This study addresses NCCAM's request for research that investigates the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying mind-body therapies, and for precise criteria and better delineation of meditation practices. The purpose of this study is to assess the clinical efficacy and mechanism of action of 2 component practices of "mindfulness meditation", i.e. focused awareness (FA) and open monitoring (OM) in comparison to each other and to the standard package, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).
Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, is one of the most popular Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies for alleviating emotional stress, depression and anxiety. While standardized meditation-based treatment packages like Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) have reliably shown sustained improvements in emotional disturbances and wellbeing, they contain so many different components and practices that the active ingredient cannot be ascertained. What is commonly called "Mindfulness" meditation is actually comprised of two separate practices: 1) focused awareness practice (FA), and 2) open-monitoring practice (OM). This project aims to create separate 8 week programs for FA and OM meditations, compare their clinical efficacy and investigate their separate mechanisms of action in individuals with clinically significant levels of persistent negative affect and depression. The clinical benefit and mechanism of action of focused awareness (FA) vs open-monitoring (OM) vs MBCT will be examined with a 3-armed randomized control trial of these 8 week interventions. Outcome variables include negative affect (depression, anxiety, stress) and wellbeing. Hypothesized mediating processes include objectively measured attention, emotion regulation and the basic wakefulness on which they depend.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
104
Brown University Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory
Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Change in Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology
30-item clinician administered interview about unipolar depression symptoms
Time frame: baseline, 8 weeks, 20 weeks
change in Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)
42-item self-report questionnaire on depression, anxiety and stress symptoms
Time frame: baseline, week 2,4,6,8, 20
change in Wellbeing Scale (WBS)
73-item self-report questionnaire of psychological wellbeing
Time frame: baseline, 8 weeks, 20 weeks
Change in alpha-theta EEG power from baseline to 8 weeks
Resting/spontaneous EEG power in 5-9 Hz range
Time frame: baseline and 8 weeks
Change in Facial EMG power from baseline to 8 weeks
Facial EMG response to emotional (IAPS) photos (reactivity + regulation)
Time frame: baseline and 8 weeks
Sustained Attention to response Task (SART)
40 minuted sustained attention, go-no-go task
Time frame: baseline, 8 weeks
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)
36-item self report of emotion regulation
Time frame: baseline, 8 weeks, 20 weeks
Attention Control Questionnaire (Derryberry & Reed, 2002)
20-item self report measure of attentional abilities
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Time frame: baseline, 8 weeks, 20 weeks