The Roots Of Psychological Disorders

A growing body of evidence suggests meditation-based interventions have the potential to reduce symptoms and improve well-being (Marchand, 2013 for review; Mitchell et al., 2014). The Stanford University study entitled Breathing-Based Meditation Decreased Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in U.S. Military Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Longitudinal Study explores the effects of Sudarshan Kriya yoga, a meditation-based therapy, on U.S. military veterans with PTSD symptoms having served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).

Dickinson, Friary and McCann (2016) state that Kabat-Zinn’s (2011, 1991) Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is connected to mindfulness. Bishop et al (2004) claim that suggesting Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as a means of treating people’s sufferings has significantly increased the clinical uses of mindfulness.

Many people believe that medication is an ancient Eastern art that is 'not for them.' However, more and more people are discovering that meditation can be a great way to reduce the stresses of modern life. Scientific evidence indicates that meditation can improve health by curtailing anxiety, bolstering the immune system, improving circulation, and even ease physical symptoms like high cholesterol, pain, and insomnia. The article by Frances Lefkowitz entitled "Meditation made easy" from Natural Health suggests that people who may have struggled with meditating in the past because of distractions or intimidation may simply have not tried the right type of meditation. Some people prefer walking while others prefer sitting in a comfortable position. Some prefer silence while others prefer focusing on a mantra, repeating the same words over and over again. Starting slowly beginning with a few minutes and gradually working up to longer periods of time reduces the intimidation factor.

This source helps provide an idea of how mindfulness will play a role in our healthcare today and the future. I want to use this source for that specific reason and to show its role in my own chosen profession of a physician. The article discusses many costs saving measures when mindfulness is applied and there is a potential of billions to be saved.

Participants in this MBSR-based program reported improvements in their mindfulness skills, with effect sizes larger than those found in previous studies using the same measure with professionals in training [28-31] and larger than those reported in studies using other mindfulness scales with healthcare professionals [32-34]. Participants also

In order to become stress free, millions of people choose meditation and mindfulness as a source of relief. Choosing the two can help a person, not only get stress relief, but also achieve a much better physical body and response. Being mindful of one’s health by meditating can help a person achieve a better mental health.

There was a study done on how to better test meditation and how it affects stress in the brain. The study shows that mindful meditation reduces the levels of stress hormones and inflammatory responses in the brain. In this study 89 patients with generalized anxiety disorder were randomly divided into two groups. One group took an eight week mindful meditation course and the second group, the control group, took an eight-week stress management test. The difference between this meditation study on stress and other ones done in the past is that both groups were given some form of treatment. When the control group was not given treatment in the past studies the two groups knew if they were getting treatment

2010). Employees who participated in a meditation intervention reported significant improvements over the control group in their levels of work-related stress, job satisfaction, psychological distress, and job performance (Shonin et al. 2014). Richard Brady wrote, “My two teachers’ friends report that meditation, when they take the time to do it, gives them relief from stress they experience at work and at home” (Brady, R., 2004, p. 87). Thus, mindfulness practices may directly help alleviate teacher burnout in addition to indirectly decreasing teachers’ stress by improving students’ behaviors. However, this assumption about the effects of mindfulness practices for teachers has yet to be explored in a systematic way.

He also worries that mind-body medicine manipulates the subject to believe they are healthy when their impairment has been unchanged (2011, p.30). While Bedford researches the idea of healing, others, such as Bushnell et al., are exploring the idea of pain intensity being manipulated through the mind. It was discovered that “focusing on pain increases the perceived intensity of the sensation, whereas a negative emotional state increases the perceived unpleasantness of the pain without altering the intensity” (Bushnell et al., 2013, p.504). While these experts discuss the science behind mind-body medicine, Ventegodt and Merrick simply acknowledge mind-body medicine as an alternative medicine and differentiate the types of healing procedures into categories (2012). Quite contrastingly, Wilson et al. has put the psychological influence of mind-body medicine into effect through his experiment attempting to reduce stress in high school students (2012). The methodology was to implement a Relaxation Response curriculum that used breathing, imagery, and relaxation to a group of 77 students to reduce stress and anxiety. The findings supported an increase in the use of positive health behaviors and significantly lower anxiety levels (Wilson et al., 2012,

For well over a century, scientists and doctors alike have searched exhaustively for the root cause of mental illness. As of yet, there are no confirmed sources of psychiatric disorders, however, there are many theories. Steven Hyman, the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, and Charles Schmidt, an award winning science journalist, are just two examples of respected individuals who hold differing opinions as to the primary cause of mental illness. While Hyman argues that genetics are the principle factor that determines whether or not a person will develop a mental illness, Schmidt proposes that environmental factors are the leading element behind psychiatric illness. Although the historical standard for those in the

With the growth of mindfulness meditation as an intervention for stress, tension, anxiety, depression, pain, rumination, sleeplessness, and many other common ailments, this is quickly becoming a big question arising all over North America and world wide.

Previously discussed was a study centered on professionals using yoga as a technique for improving relationships with their patients, but this study emphasizes the importance of having compassion for yourself. In Newsome et. al (2012) study, thirty-one college students about to enter helping professions, including counseling, nursing, teaching, etc., attended a 6 week long mindfulness group which included mindful yoga. This research showed that after 6 weeks, the students' perceived stress levels had decreased and their mindfulness and self-compassion significantly increased. After the intervention, participants' feelings and thoughts pertaining to the impact of mindful yoga were recorded. One student claimed, "I am beginning to have more

The results of this study showed significant improvement in quality of life, anxiety, and blood pressure in the meditation group. While in controls, quality of life deteriorated and there was no improvement in blood pressure.

While the origin of mindfulness meditation dates back at least 2,500 years ago branching from Buddhism (Wilson, 2014), its application in the healthcare setting is in its early stages as the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center (Gotink, 2015). Nejati et al. (2015) explains that the MBSR Program is centered on judgment