Meditation Mops Up the Mind’s Messes: How Meditation Affects Mental Health

Abstract

This paper examines the mindfulness ideology of meditation. There are many scientific studies on the impact meditation has on the brain and emotional health. This review aims to answer the question: how does meditation affect mental health and how does the practice intersect with traditional therapy to relieve mental health symptoms? This evaluation focuses on defining meditation, investigating the reasons why meditation is useful, and what methods of meditation prove most influential.

Introduction

The popularity of meditation in the US has tripled from 2012 to 2017 according to CDC’s 2018 study. (Clarke et al, 2018.) Life can feel bleak and overwhelming, so it is no surprise people search for ways to cope. Meditation is not the average distraction or wellness trend, similar to exercise, it is a practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness is “the practice of maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of one’s thoughts feelings and bodily sensations and environment,” says Dr. Kevin Burroughs, the director of mindfulness programs at The Ocean Center for Integrity’s Medicine and a clinical professor at UCSF. (Burroughs, 2016.) The book, In Meditation for Depression: A Systematic Review of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder, defines meditation as “a mind-body technique that refers to… training the mind through regulation of attention and/or emotion to affect body functions, symptoms, and state of being… practice can also be embedded in a broader approach that includes movement (e.g., yoga, tai chi)—that is, movement meditation.” (Sorbero et al, 2015.) Clearly, there are many variations for incorporating meditation into one’s day to day and the reasons for it vary; hence the general themes in study are the ways in which meditation acts as a remedy for the mind and body. Studies and clinical research show how in theory meditation works for most humans, no matter the age, no matter the creed, no matter the profession yet can be inconclusive due to problems in methodology.

The Holy Trinity of Meditation

There are three main branches of meditation: focused attention, open monitoring and self-transcending. (McGroarty, 2019.) Despite the vast selection of meditation techniques and brands, “most meditations will activate more than one of those mechanisms or exist on a continuum between open monitoring and focused attention.” (McGroarty, 2019.) With this in mind, no pun intended, it is difficult to track meditation’s exact effect on the brain because it engages with different parts of the brain and everyone’s brain is indeed different. A recent study shows, how “cognitive therapy combined with daily practice of meditation, yoga, and other health enhancing behaviors can be as effective as long-term antidepressant medication alone in preventing relapse in patients who have had several bouts of major depression.” (Stubenrauch, 2011.) Similarly, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), which is a standardized training program that combines the principles of cognitive therapy with the practice of mindfulness meditation, is addressed in the current VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline on Management of Major Depressive Disorder. According to a study on veterans, “the guideline indicates that MBCT may be employed for patients at high risk of relapse during the treatment continuation phase and comments on the lack of research comparing mindfulness-based interventions with control groups, medication, and psychotherapy during initial treatment.” (Sorbero et al, 2015.) This means that the study does not provide deep clarity as to why MBCT aids veterans from relapsing back to depression The study produced interesting results, according to patient follow ups for up to 18 months: “the protective effects of MBCT and pharmaceutical maintenance were essentially the same, relapse rates were 27% in the medicated group, 28% in the MBCT group and 71% in the group receiving placebo. MBCT reduces the relapse by 74%, relative to placebo, compared with 76% for antidepressants.” (Sorbero et al, 2015.) The results showed that the impact of meditation on depression symptoms were similar to the impact of medication and patients receiving both treatments had a decreasing chance of relapse.

Meditation Betters One’s Quality of Life

Meditation helps brain productivity therefore one’s quality of life. Dr. Craig Hassad, a senior lecturer at Monash Medical Facility, says “When a person learns a particular skill — like meditation — they’re exercising those areas of grey matter, whose job it is to form that skill.” (Yankovich, 2015) Hassad highlights how performing meditation exercises even for a bit can increase quality of life: “if a person does more practice, then the person is going to get more benefit.” Later, he explains, “When a person is continually and regularly paying attention to what is going on around them (read: being mindful through meditation) the hippocampus is being engaged, so in the long-term a healthier memory centre is the result.” (Yankovich, 2015) Meditation initiates a significant amount of neurological activity which improves both mental and emotional health.

Inconclusion, although meditation is not a guaranteed solution to all one’s problems, it is a start. Meditation works differently for everyone because everyone is different. Meditation can be a substitute or a supplement for medication and is a personal decision. Meditation is the work and healing done within oneself to progress the world and make it a better place to heal. The gaps in neurological research fail to explain why meditation has the same effect as medication on the brain. Meditation battles traumas and eases anxiety but why does the impact of meditation surpass or equate to those of medication?

 

Annotated Bibliography

Bilican, F. (2016). The Relationship Between Focused Attention Meditation Practice Habits, Psychological Symptoms, and Quality of Life. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(6), 1980-1995. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44157057.

This source was useful in summarizing the beneficial impact of focused meditation. The different forms of focused attention (FA) include mantras, Ananda marga, and transcendental meditation which offer healing stimulus for different types of mental health issues. Bilican’s main argument is that overtime as practice of AM meditation per session increases an individual’s psychological symptoms decrease. The methodology used was a study that included 30 individuals who practiced Ananda Marga meditation. The participants were 15 men and 15 women between the ages of 20 and 80 years who practiced meditation at an urban meditation center in New York, NY. The participants had been meditating between 1 to 42 years. The participants included both monks who devoted themselves to Ananda Marga practices and individuals who had professional jobs besides practicing Ananda Marga spiritual practices in their daily life. The intended audience of the cited source is scientists, therapists, psychiatrists, and people interested in meditation.

Stubenrauch, J. (2011). Meditation as Good as Medication? The American Journal of Nursing, 111(3), 16-16. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/2304628.

This source was helpful in evaluating how mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) aids in preventing recurring depression. Compared to my first source, this one focused on at 8-week study of how MBCT daily exercises work in favor of patients who no longer find medication useful. The strengths of the source include defining what MBCT is, exposing statistics such as the rate of relapse patient’s fall into depression without treatment and weaknesses of the source include: not giving personal statements from the patients themselves. The author observes and concludes that MBCT reduced the risk of relapse by 74 percent compared to a pharmacologic approach.

Sorbero, M., Ahluwalia, S., Reynolds, K., Lovejoy, S., Farris, C., Sloan, J., . . . Herman, P. (2015). Introduction. In Meditation for Depression: A Systematic Review of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder (pp. 1-4). RAND Corporation. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/j.ctt19w7254.10.

Compared to my other sources it did the best job of defining meditation and focused on the management of major depressive disorder. This source is useful for my research topic because it was specific towards an exact mental illness instead of generally explaining how it is a remedy for all mental health. The source gave a clarity on how people suffering from MDD vary in severity and have different cognitive reasons for their symptoms. According to experts, Meditation can be a complementary or alternative medicine therapy; MBCT consists of mind-body techniques with the general goal of training the mind through regulation of attention and/or emotion to affect body functions, symptoms, and state of being. Meditation practice can also be embedded in a broader approach that includes movement or movement meditation.

Bergen-Cico, D., Possemato, K., & Pigeon, W. (2014). Reductions in Cortisol Associated With Primary Care Brief Mindfulness Program for Veterans With PTSD. Medical Care, https://www-jstor-org.ccny proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/stable/pdf/26417876.pdf?ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-5152%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A9cd4146ab61e1877eaeeb0db1c21cae3.

This article focuses on the role meditation has as a complimentary treatment to medication for veterans that suffer from PTSD. It looks at both the author’s main aim with this article seems to be to persuade people of the importance of continued research in how meditation empowers veterans. Meditation helps reduce Cortisol, a critical biological intermediary. The urgent point is that high cortisol output is associated with stress-induced diseases; therefore, reductions in cortisol may translate to better health outcomes for veterans affected by traumatic stress. Another theme is that meditation is an entry level to deeper treatments.

Iqbal, N., Singh, A., & Aleem, S. (2016). Effect of Dynamic Meditation on Mental Health. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(1), 241-254. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/26749241

This article focuses on the role of meditation and the ways it is misconceived. It looks at both the positive and negative stigmas that surround meditation. According to the authors, meditation procedures vary and are tied to the individual case. The main idea with this article seems to explain how active/dynamic meditation refers to any meditation technique which does not have one’s body assuming a static posture. Although they are many dynamic meditations, the most popular active mediation techniques expose the individual goals one wants to acquire. The article provides useful background information on the topic of meditation.

Yankovitch, Gyan. This Is What Happens To Your Brain When You Meditate. Feb 23, 2015. https://www.buzzfeed.com/gyanyankovich/this-is-what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-meditate.

This article is a popular source and it explains how meditation is not the practice of focusing on nothing rather it is about properly acknowledging thoughts. It analyzes the grey matter in the brain and defines neuroplasticity as an ever-changing brain.

Yankovitch’s main aim with this article seems to be to persuade people of the importance and realness meditation holds. The article provides useful language, neurology terms, and

research theory. One of the suspected ways meditation helps is by creating new brain cells, strengthen memories and awareness.

Powell, Alvin. When Science Sees Mindfulness. April 9, 2018. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/

This article focuses on the role of mindfulness in depressed patients. Harvard conducted a mindfulness study and got great results. This article looks at how the popularity in studying meditation had increased greatly from the 1990s. Gaelle Desbordes, an instructor in radiology at Harvard gives her personal opinion of using mindfulness- meditation when dealing with stress. The main aim with this article explains how studies show that meditation’s aids many conditions both physical and mental: irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. A strong aspect of the article admits that some findings have been called into question because studies had small sample sizes or problematic experimental designs.