This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Introduction This study is comparing the effect of mindfulness meditation based stress reduction versus wellness/exercise based stress reduction on the neural bases of emotional reactivity and regulation in adults diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.
Specific Aims The overall goal of this proposal is to identify the neural mechanisms underlying changes associated with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Clinical research has shown that MBSR reduces psychological distress and increases well-being [12], [13], [14], but the mechanisms underlying these changes are not well described. Basic research has examined the neural bases of emotion and emotion regulation in healthy controls (HC) [15, 16], but this research has not examined changes following MBSR. To integrate clinical and basic research literatures, we use a translational framework that characterizes the impact of MBSR on emotion regulation in terms of interactions between ventral emotion-generative brain regions and dorsal emotion-regulatory brain regions. Within this framework, we propose to compare the effects of MBSR and an active control condition on emotional regulation in participants with generalized social phobia (SP). Participants will be randomly assigned either to MBSR or to an active control condition (ACC), namely a drawing class. All participants will be assessed using self-report inventories and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after MBSR and ACC.
Three aims will be addressed:
Aim 1 investigates the effects of MBSR on general levels of anxiety and well-being.
Aim 2 investigates the effects of MBSR on attentional and cognitive emotion regulation.
Aim 3 investigates whether MBSR-related changes in attentional emotion regulation mediate MBSR treatment response (decreases in anxiety and increases in well-being) at post-treatment and at the 3-month follow-up. The long-term objective of this research is to contribute to the scientific evaluation of meditation interventions that hold promise for improving health and well-being in clinical and non-clinical populations. Methods and Materials We intend to enroll 60 adults (ages 21-55 years) who will meet DSM-IV [101] criteria for a principal diagnosis of generalized social phobia (SP) at Time 1 baseline. SP will be randomly assigned to MBSR or ACC. This sample size will provide sufficient power to investigate the effects of MBSR on both behavioral and neural indices of emotional reactivity and regulation, and to examine potential mediators of the effects of MBSR. As we describe in the final section (below), data from these 60 participants will serve as a firm basis for making research design and experimental stimulus decisions for our future R01 grant proposal. All participants will undergo diagnostic interviewing, behavioral assessment, a battery of questionnaires, computer task, and fMRI task to assess facets of anxiety, emotional reactivity and regulation
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