Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through meditation, of sustaining meta-attention of the contents of one's own mind in the present moment.[1][2][note 1][3][web 1][2][4][5] Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Hindu and Buddhist traditions,[6][7] and is based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques.[8][9][note 2] Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging,[15] Buddhist traditions describe what constitutes mindfulness, such as how perceptions of the past, present and future arise and cease as momentary sense-impressions and mental phenomena.[6][16][web 2] Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh, Joseph Goldstein, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Richard J. Davidson.[17][18]
For other uses, see Mindfulness (disambiguation).Mindfulness
Clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on mindfulness for helping people experiencing a variety of psychological conditions.[18] Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce depression,[19][20][21][22][23] stress,[20][24][23] anxiety,[19][20][25][23] and in the treatment of drug addiction.[26][27][28] Programs based on mindfulness models have been adopted within schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans' centers, and other environments,[29][30] and mindfulness programs have been applied for additional outcomes such as for healthy aging, weight management, athletic performance,[31] helping children with special needs, and as an intervention during early pregnancy.
Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in healthy adults and children.[32][33][34] Studies have shown a positive relationship between trait mindfulness (which can be cultivated through the practice of mindfulness-based interventions) and psychological health.[35][36] The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders,[37][38][39] including moderate benefits to those with psychosis.[40][41][42] Studies also indicate that rumination and worry contribute to a variety of mental disorders,[43][44] and that mindfulness-based interventions can enhance trait mindfulness[45] and reduce both rumination and worry.[44][46][47] Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems.[48][49][50] Mindfulness practices have been said to enable individuals to respond more effectively to stressful situations by helping them strike the balance between over-identification and suppression of their emotional experiences by finding the middle point which is recognition and acceptance.[51]
Evidence suggests that engaging in mindfulness meditation may influence physical health.[52] For example, the psychological habit of repeatedly dwelling on stressful thoughts appears to intensify the physiological effects of the stressor (as a result of the continual activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) with the potential to lead to physical health related clinical manifestations.[53][54][55] Studies indicate that mindfulness meditation, which brings about reductions in rumination, may alter these biological clinical pathways.[53][44][56] Further, research indicates that mindfulness may favorably influence the immune system[57] as well as inflammation,[3][58][59] which can consequently impact physical health, especially considering that inflammation has been linked to the development of several chronic health conditions.[60][61] Other studies support these findings.[56][62][63]
Critics have questioned both the commercialization and the over-marketing of mindfulness for health benefits—as well as emphasizing the need for more randomized controlled studies, for more methodological details in reported studies and for the use of larger sample-sizes.[3][36][web 3] While mindfulness-based interventions may be effective for youth,[64][65][66] research has not determined methods in which mindfulness could be introduced and delivered in schools.[67]
Definitions[edit]
Psychology[edit]
A.M. Hayes and G. Feldman have highlighted that mindfulness can be seen as a strategy that stands in contrast to a strategy of avoidance of emotion on the one hand and to the strategy of emotional over-engagement on the other hand.[94] Mindfulness can also be viewed as a means to develop self-knowledge and wisdom.[6]
Models and frameworks for mindfulness practices[edit]
Two-component model[edit]
A two-component model of mindfulness based upon a consensus among clinical psychologists has been proposed as an operational and testable definition,[104] :
Concerns and criticism[edit]
Scholarly research[edit]
Many of the above cited review studies also indicate the necessity for more high-quality research in this field such as conducting intervention studies using larger sample sizes, the use of more randomized controlled studies and the need for providing more methodological details in reported studies.[3][36] The majority of studies also either measure mindfulness as a trait, and in research that use mindfulness interventions in clinical practice, the lack of true randomisation poses a problem for understanding the true effectiveness of mindfulness. Experimental methods using randomised samples, though, suggest that mindfulness as a state or temporary practice can influence felt emotions such as disgust and promote abstract decision-making.[257][258][259] There are also a few review studies that have found little difference between mindfulness interventions and control groups, though they did also indicate that their intervention group was treated too briefly for the research to be conclusive.[260][261] In some domains, such as sport, a lack of internal validity across studies prevents any strong claims being made about the effects of mindfulness.[31] These studies also list the need for more robust research investigations. Several issues pertaining to the assessment of mindfulness have also been identified including the current use of self-report questionnaires.[3][36][262] Potential for bias also exists to the extent that researchers in the field are also practitioners and possibly subject to pressures to publish positive or significant results.[8]
Various scholars have criticized how mindfulness has been defined or represented in recent Western psychology publications.[104][263]
These modern understandings depart significantly from the accounts of mindfulness in early Buddhist texts and authoritative commentaries in the Theravada and Indian Mahayana traditions.[263]: 62 [264] Adam Valerio has introduced the idea that conflict between academic disciplines over how mindfulness is defined, understood, and popularly presented may be indicative of a personal, institutional, or paradigmatic battle for ownership over mindfulness, one where academics, researchers, and other writers are invested as individuals in much the same way as religious communities.[138]
Shortcomings[edit]
The popularization of mindfulness as a "commodity"[web 29] has been criticized, being termed "McMindfulness" by some critics.[web 30][web 31][265] According to John Safran, the popularity of mindfulness is the result of a marketing strategy:[web 29] "McMindfulness is the marketing of a constructed dream; an idealized lifestyle; an identity makeover."[266][web 29] The psychologist Thomas Joiner says that modern mindfulness meditation has been "corrupted" for commercial gain by self-help celebrities, and suggests that it encourages unhealthy narcissistic and self-obsessed mindsets.[267][268]
According to Purser and Loy, mindfulness is not being used as a means to awaken to insight in the "unwholesome roots of greed, ill will and delusion,"[web 30] but reshaped into a "banal, therapeutic, self-help technique" that has the opposite effect of reinforcing those passions.[web 30] While mindfulness is marketed as a means to reduce stress, in a Buddhist context it is part of an all-embracing ethical program to foster "wise action, social harmony, and compassion."[web 30] The privatization of mindfulness neglects the societal and organizational causes of stress and discomfort, instead propagating adaptation to these circumstances.[web 30] According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, "[A]bsent a sharp social critique, Buddhist practices could easily be used to justify and stabilize the status quo, becoming a reinforcement of consumer capitalism."[web 30] The popularity of this new brand of mindfulness has resulted in the commercialization of meditation through self-help books, guided meditation classes, and mindfulness retreats.