Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, is one of the most popular Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies for alleviating emotional stress, depression and anxiety that are either primary, or secondary to another health condition. While standardized meditation-based treatment packages like Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) have reliably shown sustained improvements in emotional disturbances and wellbeing, they contain so many different components and practices that the active ingredient cannot be ascertained. Mindfulness is comprised of 1) an attention regulation component, which is thought to be cultivated with focused awareness practice, and 2) an accepting, non-judgmental mental stance, which is thought to be cultivated through open-monitoring practice. This project aims to create separate practice criteria for attention and acceptance-focused meditations, compare their clinical efficacy and investigate their separate mechanisms of action in individuals with clinically significant levels of persistent negative affect and depression. The clinical benefit and mechanism of action of focused awareness (FA) vs open-monitoring (OM) vs a no-treatment (waitlist) control will be examined with a three- armed randomized control trial of these eight week interventions. Outcome variables include negative affect (depression, anxiety, stress) and wellbeing. Hypothesized mediating processes include objectively measured attention, emotion regulation and the basic wakefulness on which they depend. In addition to the research application, the training program includes formal education in 1) meditation-based clinical trials methodology and affective disorders, 2) psychophysiological measurement of attention, emotion, sleep propensity and 3) biostatistical methods related to treatment studies. This training prepares me to meet my long-term objective of becoming an independent patient- oriented researcher. Through formal didactic instruction and strong mentoring from experienced investigators who are leaders in the field, I will develop the requisite tools to shed light on which meditation practices are the most helpful for emotional disturbances and by what cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms.

Public Health Relevance

This application addresses NCCAM's request for research that investigates the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying mind-body therapies, and for precise criteria and better delineation of meditation practices. By operationally defining the two components and practices that comprise 'mindfulness meditation', this project will help identify the active ingredients of a popular and successful CAM therapy. By providing knowledge about the effects and benefits of different meditation practices, this project will help clinicians tailor their treatment to better fit the needs of different patients.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23AT006328-05
Application #
8847284
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAT1)
Program Officer
Reider, Eve
Project Start
2011-08-01
Project End
2017-06-30
Budget Start
2015-07-01
Budget End
2017-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Brown University
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
001785542
City
Providence
State
RI
Country
United States
Zip Code
de Jong, Marasha; Peeters, Frenk; Gard, Tim et al. (2018) A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Unipolar Depression in Patients With Chronic Pain. J Clin Psychiatry 79:
Kang, Yoona; Rahrig, Hadley; Eichel, Kristina et al. (2018) Gender differences in response to a school-based mindfulness training intervention for early adolescents. J Sch Psychol 68:163-176
Van Dam, Nicholas T; van Vugt, Marieke K; Vago, David R et al. (2018) Reiterated Concerns and Further Challenges for Mindfulness and Meditation Research: A Reply to Davidson and Dahl. Perspect Psychol Sci 13:66-69
Britton, Willoughby B; Davis, Jake H; Loucks, Eric B et al. (2018) Dismantling Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Creation and validation of 8-week focused attention and open monitoring interventions within a 3-armed randomized controlled trial. Behav Res Ther 101:92-107
Van Dam, Nicholas T; van Vugt, Marieke K; Vago, David R et al. (2018) Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation. Perspect Psychol Sci 13:36-61
Lindahl, Jared R; Fisher, Nathan E; Cooper, David J et al. (2017) The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLoS One 12:e0176239
Rojiani, Rahil; Santoyo, Juan F; Rahrig, Hadley et al. (2017) Women Benefit More Than Men in Response to College-based Meditation Training. Front Psychol 8:551
Loucks, Eric B; Gilman, Stephen E; Britton, Willoughby B et al. (2016) Associations of Mindfulness with Glucose Regulation and Diabetes. Am J Health Behav 40:258-67
Loucks, Eric B; Britton, Willoughby B; Howe, Chanelle J et al. (2016) Associations of Dispositional Mindfulness with Obesity and Central Adiposity: the New England Family Study. Int J Behav Med 23:224-33
Loucks, Eric B; Schuman-Olivier, Zev; Britton, Willoughby B et al. (2015) Mindfulness and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: State of the Evidence, Plausible Mechanisms, and Theoretical Framework. Curr Cardiol Rep 17:112

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