The Meaning of Mindfulness: A Second-Order Cybernetics of Stress, Metacognition, and Coping

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric L. Garland
Keyword(s):  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Coping Processes ◽  
Complementary And Integrative Medicine ◽  
Therapeutic Mechanisms ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Mechanisms Of Mindfulness

Stress-related illness presents an ever-increasing burden to society, and thus has become the target of numerous complementary and integrative medicine interventions. One such clinical intervention, mindfulness meditation, has gained eminence for its demonstrated efficacy in reducing stress and improving health outcomes. Despite its prominence, little is known about the mechanics through which it exerts its treatment effects. This article details the therapeutic mechanisms of mindfulness with a novel causal model of stress, metacognition, and coping. Mindfulness is hypothesized to bolster coping processes by augmenting positive reappraisal, mitigating catastrophizing, and engendering self-transcendence. Reviews of stress and mindfulness are then framed by the perspective of second-order cybernetics, a transdisciplinary conceptual framework which builds on extant theory by highlighting the recursion between the individual and their environment.

Understanding the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Combined With Aromatherapy, to Enhance the Wellbeing of MCAST ICS Lecturers: A Narrative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-39
Author(s):  
Nadia Cauchi
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Inquiry Approach ◽  
The Common ◽  
Mindful Meditation ◽  
The Individual

This study looks at the effects of the combined practice of mindful meditation and aromatherapy on the wellbeing of MCAST ICS lecturers, potentially providing resources that can help them deal with various stressors. Each practice is supported with literature underlining its effects towards a holistic wellbeing. The researcher uses a qualitative narrative inquiry approach to draw meaning and understanding out of the participants’ experiences. Three MCAST ICS lecturers participated in this study. Their background in health care enables them to relate better with the benefits of mindful meditation and aromatherapy. The research design of this study consists of four stages; a pre-session held with the three participants, weekly mindful meditation sessions for six weeks, individual interviews with each participant, followed by a focus group. Three of the six sessions included aromatherapy and a mindful journal was kept throughout the sessions. The analysis format could either develop as an analysis of narrative or narrative of analysis. In this study both formats were used, however, due to the word count limit only the analysis of narrative is seen. The researcher elicited whole segments from the individual transcripts to develop various themes. To examine the data for the emergent themes the researcher chose to use thematic narrative analysis as it focuses on the ‘told’ (Riessman 2008). In this case the ‘told’ is what helped identify the common patterns found across the narratives. As themes started to emerge, whenever possible the researcher used the MAXQDA software to facilitate the process. Mindful meditation was found to lead to a series of events that enhance self-awareness, thus enhancing holistic wellbeing and positively effecting the individual’s approach towards work and family. This can be achieved because mindful meditation has the potential to enhance one’s social skills, soft skills, and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, combining aromatherapy with mindful meditation was found to positively enhance one’s experience. However, it was not the only decisive factor since the ambience was also an influencer.

Attachment Theory and Brief Psychotherapy: Applying Current Research to Clinical Interventions

1989 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 369-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm West ◽  
Adreenne Sheldon ◽  
Linda Redtfer
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Brief Psychotherapy ◽  
Attachment Figure ◽  
Attachment Relationships ◽  
Attachment Research ◽  
Representational Model ◽  
The Individual

Recent advances in attachment research provide a framework for defining the content and process of brief psychotherapy with adults. Attachment theory emphasizes a number of issues crucial to therapeutic work. Specifically, attachment relationships are enduring components of a individual's pattern of interpersonal behaviours. Functionally, attachment relationships address security needs. Insecure attachment arises from a representational model based on feared loss of the attachment figure, which predisposes the individual to have little confidence in the attachment figure's availability, responsiveness, and permanence. Behavioural responses to insecure attachment can lead to specific patterns of interpersonal relationships which, in turn, strengthen the representational model. Thus, a relatively stable, self-reinforcing system evolves and results in a consistent inability to experience security within attachment relationships. In this article, the authors describe the current framework for understanding adult attachment relationships and present clinical vignettes illustrating the saliency of attachment theory to common clinical presentations. The goal of the clinical intervention is defined as increasing the “permeability” of the individual's working model of attachment through affective and cognitive re-assessment of attachment experiences and expectations. Finally, the utility of this approach in evaluating the outcome and effectiveness of psychotherapy is highlighted.

scholarly journals EFFECT OF MINDFULLNESS MEDITATION ON STRESS LEVEL AND COPING MECHANISM IN CANCER PATIENTS

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yesiana Dwi Wahyu Werdani
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Coping Mechanisms ◽  
Rank Test ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Wilcoxon Sign Rank ◽  
Sign Rank Test ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Physical Changes

Cancer patients have a tendency to experience mental disorders, because the physical changes cause frustration and despair. It impacts on anxiety, depression, and social isolation. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of mindfullness meditation to stress levels and coping mechanisms in cancer patients. This study used pre experimental approach with one group pre-test post-test design. Samples were 32 cancer patients with composmentis condition in Indonesian Cancer Foundation East Java Branch, taken by total sampling. The instrument was Perceived Stress Scale and Coping Strategies Inventory. Statistics was verified with Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test and Paired T-test P < 0.05. Results showed the effect of Mindfulness Meditation on the level of stress p = 0.001, the adaptive of coping mechanisms p = 0.001 and maldaptive p = 0.003. In conclusion, Mindfulness meditation can cause the respondent to concentrate and focus on themselves, and also strengthen brain regions at the center of attention and executive function, interoception and mental flexibility.

scholarly journals Face to face with the suicidal

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 188-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gethin Morgan ◽  
Carole Buckley ◽  
Mike Nowers
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Assessment ◽  
Suicide Risk ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Near Future

The clinical assessment and management of suicide risk depends primarily on face to face contact with the individual who presents the risk, and aims to predict behaviour in the very near future. Whether or not clinical intervention prevents suicide depends a great deal on the clinician's skill in reaching out to the individual patient. This poses a dilemma, because much of what has been written about predicting suicide has been based on averaged data concerning long-term outcome in large cohorts of patients.

scholarly journals CEOs And Managerialism, Success Trap, Blind Trust, And Global Mindset: Introducing The Individual Vigilance/Social Experimentation Framework

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Fendt
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Global Mindset ◽  
Ceo Leadership ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Conflicting Interests ◽  
Social Experimentation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Coping

This ten-year empirical study explores the nature of Chief Executive (CEO) leadership and coping in post-merger situations. Executives’ need to manage multiple organizational realities and various groups of internal and external stakeholders, often representing conflicting interests, whereby four separate albeit interrelated concepts come into play, namely managerialism (vs. leadership), the liabilities of success (success trap), excess of trust (blind trust) and global mindset. The paper purports that these concepts can be understood as functions of the degree of individual vigilance and social experimentation that a leader applies to the task at hand and introduces the individual vigilance/social experimentation framework.

Evolution of parental stress and coping processes: A framework for critical care practice

1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 212-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda L. LaMontagne ◽  
Barbara D. Johnson ◽  
Joseph T. Hepworth
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Parental Stress ◽  
Stress And Coping ◽  
Care Practice ◽  
Coping Processes ◽  
And Coping

scholarly journals Mind–Body Interactions and Mindfulness Meditation in Diabetes

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gagan Priya ◽  
Sanjay Kalra
Keyword(s):  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Stress Hormones ◽  
Pharmacological Management ◽  
Psychosocial Wellbeing ◽  
Complementary Role ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Obesity Hypertension ◽  
And Coping

Diabetes is associated with significant psychological distress. It is, therefore, important to ensure the physical and emotional as well as psychosocial wellbeing of individuals living with diabetes. Meditation-based strategies have been evaluated for their complementary role in several chronic disorders including depression, anxiety, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The practice of meditation is associated with reduction in stress and negative emotions and improvements in patient attitude, health-related behaviour and coping skills. There is increased parasympathetic activity with reduction in sympathetic vascular tone, stress hormones and inflammatory markers. Additionally, several studies evaluated the role of mindfulness-based stress reduction in diabetic individuals and demonstrated modest improvements in body weight, glycaemic control and blood pressure. Thus, mindfulness meditation-based intervention can lead to improvements across all domains of holistic care – biological, psychological and social. Though most of these studies have been of short duration and included small numbers of patients, meditation strategies can be useful adjunctive techniques to lifestyle modification and pharmacological management of diabetes and help improve patient wellbeing.

Coping Through Emotional Approach: Emerging Evidence for the Utility of Processing and Expressing Emotions in Responding to Stressors

2009 ◽  
pp. 224-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette L. Stanton ◽  
Sarah J. Sullivan ◽  
Jennifer L. Austenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Cognitive Appraisals ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Approach Coping ◽  
Core Components ◽  
Intervention Trials ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Emotional Approach

Emotional approach coping (EAC) is a construct encompassing the intentional use of emotional processing and emotional expression in efforts to manage adverse circumstances. The construct was developed in an attempt to reconcile a discrepancy between the empirical coping literature, in which an association between the use of emotion-focused coping and maladjustment often is reported, and literature in other areas describing the adaptive roles of emotional processing and expression. At least two significant limitations in the way emotion-focused coping has been operationalized help explain this discrepancy: widely disparate coping strategies, both approach-oriented and avoidance-oriented, are designated as emotion-focused coping in the literature, and some emotion-focused coping items in published measures are confounded with expressions of distress or self-deprecation. To address these problems in measurement, the EAC scale was developed. The measure includes two correlated but distinct subscales: Emotional Processing (i.e., attempts to acknowledge, explore, and understand emotions) and Emotional Expression (i.e., verbal and/or nonverbal efforts to communicate or symbolize emotional experience). Recent research using this psychometrically sound measure has provided evidence that EAC enhances adjustment to stressors including infertility, sexual assault, and breast cancer. The findings are not uniform, however, and further study of moderators such as the interpersonal context, the nature of the stressor, cognitive appraisals of the stressor, and individual differences is needed, along with additional study of mechanisms for the effects of EAC. Although emotional processing and expression are core components of many clinical approaches, specific measurement of EAC thus far has been limited to only a few clinical intervention trials. An understanding of who benefits from EAC in which contexts and how these benefits accrue will require continued integration of findings from stress and coping research, emotion science, and clinical studies.

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