Mindfulness and psychological process.

Abstract

The author reviews the articles in the Special Section on Mindfulness, starting from the assumption that emotions evolved as signaling systems that need to be sensitive to environmental contingencies. Failure to switch off emotion is due to the activation of mental representations of present, past, and future that are created independently of external contingencies. Mindfulness training can be seen as one way to teach people to discriminate such "simulations" from objects and contingencies as they actually are. The articles in this Special Section show how even brief laboratory training can have effects on processing affective stimuli; that long-term meditation practitioners show distinct reactions to pain; that longer meditation training is associated with differences in brain structure; that 8 weeks' mindfulness practice brings about changes in the way emotion is processed showing that participants can learn to uncouple the sensory, directly experienced self from the "narrative" self; that mindfulness training can affect working memory capacity, and enhance the ability of participants to talk about past crises in a way that enables them to remain specific and yet not be overwhelmed. The implications of these findings for understanding emotion and for further research is discussed.

How Is Stress Reduced by a Workplace Mindfulness Intervention? A Qualitative Study Conceptualising Experiences of Change

“…Psychodynamic approaches, for example, cultivate an Bobserving self^or meta-awareness (Schooler et al 2011) to defuse automatic thinking or feeling in order to interrupt the stress response (Williams 2010). What may be unique to mindfulness training is the practice of a particular attitudinal response to awareness, as reported by our participants.…”

Who experiences depressive symptoms following mindfulness-based stress reduction and why?

“…This notion was supported in a qualitative study of MBSR participants' diary entries in a small community sample of women 30 as well as an examination of a subset (n = 13) of the cohort in the present study 31 . Equally important may be reductions in self-referential thinking, especially narrative self-reference that perpetuates negative self-judgments and dsyphoria 32 . Several studies have shown that increases in mindfulness are associated with decreases in rumination [33][34][35] and increases in mindfulness have been hypothesized to moderate outcomes (e.g.…”

Feeling Full or Empty Inside? Peran Perbedaan Individual dalam Struktur Pengalaman Afektif

“…terjadi ketika subjek memperlakukan rekonstruksi mental atas masa lalu dan masa depan sebagai ancaman nyata yang harus diatasi saat ini (Williams, 2010). Akibatnya, suatu emosi menjadi episode yang berkelanjutan tanpa kehadiran stimulus yang relevan, sementara cues lingkungan yang seharusnya diberi atensi malah menjadi terabaikan.…”

“…Emosi menjadi sinyal yang mempersiapkan subjek agar menampilkan respons sesuai tuntutan lingkungan sekaligus mengarahkan atensinya kepada cues lingkungan yang ia anggap penting (Bradley, 2009). Agar fungsi emosi menjadi efektif, kualitas yang harus dimiliki adalah (1) mengalami aktivasi ketika dibutuhkan, dan (2) mengalami deaktivasi saat situasi lingkungan berubah (Williams, 2010).…”