Browsing by Subject "mindfulness"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Complementary Approaches for Military Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Randomized Trial.
    (Journal of integrative and complementary medicine, 2022-10) Crisp, Carol D; Baldi, Robert; Fuller, Matthew; Abreu, Eduardo; Nackley, Andrea G
    Introduction: Active duty (AD) women suffer with chronic pelvic pain (CPP) while providers tackle diagnoses and treatments to keep them functional without contributing to the opioid epidemic. The purpose of this randomized trial was to determine the effectiveness of noninvasive, self-explanatory mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) or self-paced healthy lifestyle (HL) interventions on CPP in AD women. Methods: A 6-week, interventional prospective study with AD women aged 21-55 years at Mountain Home (MTHM), Idaho, was conducted. Women were randomly assigned to MBSR (N = 21) or HL (N = 20) interventions. The primary outcome was pain perception. The secondary outcomes were depression and circulating cytokine levels. Results: Women in the MBSR group exhibited reduced pain interference (p < 0.01) and depression (p < 0.05) alongside decreased interleukin (IL)-4 (p < 0.05), IL-6 (p < 0.05), eotaxin (p < 0.05), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (p = 0.06), and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) (p < 0.01) and increased vascular endothelial growth factor (p < 0.05). Women in the HL group did not have changes in pain; however, they did exhibit reduced depression (p < 0.05) alongside decreased granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (p < 0.05) and increased tumor necrosis factor alpha (p < 0.05), stromal cell-derived factor-1 (p < 0.01), and IL-1ra (p < 0.01). Conclusions: AD women receiving MBSR or HL had reduced depression scores and altered circulating cytokine levels; however, only those receiving MBSR had reduced pain perception. Findings support MBSR as an effective and viable behavioral treatment for AD women suffering from CPP and provide premise for larger randomized controlled studies. Clinical Trial Registration: MOCHI-An RCT of mindfulness as a treatment for CPP in AD Women NCT04104542 (September 26, 2019).
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The Effect of Brief Mindfulness Training on Brain Reactivity to Food Cues During Nicotine Withdrawal: A Pilot Functional Imaging Study.
    (Mindfulness, 2019-11) Kragel, Emily A; Sweitzer, Maggie M; Davis, James M
    Objectives:Many individuals who smoke relapse due to weight gain. Mindfulness training has been shown to help smokers quit smoking, and, in other populations, has been used to help people lose weight. This study was designed to assess the effect of one week of mindfulness practice on food cravings in smokers during 12-hour smoking abstinence. Methods:We assessed daily smokers with a history of smoking lapse after weight gain. Participants were provided with brief training in mindfulness meditation and mindful eating and were asked to practice each skill daily for one week. Before and after this week of mindfulness practice, participants completed surveys to rate their nicotine dependence and food cravings and underwent testing via functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results:Study results included pre-post intervention reduction in brain activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, visual areas, and pre-motor areas, regions potentially associated with response to food images. Conclusions:The study was small; however, it suggests the possibility that mindfulness training might be used to decrease food cravings after smoking cessation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The role of therapeutic alliance in mindfulness interventions: therapeutic alliance in mindfulness training for smokers.
    (J Clin Psychol, 2013-09) Goldberg, Simon B; Davis, James M; Hoyt, William T
    OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness-based interventions have enjoyed a marked increase in support within biomedical and psychological research and practice in the past two decades. Despite the widespread application of these treatments for a range of psychological and medical conditions, there remains a lack of consensus regarding mechanisms through which these interventions effect change. One plausible yet underexplored mechanism is the therapeutic alliance between participants and mindfulness instructors. METHODS: In this report, data are presented on therapeutic alliance from the mindfulness arm (n = 37) of a randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based smoking cessation treatment. RESULTS: Results suggest that client-reported therapeutic alliance measured midtreatment did not significantly predict primary smoking outcomes. Alliance did predict improvement in posttreatment scores on several outcome variables linked to mindfulness practice, including emotion regulation (β = -.24, p = .042), mindfulness (β = .33, p = .007), negative affect (β = -.33, p = .040), as well as treatment compliance (β = .39, p = .011). CONCLUSION: Implications of these relationships and the possible role of therapeutic alliance in mindfulness treatments are explored.