Meditation can reduce stress and improve mental health in 3 key ways: 1) Physiologically, meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce arousal and promote relaxation. This improves immune function and lowers stress hormones like cortisol. 2) Psychologically, meditation enhances emotion regulation, attention control, awareness of the present moment, and reduces rumination. This lessens negative thinking patterns associated with stress. 3) Multiple studies show meditation lowers stress, anxiety, and depression and improves well-being and coping abilities. While effects vary, meta-analyses find mindfulness meditation particularly effective for stress reduction. Risks are generally mild and short-term like increased negative emotions. Proper instruction and ongoing support

1. MEDITATION AND STRESS REDUCTION
PSYC347 ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
TAN MENG CHUAN, UOW ID: 4886628

2. Before We Begin
• Experiential laboratory
• Multiple stimuli
• Notice where your attention is placed
• Notice how fast your attention moves
• End of session: What’s your experience?

3. Getting present
•While you were waiting…How stressed are you?
•Quick exercise: Take 20 seconds and think of
nothing. How far did you get before you had a
thought?

5. Contents
• Getting Present
• Stress
• Definitions
• Classes
• Meditation
• Definitions
• Types
• Mechanisms and Rationale
• Important Procedural Guidelines
• Applications
• Efficacy
• Side Effects & Contraindications

6. Stress: Definitions
• The non-specific response of the
body to any demand for change
(Selye, 1936)
• State of psychological and/or
physiological imbalance when
the perceived demands are
greater than the perceived
resources to meet those
demands (McGonigal, 2015)

7. Stress: Classes
Acute Episodic Chronic
Positive or
negative,
short term
Stress as a way of life Never-ending, inescapable
stress
Dangerous, unhealthy
Irritation,
headache
Type A personality Difficulties sleeping,
frequent fatigue

9. Stress: Interventions
Psychological Behavioural Lifestyle Alternatives
Reframing
Positive thinking
Assertiveness
Get organised
Ventilation
Humour
Diversion and distraction
Diet
Cease smoking and alcohol
Exercise
Sleep
Leisure
Relaxation
(Retail therapy)
Conventional medicine
Counselling and
psychotherapy
Relaxation
Meditation
Yoga
Acupuncture
Aromatherapy
Herbalism
Biofeedback
Hypnotherapy
Massage
Reflexology

10. Meditation: Definitions
• The act or process of spending time in quiet thought (Merriam-
Webster)
• A practice where an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of
consciousness, either to realise some benefit or for the mind to simply
acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content,
or as an end in itself (Wikipedia)
• The intentional self-regulation of attention, in the service of self-inquiry,
in the here and now (Albeniz, 2000)

11. Meditation: Definitions
• Methods and States definitions
• Methods: Meditation as a family of mental training techniques
• States: Meditation by reference to the enhanced experiential states or altered states
of consciousness which arise from the uses of these methods
• Functional model: Meditation should encompass (Cardoso et al,
2004):
• The use of a specific (clearly defined) technique
• Muscle relaxation in some moment of the process
• Logic relaxation
• It must necessarily be a self-induced state
• The use of “self-focus” skill

12. Meditation: Definitions
• Process model (Nash and
Newberg, 2013):
• Meditation is an engagement of
the process intended to be
inclusive of several different
possibilities, with the intention of
attaining an enhanced mental
state.

13. Meditation: types
Insight-Oriented Concentrative
Key
Characteristics
Can be done anywhere
Stay present in the moment
Maintain alertness, awareness in a non-judgemental
way.
Just observe.
Expand awareness from single-pointed to encompass
external stimuli which arise
Sometimes using breath as tools to return to a mindful
state of attention
Sit comfortably in silence
Center attention by focusing mental awareness on a
preselected object or process, always coming back to
anchor
Narrow awareness to a single-pointed consciousness
Disengage usual mental processes
Avoiding cognitive analysis or fantasy
Analogy Searchlight Laser light beam
Intended Effects Greater awareness of and insight into the personal
conditioning of our minds and an understanding of the
nature of mind itself
Stability, calmness, unruffled mind
Detached from emotional and interpersonal involvement
Heightened awareness
Mindfulness - the self-regulation of attention, providing a continuous moment-to-moment awareness of subjective
experience, in a non-judgemental and accepting way (Zabat-Zinn, 1994)
Slows down the speed and control the amount of thoughts that go through the mind

14. Mindfulness-Based Stress
Reduction (MBSR)
Transcendental
Meditation (TM)
Historical roots Buddhist tradition Vedic tradition
Main personalities John Kabat-Zinn, 1970s Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, mid 1950
About Insight-oriented, Mindfulness
Passive attention, open monitoring
Concentrative: Mantra
Automatic self-transcendence
Effortless, settling the mind naturally
EEG signals Theta brain waves –
readiness to process incoming signals
Alpha brain waves –
relaxation
Goals To have thought be on the present moment Transcending thought to experience a state
of “pure awareness”, without an object of
thought
Practices Mindfulness meditation, Body scanning,
Simple yoga postures
Mantra meditation
15-20 minutes twice a day, eyes closed
Program 8-week course taught by certified
instructors with group meetings,
homework, retreat
One-on-one instruction
Variety of programs: Transcendental
Meditation Technique, TM-Sidhi program

15. Meditation: types
• More than 100 types and variations
• Virtually all involve a combination of approaches
• Fundamentally:
• Focused attention
• Concept of self-observation
• In the here and now
• Acceptance of process rather than content
• Enhanced mental state (mindfulness, awareness, calmness, transcendence.
etc.)

16. Meditation: Mechanisms and Rationale
Physiological
• Efficient functioning of the natural compensatory responses within
the autonomic nervous system
• Meditation intentionally activates calming responses of the Parasympathetic
Nervous System
• Increased cortical thickness (sensory, emotional)
• Improved processing of emotionally salient material and adaptive decision
making
• Improved immune functions
• Stronger physiological resilience
• Reduced physiological arousal during stressful times

17. Meditation: Mechanisms and Rationale
Psychological
• Hozel et al (2011)
• Enhanced self-regulation
• Attention regulation
• Body awareness
• Emotion regulation
• Change in perspective on the self
• Gu et al (2015)
• Greater mindfulness
• Reduction in repetitive negative thinking (worry and rumination)
• Rumination: tendency to dwell on negative thoughts related to one’s condition
• Reduction in cognitive and emotional reactivity
• Extent to which a mild state of stress coupled with stress reactivates negative thinking and
emotional patterns

19. Meditation: Applications
• With different populations
• Non-clinical
• Clinical
• In clinical settings
• As adjunct to psychotherapies
• In everyday settings
• In personal lives
• In corporate settings
• In school settings

20. Meditation: Efficacy
[Psychological measure]
• Hoseman (2015)
• Compared two types of meditators against non-meditators, non-clinical population
• Australian public, n=695
• Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory and Perceived Stress Test
Group n M Mindfulness (SD) M Stress (SD)
Insight-Oriented 158 44.20 (6.19) 16.99 (5.95)
Concentrative 158 42.84 (6.19) 17.67 (7.27)
Non-meditators 158 35.29 (6.74) 25.62 (7.95)

21. Meditation: Efficacy
[Psychological measure]
• Paul, Elam & Verhulst (2007)
• Deep Breathing Meditation on academic stresses
• Medical students, n=64
• Survey on perceptions on stress
Survey Questions Pretest M (SD) Posttest M (SD) Follow Up 8-months M
(SD)
Experience test anxiety 6.3 (2.25) 4.92 (2.09) 3.97 (2.27)
Become nervous during exams 5.98 (2.31) 4.67 (2.0) 3.83 (2.22)
Have self-doubt during exams 6.16 (2.29) 5.19 (2.32) 4.16 (2.23)

22. Meditation: Efficacy [Physiological Measure]
• Turakitwanakan, Mekseepralard & Busarakumtragul (2013)
• Mindfulness meditation on cortisol levels
• Stress hormone
• Chemical mediator to stress response
• Second year medical students, n=30
• Significantly lower levels
• This suggests that mindfulness meditation can lower stress, and
decrease risk of diseases arising from stress
• Recommends use in combination with standard treatment

23. Meditation: Efficacy
[Physiological, Psychological Measures]
• Nidich et al (2009)
• Transcendental Meditation vs wait-
list control on psychological distress,
coping and blood pressure
• University students, n=298
• Randomized Controlled Trial
• Decrease in blood pressure
associated with decreased
psychological distress and increased
coping

24. Meditation: Efficacy
[Meta-Analyses]
• Khoury, Sharma, Rush & Fournier, 2015
• 29 studies, n=2668, healthy non-clinical population
• Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction had a large reduction in
stress, moderate effects on clinical measures of depression and
anxiety
• Mindfulness a central component of treatment effectiveness
• Clinicians can recommend standard MBSR programs to reduce
stress, distress, anxiety and depression and to increase quality of
life regardless whether patients meet diagnostic criteria for a
mental disorder.

25. Meditation: Efficacy
[Meta-Analyses]
• Goyal et al, 2014
• 47 studies, n=3515, clinical populations
• Meditation programs can reduce negative dimensions of psychological stress
• Mindfulness meditation programs show small improvements in anxiety,
depression, and pain with moderate evidence and small improvements in
stress/distress
• Mantra meditation programs did not improve any of the outcomes, but the
strength of this evidence varied from low to insufficient
• No evidence of harm of meditation programs

26. Meditation: Efficacy
• The bigger picture: Strong but yet to be conclusive
• Issues with many studies:
• Small population → Lack strong statistical power
• Heterogeneity in populations, application, variables and
assessments
• Long-term nature of meditation practices

28. Meditation: Side Effects & Contraindications
• Relaxation-induced anxiety and panic
• Paradoxical increases in tension
• Less motivation in life
• Boredom
• Pain
• Impaired reality testing
• Confusion and disorientation
• Feeling spaced out
• Depression
• Increased negativity
• Being more judgmental
• Feeling addicted to meditation
• Feelings of defencelessness
• Avoidance of real issues
• Unpleasant affective experiences: fear,
anger, apprehension, despair
• Sobbing and hidden memories and themes
from the past
• Uncomfortable kinaesthetic sensation
• Mild dissociation
• Feelings of guilt
• Via anxiety-provoking phenomena
• psychosis-like symptoms
• grandiosity
• elation
• destructive behaviour
• suicidal feelings

29. Meditation: Side Effects & Contraindications
• Shapiro, 1994
• Psychosis
• Schizoid and schizotypal personality
• Dissociative states
• Hypochondrial and somatization disorders

30. Meditation:
Important Procedural Guidelines
• Importance of apprising clients of side-effects and destabilisation
• Design client-oriented meditative exercises
• Encourage prolonged periods of practice
• Increase client motivation

31. Meditation:
Important Procedural Guidelines
• Monitor and support ego strength or emotional resilience
• Distinguish between temporary discomfort and fragmentation of sense
• Consider meditation as an adjunct to psychotherapy
• Therapist credentials

32. Conclusion
• Strong evidence for effectiveness
• Heterogeneity
• Generally safe, but risks
• Long-term nature
• Increasing applications
• Stand alone or adjunct

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