How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective

Cultivation of mindfulness, the nonjudgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment, produces beneficial effects on well-being and ameliorates psychiatric and stress-related symptoms. Mindfulness meditation has therefore increasingly been incorporated into psychotherapeutic interventions. A...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives on psychological science Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 537 - 559
Main Authors: Hölzel, Britta K., Lazar, Sara W., Gard, Tim, Schuman-Olivier, Zev, Vago, David R., Ott, Ulrich
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.11.2011
SAGE Publications
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Amygdala
Awareness
Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy
Behavioral neuroscience
Biological and medical sciences
Bodily awareness
Cortex
Cultivation
Disorders
Emotion
Emotional expression
Emotional regulation
Emotions
Extinction
Medical sciences
Meditation
Memory
Mental disorders
Mindfulness
Neuroimaging
Physiological regulation
Plasticity
Psychiatric symptoms
Psychological disorders
Psychological stress
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Research methodology
Self
Self control
Self regulation
Selfreport
Stress
Treatments
Well being
positive psychology
cognition
consciousness
stress disorders
neuroscience
attention
anxiety disorders
Human
Cognitive therapy
Consciousness
Meditation
Positive psychology
Attention
Anxiety disorder
Cognition
Review
Mindfulness
Stress
Treatment
Mechanism of action
ISSN:1745-6916, 1745-6924
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cultivation of mindfulness, the nonjudgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment, produces beneficial effects on well-being and ameliorates psychiatric and stress-related symptoms. Mindfulness meditation has therefore increasingly been incorporated into psychotherapeutic interventions. Although the number of publications in the field has sharply increased over the last two decades, there is a paucity of theoretical reviews that integrate the existing literature into a comprehensive theoretical framework. In this article, we explore several components through which mindfulness meditation exerts its effects: (a) attention regulation, (b) body awareness, (c) emotion regulation (including reappraisal and exposure, extinction, and reconsolidation), and (d) change in perspective on the self. Recent empirical research, including practitioners' self-reports and experimental data, provides evidence supporting these mechanisms. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies have begun to explore the neuroscientific processes underlying these components. Evidence suggests that mindfulness practice is associated with neuroplastic changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, ínsula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network, and default mode network structures. The authors suggest that the mechanisms described here work synergistically, establishing a process of enhanced self-regulation. Differentiating between these components seems useful to guide future basic research and to specifically target areas of development in the treatment of psychological disorders.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:1745-6916
1745-6924
DOI:10.1177/1745691611419671