Mindfulness Meditation and Well Being Mindfulness can be described as “enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience or present reality…open or receptive awareness” (Brown and Ryan, 2003). Buddhist and eastern roots Many theories in which mindfulness plays a large role, although not explicitly called mindfulness –Self regulation theories –Carver and Scheier’s control theory (Brown and Ryan, 2003) Jennifer Mislinski

Mindfulness Meditation and Well Being Brown and Ryan (2003) created a new assessment called the MAAS (Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale) and established multiple studies which tested the new assessments validity as well as the relationship between mindfulness and well being –Study 2 explored subjects who were students of Zen (a meditation technique) and compared them with a control. Brown and Ryan found that those who participated in Zen, had a significantly higher score on the MAAS than those who were not students of Zen Jennifer Mislinski

Mindfulness Meditation and Well Being Study 5 was established in a clinical setting. Brown and Ryan,(2003) took subjects who has stage 0, I, II breast or early stage prostate cancer. The researchers trained the subjects in mindfulness meditation. –Found that those the subjects “had lower levels of mood disturbances and stress” –Changes in mindfulness is related to well-being outcomes Jennifer Mislinski

Mindfulness Meditation and Well Being Shapiro, Oman, Thoresen, Plante,& Flinders, (2008) examined two meditation based outcomes, MSRB (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and EEP (Eight Point Program). Both have been hypothesized to increase mindfulness. –44 participants from a Jesuit University and were trained in either MSRB or EEP. –Found that both MSRB and EEP groups increased mindfulness, stress and rumination were reduced –Mindfulness measures 8 weeks post-test were greater for the EEP. It would be quite interesting to try to use EEP in more clinical settings. Jennifer Mislinski

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Well Being Fava et al. (2004) took 40 subjects with recurrent depression, tapered off their antidepressant drugs and randomly assigned them to one of two groups; cognitive behavior treatment of residual symptoms or clinical management, then the subjects were followed up 6 years later After 6 years, eight people (40%) in the CBT group relapsed and 18 (90%) in the clinical management group relapsed. CBT was found to reduce residual symptoms of depression Jennifer Mislinski

References Brown, K., & Ryan, R. (2003). The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), Retrieved April 11, 2011, from the PsycINFO database. Fava, G., Ruini, C., Rafanelli, C., Finos, L., Conti, S., & Grandi, S. (2004). Six-Year Outcome of Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Prevention of Recurrent Depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, Shapiro, S., Oman, D., Thoresen, C., Plante, T., & Flinders, T. (2008). Cultivating Mindfulness: Effects on Well-Being. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(7), Jennifer Mislinski