Effectiveness of Meditation for People with Diabetes and CHD
- The opinion of the editors of the site may not coincide with the opinion of the authors of the article.
Mindfulness-based interventions can successfully address negative perseverative) cognitive functions such as anxiety and thought suppression, but their acceptability and effectiveness in people with chronic illness is unclear. Therefore, we pilot-tested a six-week meditation and mindfulness-based intervention in people (n = 40) with diabetes and coronary heart disease. We used a sequential approach using mixed methods such as focus groups (n = 11) and in-depth interviews (n = 16) to assess the change in anxiety levels and thought suppression, a qualitative study of acceptability, feasibility and feelings of the subjects. The intervention was very acceptable, with 90% of the study participants completing ≥5 sessions. Meditation and mindfulness skills led to improved sleep quality, better relaxation, and a more tolerant attitude towards illness and its experience. By the end of the six-week course of meditation, anxiety and suppression of thoughts had significantly decreased. The positive impact of mindfulness-based interventions on psychological health may be related to the acquisition and development of metacognitive skills.(note - the art of thinking about your own thinking) , but this requires experimental confirmation.
learn more Over the past decade, interest in the usefulness and effectiveness of mindfulness interventions has increased in applied psychology. [1] Basic definitions in psychotherapeutic traditions explain mindfulness as a heightened sense of focus on self-awareness in the present moment, which promotes an impartial observation of emotions, body states, and other sensations in the field of attention, resulting in mental well-being
[2] The two-component model of mindfulness proposed by Bishop et al. [3] includes: (1) self-regulation of attention to focus on directly experienced experience, allowing mental events to be perceived in the present moment; and (2) a present-moment orientation of experience leading to openness, curiosity, and acceptance.
Meditation and mindfulness have become popular with the emergence of group meditation treatment programs such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). First applied to work with chronic pain [4], the MBSR group method using guidelines has since proven to be effective in reducing psychological stress, reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, in both clinical and non-clinical populations, both with chronic somatic diseases, as well as without them
The developed study design included sequentially combined methods to answer a series of research questions about the acceptability and effectiveness of interventions based on meditation and mindfulness practices for people with diabetes and/or CAD. We used quantitative and multiple qualitative methods to accurately answer the following questions:
Is a six-week group program of meditation and mindfulness practices an acceptable intervention for people with diabetes or heart disease?
Does a six-week meditation and mindfulness program reduce anxiety and thought suppression in people with diabetes and/or CHD?
Have meditation and mindfulness practices been associated with improved subjective health and well-being?
Is it reasonable to incorporate meditation and mindfulness practices into self-administered techniques for people with diabetes and/or CAD?
Between September 2010 and February 2011, we were invited to afternoon and evening meetings with seven voluntary and charitable self-help groups for people with diabetes or heart disease in Greater Manchester, UK. At these meetings, the researchers, together with the meditation teacher, briefly talked about the purpose of the study and answered any questions. Self-help group members were asked to contact a research group representative if they were interested in participating in meditation lessons
Inclusion criteria were: age 18 years and older, presence of diabetes and/or CAD. The exclusion criteria were: self-reported cognitive impairment or caregiver and inability to travel to meditation sites.
The program consisted of six weekly sessions, accompanied by a patient guide (see Supplementary Appendix A), which was developed in collaboration with a qualified meditation teacher with 15 years of experience in conducting meditation programs for both clinical and non-clinical groups. The first session lasted two and a half hours, and the next five sessions lasted two hours
The classes were taught by an experienced meditation teacher from the Meditation Foundation, which is a social enterprise supported by the UK Department of Health,
Participants were given the opportunity to attend the morning or afternoon session. To maximize opportunities for group member participation, the meditation program was held twice, once from June 2011 and again from September 2011
A limited set of simple meditation techniques were taught in this study, some of which were based on "insight" meditation, which is the foundation of mindfulness. All of the techniques taught were aimed at improving continuous mindfulness, which can promote non-reactive awareness of how thoughts are related to emotions and behavior