Filetype PDF | Posted on 14 Sep 2022 | 3 years ago
Authentication
digital resources
136x Filetype PDF File size 0.22 MB Source: hoffmancentre.com
GJ 13_1B_toc58 2/2/07 10:14 PM Page 24
DOI: 10.1089/act.2006.13104
Clinical Applications
for Meditation
A Review and Recommendations
Jane Hart, M.D. There is much that remains unknown about meditation, but
what is known is that science is only beginning to understand all
of the potential clinical applications in medicine, psychology, and
editation has its roots in cultural, spiritual, and reli- spirituality. Researchers are discovering that meditation has the
gious settings. It is an ancient practice that has been potential to affect physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-
Membraced by individuals throughout the world. One being.
review of the subject estimated that there are 10 million medita-
tion practitioners in the United States alone.1 Through the cen- Defining Meditation
turies, a wide variety of types of meditation have evolved, and
continue to evolve, in secular and health care settings. Transcen- Mindfulness meditation and concentrative technique are the
dental MeditationTM (TM), the relaxation response, mindfulness- two main approaches in meditation discussed in this article.
based meditation, breathing meditation, and walking meditation Mindfulness meditation is defined simply as “moment-to-
7
are just a few of the common types of meditation available to moment awareness” by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. (founder of the
meet patients’ interests and needs. Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medi-
Today, meditation is also recognized as a practice that is used cal School in Worcester, Massachusetts). He stated that mindful-
as a popular complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) ness meditation is about paying attention to the senses, thoughts,
7
therapy. The National Center for Complementary and Alterna- and body in a way that people do not usually do.
tive Medicine (NCCAM) survey published in 2002 on the use of Cahn and Polich described the concentrative meditation tech-
CAM in the United States showed that meditation was in the top nique as “focusing on specific mental or sensory activity,” such
2 4
10 most commonly used practices used for CAM therapies. Peo- as a repeated sound, or mantra, or on the breath. While thoughts
ple may practice meditation for a wide variety of reasons, includ- and distractions come up during this process, the goal in concen-
ing stress reduction, health promotion, relief of symptoms caused trative meditation is to bring the attention back to the chosen
by chronic medical conditions, enhancement of spirituality, and area of focus, such as on the mantra or the breath. Herbert Ben-
other goals. son, M.D. (director-emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for
People who teach and practice meditation have made many Mind Body Medicine, Chestnut, Hill, Massachusetts, and an
claims about what regular meditation practice may foster, includ- associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School,
ing joy, peace, equanimity, calm, greater ability to focus attention Boston, Massachusetts), coined the term relaxation response, which
5
or concentrate, changes in states of consciousness, self-actualiza- is elicited by using a concentrative technique.
tion, stability of emotions, forgiveness, love, compassion, Walsh and Shapiro noted that there is an overlap in both of
improvements in physical health, improvements in mental these approaches toward a similar goal, stating that “the former
health, and more. (mindfulness meditation) requires the maintenance of attention
Science has also demonstrated, particularly in the last 40 in a state of open perceptivity, and the latter (concentrative tech-
years, that meditation can have a positive effect on health and 1
nique) requires narrowing of attentional focus.”
can alter human psychologic states and physiologic states such Webster’s Dictionary defines meditation as “to think deeply and
as heart and respiratory rates, brainwave patterns, and core 8
quietly; ponder” or “to consider at length; contemplate.”
1,3–5
body temperature. Emerging evidence is also revealing Experts in the field of meditation might take issue with this defi-
the effects of meditation on the brain and how the practice can nition, challenging the notion of thinking deeply as opposed to
have both short- and long-term effects on human neurologic being with things as they are and letting thoughts come and go
4,6
“wiring.” as in the case of mindfulness meditation, or having a heightened
24
GJ 13_1B_toc58 2/2/07 10:14 PM Page 25
ALTERNATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES—FEBRUARY 2007 25
ability to focus and concentrate as in the case of the concentrative One such researcher was Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., who founded
technique. the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts
In the literature, there a general agreement that the practice is Medical School in Worcester, in 1979. Dr. Kabat-Zinn popular-
about training attention. Walsh and Shapiro offer the following ized mindfulness meditation and Mindfulness-Based Stress
7
definition: Reduction, or MBSR.
The term meditation refers to a family of self-regulation practices Dean Ornish, M.D., founder of the Preventive Medicine
that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring Research Institute in Sausalito, California, also raised awareness
mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster of the potential benefits of using meditation to address chronic
general mental well-being and development and/or specific capaci- disease via his multi-interventional programs for people with
1 cardiovascular disease (CVD). Dr. Ornish recommended signifi-
ties such as calm, clarity, and concentration.
cant lifestyle behavior changes in
Cahn and Polich defined medita- this population in the realms
tion as “practices that self-regulate of nutrition, exercise, and stress
the body and the mind, thereby In 2003, the Dalai Lama convened reduction, including meditation,
affecting mental events by engaging and demonstrated that such an
a specific attentional set.”4 Walsh meditators and scientists in the field approach can have a positive
and Shapiro observed that the con- to explore the interface between impact on the experience of chronic
10
trast between meditation and other illness among patients with CVD.
practices, such as visual imaging, is Buddhism and neuroscience. In 2003, the Dalai Lama convened
that meditation is about training meditators and scientists in the field
attention whereas others are about to explore the interface between Bud-
1 11
altering content. dhism and neuroscience. In 2005, a
conference entitled “Investigating the Mind 2005: The Science and
History of Meditation: From Spirituality to Science Clinical Applications of Meditation” was held in Washington, D.C.
This conference offered communication among the Dalai Lama,
Dr. Benson popularized meditation in secular society via the Buddhist contemplatives, and neuroscientists in the continued
11
relaxation response—which is elicited via a meditative approach quest to understand meditation’s role in health and disease.
that involves stilling the body in a quiet environment and repeat- Clinical applications for meditation have been suggested wide-
ing a word or a phrase quietly to oneself. Noting that the relax- ly in the literature. Researchers and proponents of meditation
ation response “has been experienced throughout history,”5 he have suggested that meditation could be used to ameliorate dis-
stated that, for thousands of years, people, largely in spiritual or ease states by reducing symptoms, reducing blood pressure, low-
religious settings, have evoked a type of relaxation response via ering heart-disease risk, providing stress reduction, and affecting
essentially all religions and other contemplative and meditative other factors involved in illness.1,3–5
practices. Programs for learning relaxation techniques, such as medita-
In fact, Bonadonna noted that Buddhist texts offer insight tion, in hospitals and other health facility settings, are becoming
into thousands of years of “observation of the inner experience” more commonplace. Slowly, health care professionals are recom-
of meditation.3 Calling on or contemplating the name of God, mending meditation and other similar techniques to their
repetitions of praise to God, contemplating the name of God patients as adjunctive CAM or behavioral treatments for a vari-
or quiet prayer, are all examples of ancient meditative tech- ety of health disorders.
niques.
In contemporary society, an emergence of research on the prac- Current Research in the Field
tice of meditation generally began in the 1960s when Dr. Benson,
in his laboratory at Harvard Medical School, began studies of While documentation of thousands of years of meditation
practitioners of TM, monitoring their heart and respiratory rates practice exists, contemporary research on meditation in today’s
and core body temperatures.5 3
Dr. Benson and other U.S. society is increasing and is considered to be more “valid.” The
researchers were intrigued by reports from other countries of short- and long-term effects of chronic stress on the body have
people who regularly meditated being able to bring bodily func- been well described in the literature and will not be discussed in
tions under voluntary control although these functions were pre- detail here.
viously thought to be only under autonomic control. Dr. Benson clearly described the flight-or-fight response and
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi also helped popularize meditation explained how this physiologic reaction can be altered via medi-
with his TM technique in the 1960s, and current estimates cite tation, which elicits a hypometabolic state with attenuation of
that at least 4 million people having learned TM during the last sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous-system reactions, and
9 5
40 years. But, during this same time period, numerous impor- the hormonal cascade that follows acute and chronic stress.
tant researchers and scholars in this country and around the Other early and ongoing research has shown that bodily
world were uncovering the effects of meditation on the mind and functions originally thought to be under autonomic control
1,2–5
the body. could come under voluntary control with regular and deep
GJ 13_1B_toc58 2/2/07 10:14 PM Page 26
26 ALTERNATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES—FEBRUARY 2007
meditation.5 But while most individuals in the United States As Bonadonna points out in her review on meditation and
3
may not seek to gain this type of control, science is clearly chronic illness, “stress is often a component of chronic illness.”
demonstrating the potential physical and mental effects of med- She also noted that there is evidence that “people who manage
itation. stress are more resilient, experience fewer symptoms and experi-
3
Some of the cutting-edge studies that are emerging in the ence an improved quality of life.” People with chronic disease not
research involve meditation’s effect on the central nervous system only seek relief of their symptoms but often need support between
(CNS), specifically, in the realms of doctor appointments or after treat-
neuroelectricity and neuroimag- ments have stopped, as in the case of
ing.4,6 Neuroelectric and neu- “People who manage stress are cancer or after bypass surgery for
roimaging studies that evaluate heart disease. Meditation may serve
neurophysiologic changes related to more resilient, experience fewer as an adjunct and catalyst for
meditation and its effects on improved coping, quality of life, and
the brain are increasing in the litera- symptoms and experience an symptom reduction. There is also
ture.4,6 A recent, thorough review, evidence that meditation may
3
by Cahn and Polich, of electroen- improved quality of life.” decrease appointments to doctors.
cephalographic (EEG), cognitive While the results in the literature
event–related potentials (ERP), and regarding the effects of meditation on
neuroimaging studies related to chronic disease are conflicting, the
4
meditation drew the following general conclusions: cumulative evidence is suggestive of the ability of meditation to
attenuate the experience of chronic illness positively.1,3–5,9 Research
• In EEG studies, specific inferences cannot be drawn except for findings on the effects of meditation on chronic disease include:
the fact that the electrical activity of the brain—specifically, theta
and alpha band activity—seems to be affected by the meditation • Decreased stress, including demonstrated associations with
state and this may alter the long-term neuroelectric profile. decreased cortisol and catecholamine levels3
• In neuroimaging studies, the cumulative evidence seen on • Decreased blood pressure, although evidence suggests that
magnetic resonance imaging and positron electron tomogra- meditation is not as effective alone as pharmacologic therapy3;
phy scans demonstrates some consistency of localization of a review by Canter and Ernst criticized the fact that many pub-
meditation practice with activation of the brain’s frontal and lished studies relating meditation to decreased blood pressure
prefrontal areas. have been on TM-treated subjects and were often written by
authors affiliated with the TM organization; the authors also
This review and other studies have suggested that meditation concluded that the cumulative body of literature on blood
may induce short- and long-term effects in the neurophysiologic pressure and meditation is largely methodologically flawed,
4,6
state of an individual. stated that there is insufficient evidence to conclude whether
Cahn and Polich also concluded that CNS function is clearly TM has a cumulative positive effect on blood pressure, and
affected by meditation. Lutz, et al., observed that synchroniza- encouraged further research9
3
tion of neuronal activity in the brain plays a role in mental pro- • Decreased depression and stress among health care workers
cesses, such as learning, memory, and attention. These • Decreased stress and mood disturbance among patients with
12
researchers also stated that “neural synchrony thus appears as a cancer using MBSR ; a review on the effectiveness of MBSR
promising mechanism for the study of brain processes underlin- cautioned, however, that, while the particular study cited here
6
ing [sic] mental training.” had promising results, more high-quality, randomized, con-
It is not yet known how these findings and/or how medita- trolled trials are needed to understand the effects of MBSR and
tion may affect or alter clinical and functional outcomes.6 Cahn chronic disease before general conclusions can be made13
and Polich cautioned that none of the neuroelectric or neu- • Demonstrated effects on immune function3,4; Davidson, et al.,
roimaging studies to date have “yet isolated or characterized noted that, while negative psychosocial influences on immunity
the neurophysiology that makes explicit how meditation have been well-described, there is a paucity of high-quality
induces altered experience of self.” However, these authors research on the effects of positive interventions (such as medita-
14
noted that research findings in neuroelectric and neuroimaging tion) on immune functioning ; this review discussed an RCT on
studies are “becoming more cohesive and directed, even though the effects of mindfulness meditation on immune functioning,
a comprehensive empirical and theoretical foundation is still concluded that MBSR has a demonstrated in vivo effect on
emerging.”4 immune functioning, noted the study’s limitations, including a
There are acknowledgments in review papers that meditation small sample size, and recommended further research on MBSR.
has been demonstrated to have positive effects on the following
clinical conditions: stress, anxiety, pain, depression, immune Bonadonna’s review covered the effects of different types of
functioning, symptom reduction, coping mechanisms, and quali- relaxation training on health. She found that a wide variety of
ty of life in patients who have a variety of chronic diseases, types of relaxation techniques had demonstrated effectiveness
1,3–5,7 3
including CVD, cancer, and skin disorders. including TM, breathing techniques, imagery, and others. Var-
GJ 13_1B_toc58 2/2/07 10:14 PM Page 27
ALTERNATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES—FEBRUARY 2007 27
The following sections consider each question from the
ious clinical trials are currently underway. These trials are
examining the effects of different types of meditation on a author’s own clinical experience.
number of medical conditions, including insomnia,
menopause, cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and other When Should a Clinician Recommend Meditation?
conditions.15 For further details about the effects of meditation As a practitioner and teacher of meditation, I recommend med-
on specific disease states, please see the review papers men- itation to patients who suffer from stress-related conditions,
tioned in this article. including insomnia, anxiety, and depression, and to people with
other chronic diseases who are suffering from stress as a result of
Research Challenges their diseases. I recommend the practice strictly as an adjunct to
conventional care for these disorders—not as a substitute.
As noted, there is a large body of research on meditation. I have observed that a consistent practice of daily, intentional
Unfortunately, much of that research is flawed or limited in its relaxation seems to help set the intent for a day that could other-
methodology.16Research chal- wise have its emphasis on stress.
lenges that lead to the limitations of Intentional relaxation is a notion
existing research findings include We must strengthen our relaxation that I emphasize to patients who
varying definitions of meditation, need to cope with today’s stressful
individuality of the meditators, and abilities to gain the benefits of decreases world. Meditation becomes a vehi-
use of a wide variety of types of cle, one option among many others,
meditation that make comparisons in uncomfortable and physiologic as a way to relax intentionally. I
between studies difficult. The last believe it is important to view
challenge arises particularly when reactivity in a stressful world. intentional relaxation as one would
types of meditation used are not view the importance of exercise—
well-defined or when meditation is we must strengthen our relaxation
used as one component of a multi- abilities to gain the benefits of
interventional approach. These situations make it difficult to decreases in uncomfortable and physiologic reactivity in a stress-
determine which factors are producing effects (e.g., meditation ful world.
alone versus meditation along with group encounters or cou-
pled with other therapies and/or medications). How Does One Get Started?
One of the difficulties with studying chronic illness and medi- I request that people who come to learn how to meditate
tation is that the effects and/or benefits to patients can be quite commit to a minimum of six 1-hour sessions, spread out over
varied. Among patients with chronic pain, one might experience 6–8 weeks, to receive an introduction and to learn the tech-
an increased ability to tolerate pain as a result of meditation, nique itself. The sessions cover what meditation is and its vari-
another might find a reduction in pain, and yet another might ous types. Participants are guided through an initial
experience an increase in pain but may learn how to be more progressive muscle-relaxation exercise at the beginning of
patient with it. Thus, the effects can be quite complex when they every session and learn how to practice a concentrative medi-
are analyzed collectively. tation technique focusing on a word or the breath. Many peo-
Nevertheless, researchers agree that high-quality research tri- ple continue to come beyond the initial 6-week time period
als should continue to be developed to examine the role of medi- because they find it helpful to sit in silence with other people.
tation in health and illness. These participants also can bring up their questions about
meditation.
Clinical Applications Having a teacher is a true benefit. While there are books and
compact discs (CDs) that provide meditation instruction, there is
In today’s fast-paced world, people are encouraged to do any- great value in having a person available to answer questions and
thing but be still. They avoid, push past, and hurry by other peo- concerns that arise. Patients should be advised to ask potential
ple and things. Sitting still, indeed, may feel nonproductive or teachers how long it will take to learn meditation, what the mon-
even counterproductive, in a productivity-oriented society. Yet, etary investment will be, if any, and specifically what the training
as noted above, evidence is emerging that sitting still may prove and background is of the person they are going to learn from. But
to be quite productive for physical and mental health. if an instructor is not available there are helpful books, CDs,
Clinicians may have various questions when considering audiotapes, and digital versatile discs (DVDs) on meditation
whether to discuss meditation with their patients including: instruction.
• When should a clinician recommend meditation? Is Meditation Safe?
• How does one get started? Meditation is considered to be a relatively safe practice. It is
• Is meditation safe? physically noninvasive, learned easily, and can be practiced inde-
• How long and how often should one meditate? pendently. There are, however, things to consider about medita-
• Which resources on meditation are important? tion to optimize its safety.
no reviews yet
Please Login to review.
