Page 70 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

70 | Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

Mindfulness Meditation
Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges
through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment,
and nonjudgmentally in the unfolding of experience moment by
moment” (p. 145). Kabat-Zinn also emphasizes the factor of non-
attachment to outcome as unique in clinical applications (Kabat-
Zinn 2003). In addition, Baer conducted a theoretical summary
and analysis of mindfulness as an intervention. She cites that
Kabat-Zinn has hypothesized how meditation helps with anxiety,
that “sustained, nonjudgmental observation of anxiety-related
sensations, without attempts to escape or avoid them, may lead
to reductions in the emotional reactivity typically elicited by
anxiety symptoms” (p. 128). She lists the elements of
mindfulness that contribute to its effectiveness: exposure,
cognitive change, self-management, relaxation and acceptance.
In addition, she conducted a meta-analysis of mindfulness as an
intervention and found effect sizes ranging from 0.15 (weak) to
1.65 (exceptionally strong). At follow-up, effect sizes ranged
from 0.08 to 1.35. Baer also noted that patient satisfaction with
mindfulness was high (Baer 2003).
Practitioner interest in mindfulness launched a study of many
techniques that use mindfulness components such as
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which has been
successfully applied to preventing depressive episodes (Segal
2005) (Teasdale 2000). Mindfulness appears to function as a
means of creating psychic distance between an individual and
depressogenic thinking which then results in empowerment to
utilize mindfulness to stop relapses into depression before they
occur. Chiesa and Serretti conducted a meta-analysis of MBCT
and found that it was significantly better than usual care alone
for depression in individuals with at least 3 depressive episodes.
MBCT was also shown to reduce anxiety (Chiesa 2011). In
addition, MBCT has been shown to reduce panic and may be an
effective adjunctive treatment (Kim 2010).