Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a capacity of the mind that allows us to experience the present moment with an attentive, curious and open attitude; it is a particular way of being present to everything we are experiencing.

It is a quality of mind, a capacity that must be trained!

For over 30 years scientific studies (also thanks to MRI – Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) have shown that Mindfulness increases psycho-physical well-being, acting on:

• Stress reduction
• Greater concentration-attention
• Improved memory
• Improved performance and creativity
• Native correlation with Whorkaholism and Burnout
• Improved management of emotions
• Anxiety control
• Reduction of depression
• Mindfulness strengthens the executive functions, which are the basis of planning, creation of strategies, problem solving, creativity in the search for solutions, emotional self-regulation, focused attention (selection of stimuli).

More generally, Mindfulness allows us to rediscover a new way of life, more conscious and joyful, to have better work performance, with more satisfying relationships and a deeper and more genuine contact with the people we love; it improves human relations as we assume a more welcoming attitude towards ourselves and towards others.

Below are some of the many studies on the effectiveness of Mindfulness in improving the psychophysical health of the individual.

• Barnhofer, T., Duggan, D. S., & Griffith, J.W. (2011). Dispositional mindfulness moderates the relation between neuroticism and depressive symptoms. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 958–962.
• Birnie K., Speca M., and Carlson L. E. (2010). Exploring self-compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Stress Health 26, 359–371.
• Branstrom, R., Duncan, L. G., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2011). The association between dispositional mindfulness, psychological well-being, and perceived health in a Swedish population-based sample. British Journal of Health Psychology, 16, 300–316.
• Brown, K., & Ryan, R. (2003). The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological wellbeing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848.
• Campanella F., Crescentini C., Urgesi C., Fabbro F. (2014), Mindfulness –oriented meditation improves self-related character scales in helthy individuals. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55, 1269-1278.
• Capurso V., Fabbro F., Crescentini C. (2014), Mindful creativity: the influence of mindfulness meditation on creative thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1020.
• Chambers R., Gullone E., Allen N.B. (2009), Mindful emotion regulation: an integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 560-572.
• Chambers, R., Lo, B. C. Y., & Allen, N. B. (2008). The impact of intensive mindfulness training on attentional control, cognitive style, and affect. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 303–322.
• Colzato I. S., Ozturk A. and Hommel B. (2012), Meditate to create: the impact of focused attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent thinking. Front. Psychol. 3:116
• Condon P., Desbordes G., Miller W. and DeSteno D. (2013), Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering, Psycological Science.
• Davidson R. J., Kabat-Zinn J., Shumacher J., Rosenkanz M., Muller D., Santorelli S. F., et al. (2003), Alteration in brain and immune function produced by mindful meditation, Psychosom. Med. 65, 564-570.
• Fjorback L. O., Arendt M., Ornbol E., Flink P. and Walach H. (2011), Mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy; a systematic review of randomized and controlled trials. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 124, 102-119.
• Franco Justo, C., de la Fuente Arias, M., and Salvador Granados, M. (2011a). Impacto de un programa de entrenamiento en conciencia plena (mindfulness) en las medidas del crecimiento y la autorrealización personal, Psicothema 23, 58–65. Available online at: http://www.psicothema.com/psicothema.asp?id=3850
• Fredrickson, B.L., Cohn, M.A., Coffey, K.A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S.M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1045-1062.
• Giluk, T. L. (2009). Mindfulness, big five personality, and affect: a meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 805–811.
• Greenberg, J., Reiner, K., and Meiran, N. (2012). “Mind the trap”: mindfulness practice reduces cognitive rigidity. PLoS ONE 7:e36206. doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0036206
• Grossman P., Ninemann L., Schmidt S. and Walch, H. (2004), Mindfulness based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis, J. Psychosom. Res 57, 35-43.
• Grossman, P. (2008), On measuring mindfulness in psychosomatic and psychological research, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 64(4), 405-408. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.02.001
• Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. New York: Guilford.
• Harris A. R., Jennings P. A., Katz D. A., Abenavoli R. M., & Greenberg M. T. (2016), Promoting stress management and wellbeing in educators: outcomes of the CALM intervention, Mindfulness. doi:10.1007/s12671-015-0451-2.
• Holzel B.K., Carmody J., Vangel M., Congleton C., Yerramsetti S. M., Gard T. and Lazar S. W. (2011), Mindfulnes practice leads to encreasesin regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research, 191, 36-43.
• Holzel B.K., Lazar S. W., Gard T., Schuman-Oliver Z., Vago D. R., Ott U. (2011), How does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 537-559.
• Hulsheger, U. R., Alberts, H. J. E. M., Feinholdt, A., & Lang, J. W. B. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: the role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 310–325.
• Jha, A. P., Krompinger, J., and Baime, M. J. (2007). Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. Cogn. Affect. Behav. Neurosci. 7, 109–119. doi: 10.3758/CABN.7.2.109
• Jislin-Goldberg, T., Tanay, G., & Bernstein, A. (2012). Mindfulness and positive affect: cross-sectional, prospective intervention, and real-time relations. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 349–361.Baer R. (2014). Mindfulness-based treatment approaches: Clinician’s guide to evidence base and applications (2nd ed.). NY: Academic.
• Kabat-Zinn J. (1982), An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical consideration and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4, 33-47.
• Kabat-Zinn J. (1990), Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness. New York City: Delacourte.
• Kabat-Zinn J. (2003), Mindful-based intervention in the context: past, present and future, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 5, 305-331, 10, 144-156.
• Key, B. L., Rowa, K., Bieling, P., McCabe, R., & Pawluk, E. J. (2017). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as an augmentation treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 24, 1109–1120.
• Kiken, L. G., Garland, E. L., Bluth, K., Palsson, O. S., & Gaylord, S. A. (2015). From a state to a trait: trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during intervention predict changes in trait mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 41–46.
• Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855.
• Lecomte T., Fortin G., Masse M., Therien P., Bouchard V. &Hofman S. G. (2013), Mindful-based therapy: a comprehensive  meta-analysis, Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 763-771.
• Leiberg, S., Klimecki, O., & Singer, T. (2011). Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game. PLoS One, 6, e17798.
• Lutz A., Slagter H. A., Dunne J. D., Davidson R. J. (2008), Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 163-169.
• Malinowski P. (2013), Neural mechanism of attentional control in mindfulness meditation. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, doi: 10.3389/fnins.2013.00008.
• Mesmer-Magnus, J., Manapragada, A., Viswesvaran, C., & Allen, J. W. (2017). Trait mindfulness at work: a meta-analysis of the personal and professional correlates of trait mindfulness. Human Performance, 30, 79–98.
• Mind and Life Education Research Network (MLERN) (2012), Contemplative practices and mental training: prospects for american education. Child Dev .Perspect. 6, 146–153. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2012.00240.x
• Moore A, Malinowski P. (2009), Meditation, mindfulness and cognitive flexibility. Consciousness and cognition, 18, 176-186.
• Ostafin, B. D. and Kassman, K. T. (2012). Stepping out of history: mindfulness improves insight problem solving. Conscious. Cogn. 21, 1031–1036.
• Piet J. and Hougaard E. (2011), The effect of mindfulness based cognitive therapy for prevention of relapse in recurrent major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Clin. Psychol. Rev. 31, 1032-1040.
• Piet J., Wurtzen H. and Zachariae R. (2012), Tehe effect of mindfulness-based therapy on symptoms of anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients and survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis, J. Consult. Clin. Psychol., 80, 1007-1020.
• Rau, H. K., & Williams, P. G. (2016). Dispositional mindfulness: a critical review of construct validation research. Personality and Individual Differences, 93, 32–43.
• Ren, J., Huang, Z., Luo, J., Wei, G., Ying, X., Ding, Z., et al. (2011). Meditation promotes insightful problem-solving by keeping people in a mindful and alert conscious state. Sci. China Life Sci. 54, 961–965. doi: 10.1007/s11427-011-4233-3
• Reynolds, C. R., & Kamphaus, R. W. (2004). Behavior Assessment System for Children – Second Edition manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service Publishing.Ren, J., Huang, Z., Luo, J., Wei, G., Ying, X., Ding, Z., et al. (2011). Meditation promotes insightful problem-solving by keeping people in a mindful and alert conscious state. Sci. China Life Sci. 54, 961–965.
• Sauer, S., Lemke, J., Wittmann, M., Kohls, N., Mochty, U., and Walach, H. (2012). How long is now for mindfulness meditators? Pers. Individ. Differ. 52, 750–754. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.12.026
• Schonert-Reichl, K. & Lawlor M. S. (2010), The effects of a mindfulness-based education program on pre- and early adolescents’ well-being and social and emotional competence. Mindfulness, 1, 137-151. doi: 10.1007/ s12671-010-0011-8.
• Septhon S. E., Salomon P., Weissbecker I., Ulmer C., Floyd A., Hoover K. and  Studts J. L. (2007), Mindfulness meditation alleviates depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia: Results of a randomized clinical trial, https://doi.org/10.1002/art.22478
• Shonin, E., Van Gordon,W., Dunn, T. J., Singh, N. N., & Griffiths, M. D. (2014). Meditation awareness training (MAT) for work-related wellbeing and job performance: a randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12, 806–823.
• Sidhu, P. (2013). The Efficacy of Mindfulness Meditation in Increasing the Attention Span in Children with ADHD (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
• Siegel D. J. (2007), The Mindful Brain, Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being, New York: WW Norton & Company.
• Tang Y.-Y., Ma Y., Wang J., Fan Y., Feng, S., Lu Q., et al. (2007). Short-term meditation training improves attention andself-regulation. Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci. U.S.A. 104, 17152–17156. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0707678104
• Taylor C., Harrison J., Haimovitz K., Oberle E., Thompson, K., Schonert-Reichl K. & Roeser R. W. (2016). Examining potential mechanisms of stress reduction in a mindfulness-based intervention for school teachers: results from a randomized-control trial. Mindfulness. doi:10.1007/s12671-015-0425-4.
• Tomlinson, E., Yousaf, O., Vitterso, A., & Jones, L. (2017). Dispositional mindfulness and psychological health: a systematic review. Mindfulness, 9, 23–43.
• Van Gordon,W., Shonin, E., Dunn, T. J., Garcia-Campayo, J., Demarzo, M. M. P., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). Meditation awareness training for the treatment of workaholism: a controlled trial. Journal of BehavioralAddictions, 6, 212–220.
• Wallace B. A., (2006), The attention revolution: Unloking the power of the focused mind. Boston: Wisdom.
• Wang, G., Liu, L., Tan, X., & Zheng, W. (2017). The moderating effect of dispositional mindfulness on the relationship between materialism and mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 107, 131–136.
• Watson, D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psychological Review, 96, 234–254.
• Witehead A., (2011), Mindfulness in early childhood education: A position paper, Early education, 49, 21.
• Zeidan F., Johnson S. K., Diamond B.J., David Z., Goolkasian P. (2010), Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: evidence of brief mental training. Consciousness and Cognition, 19, 597-605.
• Zoogman S., Goldberg S. B. Hoyt W. T. & Miller L. (2014), Mindfulness interventions with youth: a meta-analysis. Mindfulness 6, 290-302.

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Mindfulness meditation alleviates depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia: Results of a randomized clinical trial