by Tim Desmond, LMFT
Mindfulness can be defined as the capacity for nonjudgmental observation of present-moment experience and dis-identifying with cognitive appraisals.
Over the past 30 years researchers have been studying the effects of mindfulness practices on symptoms ranging from chronic physical pain to anxiety and depression. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program has been shown to decrease subjective distress for a range of symptoms and has been widely adopted by the medical community.
A recent study at the University of North Carolina looked at possible cognitive mechanisms that mediate the effectiveness of mindfulness practices.
Using questionnaires, subjects (n=339) were assessed for mindfulness, positive reappraisal, catastrophizing, and subjective distress before and after an 8-week course in mindfulness-based stress reduction. They represented a large range of psychological and physical symptoms.
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire includes Likert-scale items such as:
• “I watch my feelings without getting lost in them.”
• “I pay attention to sensations such as the wind in my hair or the sun on my face.”
• “I’m good at finding words for my feelings.”
• “I tell myself I shouldn’t be feeling the way I’m feeling.” (measuring the capacity for non-judgment of experience)
• “I find myself doing things without paying attention.”
The data analysis showed that the effect of mindfulness to decrease distress was partially meditated through increased capacity for positive reappraisal. To be totally clear, this study cannot prove anything about causation. However, the partial mediation suggests an interesting relationship between those two capacities.
As stated above, mindfulness is the ability to observe present experience (such as cognitive appraisals) without identifying with them. What this study seems to suggest is that when someone develops their capacity to observe cognitive appraisals in this way, their ability to intentionally reappraise experiences improves. Then, through their increased capacity for positive reappraisal of experience, distress is lessened.
Certainly more research should be done on this connection, but this study has the potential to demystify how mindfulness is so helpful.
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Tim Desmond is a therapist in private practice and directs a mental health program for emotionally disturbed children in Oakland, CA. He offers phone counseling through his website. Follow him at twitter.com/timdesmond
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