness demonstrates that it has multiple purposes that cultivates a person into realizing the potential of the brain (Davis & Hayes,
The first grant proposal addressed the effects of meditation on life-span cognitional developmental processes. From my understanding, there is a strong connection to the mindset and self-awareness, as one chooses to mediate for their own reason. Based on the informed information, meditation is used to decrease stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The provided background information and predicted research study will help determine the pros and cons of the process, using the meditation techniques.
Practicing mindfulness is something that most people probably have on their daily to-do list, but never getting around to it because they either don’t believe it’ll work or feel too busy with their lives to stop for literally just a minute to breathe. When going into this activity, my to-do is exactly what was in mind. It’s the list that is never completed. So, having this as an actual assignment was exactly what I needed to get a jumpstart on my mindfulness techniques in my daily life.
“There be some boneheaded moves but as long as you learn one more lesson than mistake made you're good”
The definition of mindfulness given by Kabat-Zinn (1994) is “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” Mardon, Richards, & Martindale (2016) is, “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment." The ability to maintain focus for an extended period throughout sport training or competition is a skill that must be learned to achieve success in athletics. It is also a skill to learn how to ignore distractions. The practice of mindfulness can help athletes bring their complete attention to the task at hand and accept the current situation. Many sport psychologists today are turning
It provides the necessary tools for you to be successful in listening to your inner self and in becoming more aware of the moment you are in without passing judgement on yourself or others. It is not a “one size fits all” book. It offers a variety of tips and techniques that even the worst skeptic of mindfulness may find beneficial. Authors: S.J. Scott & Barrie Davenport have produced this book in an instructive format. Each mindfulness step begins with the reasons why it is important and the benefits one may receive from practicing it.
By utilizing a set of research methods, that inducts different types of mindfulness meditation training programs, and advanced mindfulness practitioners to matched control, with a capitulation of detection that enhance our understanding of the nature of mindfulness. While providing insights that will help me to target symptoms and populations that are likely to benefit from mindfulness meditation
Living in the present allows me to live and tend to my thoughts and emotions that I often suppress or ignore. Working as a school counselor, I think that I will use mindfulness to help students with anxiety, behavior problems, and depression. I hope to use mindfulness in the future as I teach students how to use mindfulness in their own lives so that they can exist in the present and connect their mind with their body. Through using mindfulness in sessions with students and possibly in the classroom setting, I will give them a tool to help manage and become more self-aware of the thoughts and emotions they experience so they can learn how to better tend, express and manage them. However, without practicing mindfulness myself I would not have understood its power in the work of my client’s
Habits of mind refer to ways of approaching learning that are both intellectual and practical and that will support students’ success in a variety of fields and disciplines. They are coping strategies that deal with problems one may face relating to schooling, which were developed to understand how students could best approach any problem they might encounter. Habits of mind involves more than skillful and persistent problem solving, in fact it involves knowing how to implement clusters of behaviors to manage difficult situations. American educational reformer Horace Mann once observed that “habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.” The intent is to help students get into the habit of behaving intelligently. When one draw upon these intellectual resources, the results are more powerful and of greater significance than if he or she fail to engage in such patterns of knowledgeable behavior.