The Improvement of Emotion and Attention Regulation after a 6-Week Training of Focused Meditation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Self-regulatory trainings can be an effective complementary treatment for mental health disorders. We investigated the effects of a six-week-focused meditation training on emotion and attention regulation in undergraduates randomly allocated to a meditation, a relaxation, or a wait-list control group. Assessment comprised a discrimination task that investigates the relationship between attentional load and emotional processing and self-report measures. For emotion regulation, results showed greater reduction in emotional interference in the low attentional load condition in meditators, particularly compared to relaxation. Only meditators presented a significant association between amount of weekly practice and the reduction in emotion interference in the task and significantly reduced image ratings of negative valence and arousal, perceived anxiety and difficulty during the task, and state and trait-anxiety. For attention regulation, response bias during the task was analyzed through signal detection theory. After training, meditation and relaxation significantly reduced bias in the high attentional load condition. Importantly, there was a dose-response effect on general bias: the lowest in meditation, increasing linearly across relaxation and wait-list. Only meditators reduced omissions in a concentrated attention test. Focused meditation seems to be an effective training for emotion and attention regulation and an alternative for treatments in the mental health context.

Effects of a Brief Meditation Training on Negative Affect, Trait Anxiety and Concentrated Attention

“…These findings support other studies which also evaluated emotional and attentional variables following short interventions varying between three and seven days (Chen et al, 2013;Ding et al, 2014;Tang et al, 2007;Zeidan, Johnson, Diamond, et al, 2010;Zeidan, Johnson, Gordon, et al, 2010). The results also corroborate a study which evaluated a six-week version of the same training of focused meditation, particularly in relation to the fact that in both interventions there was a reduction in the negative affect, although no significant change was observed in the positive affect, as well as reduction of trait anxiety (Menezes et al, 2013). In addition to this, the results found complement the literature regarding short training programs, demonstrating that positive effects can also occur through an intervention using focused meditation.…”

“…In the focused meditation technique, the practitioners train sustained and concentrated attention on a single focus in a more systematic way, so as to develop the skill of more easily not becoming engaged, or of disengaging oneself from the usual mental processes, which are often automatized and dysfunctional (Lutz, Slagter, Dunne, & Davidson, 2008). This meditation has already been tested in one study, evaluating a six-week intervention, whose results showed a reduction in the self-reporting of negative affect and of trait anxiety, and an improvement in the performance of attention in healthy university students (Menezes et al, 2013).…”

Efeito da Meditação Focada no Estresse e Mindfulness Disposicional em Universitários

“…O treino de meditação baseouse no estudo de Menezes et al (2013). O mesmo incluiu seis encontros semanais consecutivos com uma duração aproximada de uma hora e quinze minutos.…”

“…Programas baseados na meditação constituem uma modalidade de intervenção que vem sendo crescentemente aplicada no ambiente universitário com o objetivo de reduzir o estresse, bem como aumentar o bem-estar e a qualidade de vida (Fan, Tang, & Posner, 2014;Greeson, Juberg, Maytan, James, & Rogers, 2014;Jain et al, 2007;Menezes et al, 2013;Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008;Regehr, Glancy, & Pitts, 2013). No Brasil, um estudo realizado na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul demonstrou que existe um grande interesse por parte dos universitários em participarem deste tipo de intervenção (Menezes, Fiorentin, & Araujo, 2012).…”

“…Portanto, é difícil concluir se o efeito dos treinos sobre os desfechos advém da técnica meditativa formal (em particular, a meditação sentada e silenciosa) ou da combinação destas diferentes técnicas. Neste sentido, uma contribuição relevante de dois estudos que utilizaram uma intervenção com seis encontros semanais foi demonstrar que efeitos psicológicos positivos, tal como melhor regulação emocional, foram produzidos pela técnica meditativa formal (meditação focada, sentada e silenciosa), já que nestes estudos não houve uma combinação de diferentes técnicas, exceto um breve período de respiração diafragmática que precedeu a prática de meditação em todos os encontros (Menezes & Bizarro, 2015;Menezes et al, 2013). Contudo, os efeitos desta intervenção especificamente sobre as variáveis de estresse e mindfulness não foram avaliados.…”