I’ve written about mindfulness and meditation before. And! if you’ve worked with me, been a part of my family or friend circle, a colleague, ha, even a random passerby, you’ve heard me go on about how important I believe mediation is for strong mental health and human thriving.
This week, I ran across a new study using two randomized clinical trials; in nerd speak that means the research method utilized implemented two carefully controlled conditions where participant’s distinct fMRI brain scans were collected and analyzed. From the study:
To determine if mindfulness meditation engages distinct brain mechanisms from placebo and sham-mindfulness to reduce pain, MVPA pain signatures were applied across two randomized clinical trials that employed overlapping psychophysical pain testing procedures (49°C noxious heat; visual analogue pain scales) and distinct fMRI techniques (blood-oxygen-level dependent; perfusion-based). After baseline pain testing, 115 healthy participants were randomized into a four-session mindfulness meditation (n = 37), placebo-cream conditioning (n = 19), sham-mindfulness meditation (n = 20), or book-listening (n = 39) intervention. After each intervention, noxious heat was administered during fMRI and each manipulation.
I promise not to go into a full breakdown of the research! So, what did the researchers find?
Mindfulness meditation produced significantly greater reductions in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings, nociceptive-specific and negative-affective pain signatures when compared to placebo-cream, sham-mindfulness meditation and controls. Placebo-cream only reduced the placebo-based signature.
There is growing evidence that meditation is one of the very best (non-medicine) tools for treating suffering, both physical (as the study I read this week shows, LINK 1 and LINK 2) and psychological (entire books on this point LINK 1 and LINK 2).
In truth, meditation is the ONLY tool I’ve ever come across that makes a real difference in how we relate to our own thoughts. Of course, affirmations, even cognitive behavioral therapy (often just called CBT) techniques can be useful as a way to check in with negative thinking, but so often these strategies involve a form of battling with our own minds (reddit discussion on this: LINK, a thorough review of the pros and cons of CBT: LINK).
In my experience, the benefits of these internal struggles fought inside our own heads have diminishing returns; we may win momentary battles with our negative thinking by engaging in direct conflict with our thoughts but we may lose the larger war of well-being. That is, UNLESS tools of this kind (e.g., affirmations, CBT) get paired with some form of mindfulness (and/or) meditation practice (again, revisit my previous writings on this point here: LINK) that also connects to our values.
Why is that?
Well, so often, negative thinking isn’t random. It is showing up for a reason. First we need to find a pathway to 1) understanding the reason for the negative thinking and 2) making space for why it’s showing up, i.e., dropping the struggle with it. Only then can we make an informed decision about how to address negative thinking. Sometimes CBT is the tool of choice for negative thinking. But, often, it isn’t, not in isolation. Both Logos Therapy and Acceptance Commitment Therapy suggests we need to include a review of values to complete this work. I agree!
But how do you make space to check in with our values if our brains are on autopilot, if our thinking isn’t giving us space for reflection?
Great question!
Answer: mindfulness (and/or) meditation.
To return to my original point: mediation as a tool, in cooperation with the other elements of our Top 10 List is among the most important things a human can do to have good mental health, i.e., psychological flexibility.
Are you willing to spend a few minutes a day doing something that will fundamentally improve how you interact with your own thinking?
-DR. mORRIS
As I’ve said before, this tool is NOT a panacea. It isn’t! In fact, at first, it may be frustrating or even unsettling, but as a mental health strategy, a flexible meditation practice is so very helpful for human thriving. If you try it out and find something isn’t working or even counterproductive, reach out, let’s talk about it!
One of my own gurus on this topic teaching about mindfulness-based mediation, Jeff Warren:
Give it a try right now (a very short guided meditation):
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This post does not constitute therapeutic counseling or advice; the contents of this post are provided as a learning resource. We share the contents hoping that if you are in need of mental health support you will reach out to us directly or to a mental health professional in your area.