Use the given websites and files to answer questions.
1. Consider the article, “Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies”.
1) Does the review article, published in 2011, predict the results that the “Mindful Student Study” provides? What evidence in the article supports your answer?
2) What are your biggest take aways from the research review?
2. Consider the article, “A mindfulness-based intervention to increase resilience to stress in university students (the Mindful Student Study): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial”.
1) Provide a summary, in your own words, of how you would describe the results of the study on college students to a friend who is not in this class and not well versed in mindfulness and research.
2) Would you recommend this approach to a stressed out college student after reading this research? Why or why not?
3. in the CNN Health article, Senthilingam introduces the idea that meditation and psychedelic drugs could both be beneficial.
Offer one independent item of evidence for each of these from the article, including the reference.
The reference could be the research program name, the researcher/affiliation, etc.
A few sentences are sufficient for each answer.
1) Reason for the use of meditation, evidence and effect or potential effect, including reference
2) Reason for the use of psychedelic, evidence and effect or potential effect, including reference
4. Last week, we superficially reviewed the use of mindfulness to aid individuals who have substance abuse addiction.
In the recent study referenced in “Mindfulness training provides a natural high, study finds”, mindfulness training “MORE” which “was shown to reduce opioid misuse by 45%, more than doubling the effect of standard therapy”, in a previous study.
But in the article, comparisons of mindfulness to psychedelic substances in terms of mind altering impact (specifically in this study, increases in frontal midline theta brain activity) are made.
From the overview:
“Mindfulness can create a pathway for us to transcend our limited sense of self,” said Garland. “Civilizations have known for thousands of years that self-transcendence, the experience of being connected to something greater than ourselves, has powerful therapeutic benefits.”
This, he explained, is a part of why some cultures engage in spiritual practices, practice deep meditation or use psychedelic substances like psilocybin mushrooms. Even in the popular 12-step addiction treatment program, the 11th step—seeking conscious contact with a higher power through prayer or meditation—taps into this same mechanism to promote recovery from addiction.
The state of transcendence can be like a blissful, natural high, said Garland. “Rather than seeking a high from something outside of yourself like a drug, meditation can help you to find an even greater sense of pleasure, peace and fulfillment from within.”
Your question:
What should we do about this, now that we have this knowledge? Which approach(es) would you recommend for treatment of any number of mental health concerns IF both mindfulness and psychedelic substances are shown to be effective treatments? Explain your answer in no more than a paragraph unless you wish to write more, which is not required.
5. The article, “Characterization and prediction of acute and sustained response to psychedelic psilocybin in a mindfulness group retreat”, discusses the potential of the interaction of meditation and external substances to work positively together to alleviate certain health concerns.
From the abstract, how do the researchers describe this potential?
What concerns and/or challenges do you think exist with this type of approach?
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/04/1126680854/a-drug-based-on-lsd-appears-to-treat-depression-in-mice-without-the-psychedelic
https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/health/psychedelics-anxiety-depression-meditation/index.html
Mindfulness training provides a natural high, study finds
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abo4455
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50612-3
