MIND-BODY MEDICINE: STATE OF THE SCIENCE, IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
John A. Astin, PhD, Shauna L. Shapiro, PhD, David M. Eisenberg, MD, and Kelly Forys, MA
There is now considerable evidence that an array of mind-body therapies can be used as effective adjuncts to conventional medical treatment for a number of common clinical conditions.
BUDDHA'S BRAIN: NEUROPLASTICITY AND MEDITATION
Richard J. Davidson and Antoine Lutz
Findings suggest that, over the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours, the long-term practitioners had actually altered the structure and function of their brains. In this article we discuss neuroplasticity, which encompasses such alterations, and the findings from these studies.
AUTOGENIC TRAINING TO REDUCE ANXIETY IN NURSING STUDENTS: RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL
Nasim Kanji, PhD, Adrian White, MD, PhD, and Edzard Ernst, MD, PhD
Nursing is stressful, and nursing students also have the additional pressures and uncertainties shared with all academic students. Autogenic training is a relaxation technique consisting of six mental exercises and is aimed at relieving tension, anger, and stress. A randomized controlled trail with three parallel arms was completed in 1998 with 93 nursing students aged 19-49 years. Autogenic training has at least a short-term effect in alleviating stress in nursing students.
USES AND BENEFITS OF JOURNAL WRITING
Roger Hiemstra
Journaling in its various forms is a means for recording personal thoughts, daily experiences, and evolving insights. The process often evokes conversations with self, another person, or even an imagined other person. When we add to this list the advantage available in most journaling formats of being able to review or reread earlier reflections, a progressive clarification of insights is possible.
MINDFUL PRACTICE
Ronald M. Epstein, MD
Mindful practitioners attend in a nonjudgmental way to their own physical and mental processes during ordinary, everyday tasks. This critical self-reflection enables physicians to listen attentively to patients' distress, recognize their own errors, refine their technical skills, make evidence-based decisions, and clarify their values so that they can act with compassion, technical competence, presence, and insight.
GUIDED IMAGERY IN EDUCATION
Beverly-Colleene Galyean, PhD
Guided imagery, a technique involving introspection, awareness of inner imagery and symbolic expression, focusing and subsequent heightened self-understanding, has recently come to the attention of educators as a valuable tool for learning on many levels.
CALIBRATING THE PHYSICIAN: PERSONAL AWARENESS AND EFFECTIVE PATIENT CARE
Dennis H. Novack, MD, Anthony L. Suchman, MD, William Clark, MD, Ronald M. Epstein, MD, Eva Najberg, MSc, and Craig Kaplan, MD
Physicians' personal characteristics, their past experiences, values, attitudes, and biases can have important effects on communication with patients; being aware of these characteristics can enhance communication.
WRITING ABOUT EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES AS A THERAPEUTIC PROCESS
James W. Pennebaker
For the past decade, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that when individuals write about emotional experiences, significant physical and mental health improvements follow. The basic paradigm and findings are summarized along with some boundary conditions. Although a reduction in inhibition may contribute to the disclosure phenomenon, changes in basic cognitive and linguistic processes during writing predict better health. Implications for theory and treatment are discussed.
MIND-BODY SKILLS COURSE CHANGING CULTURE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION AT GEORGETOWN
Amy Rothman Schonfeld, PhD
In the past decade there has been increasing emphasis on developing initiatives to promote altruism and humanism in medical students. One highly successful educational initiative at Georgetown University School of Medicine (GUSOM) teaches mind-body medicine skills to blend science and humanism by fostering student self-awareness and self-care. The result is a palpable change in the attitudes of both students and faculty members who have participated, which is having a ripple effect throughout the school.
WHAT MAKES THE PATIENT-DOCTOR RELATIONSHIP THERAPEUTIC? EXPLORING THE CONNEXIONAL DIMENSION OF MEDICAL CARE
Anthony L. Suchman, MD and Dale A. Matthews, MD
Physicians do not receive from the medical model the same explicit guidance in relating to their patients as in making diagnoses and prescribing pharmacologic and other treatments. To meet this need, we offer a framework for expanding the model. Therapeutic contact takes place within a connexional, or transpersonal, dimension of human experience, within which basic human needs for connection and meaning are met.
VISUAL JOURNALING: AN INTERVENTION TO INFLUENCE STRESS, ANXIETY, AND AFFECT LEVELS IN MEDICAL STUDENTS
Amanda Mercer, MS, Elizabeth Warson, PhD, and Jenny Zhao, MS
Research has shown that medical students have higher levels of stress and anxiety than the general population, increasing their risk of health problems, mental illness, and suicide. This study looked at the effects of visual journaling as a possible stress-reduction technique. This study showed that visual journaling was a promising intervention for stress reduction in a medical environment; however, more research is needed to justify its implementation.
ALTERATIONS IN BRAIN AND IMMUNE FUNCTION PRODUCED BY MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
Richard J. Davidson, PhD, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Jessica Schumacher, MS, Melissa Rosenkranz, BA, Daniel Muller, MD, PhD, Saki F. Santorelli, EdD, Ferris Urbanowski, MA, Anne Harrington, PhD, Katherine Bonus, MA, and John F. Sheridan, PhD
We performed a randomized, controlled study on the effects on brain and immune function of a well-known and widely used 8-week clinical training program in mindfulness meditation applied in a work environment with healthy employees. These findings demonstrate that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function.
ASSOCIATION OF AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN MINDFUL COMMUNICATION WITH BURNOUT, EMPATHY, AND ATTITUDES AMONG PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS
Michael S. Krasner, MD, Ronald M. Epstein, MD, Howard Beckman, MD, Anthony L. Suchman, MD, MA, Benjamin Chapman, PhD, Christopher J. Mooney, MA, and Timothy E. Quill, MD
Participation in a mindful communication program was associated with short-term and sustained improvements in well-being and attitudes associated with patient-centered care.
THE IMPACT OF MIND-BODY MEDICINE FACILITATION ON AFFIRMING AND ENHANCING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONS FACULTY
Nicholas Talisman, Nancy Harazduk, MEd, MSW, Christina Rush, MA, Kristi Graves, PhD, and Aviad Haramati, PhD
Previous studies reported decreases in students’ perceived stress and increases in mindfulness - changes that were associated with increased empathic concern and other elements of professional identity formation. However, no reports have described the impact of an mind-body medicine course on the facilitators themselves.
USING MIND-BODY MEDICINE FOR SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-CARE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL
Scott Karpowicz, Nancy Harazduk, and Aviad Haramati
An innovative educational program at Georgetown University School of Medicine teaches mind-body medicine skiffs to blend science and humanism to foster student and faculty self-awareness and self-care.
MIND-BODY SKILLS TRAINING TO IMPROVE DISTRESS TOLERANCE IN MEDICAL STUDENTS: A PILOT STUDY
Kristen M. Kraemer, Christina M. Luberto, Emily M. O'Bryan, Erica Mysinger, and Sian Cotton
Preliminary findings provide support for the notion that improving distress tolerance through mind-body skills training might serve to protect medical students from becoming functionally impaired by psychological distress. Thus, implementing mind-body skills training into medical school education may help to improve the psychological well-being of medical students.
LONG-TERM BENEFITS BY A MIND-BODY MEDICINE SKILLS COURSE ON PERCEIVED STRESS AND EMPATHY AMONG MEDICAL AND NURSING STUDENTS
Marja van Vliet, Mats Jong, and Miek C. Jong
A significant number of medical students suffer from burnout symptoms and reduced empathy. This controlled, quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate whether a mind-body medicine skills course could reduce perceived stress and increase empathy and self-reflection in medical and nursing students.
PROMOTING RESILIENCY FOR INTERPROFESSIONAL FACULTY AND SENIOR MEDICAL STUDENTS: OUTCOMES OF A WORKSHOP USING MIND-BODY MEDICINE AND INTERACTIVE REFLECTIVE WRITING
Hedy S. Wald, Aviad Haramati, Yaacov G. Bachner, and Jacob Urkin
Positive outcomes were obtained within a synergistic resiliency skills building exercise. Successful implementation of this IESW provides good rationale for studying impact of this intervention over a longer period of time, especially in populations with high rates of stress and burnout.
A PERSPECTIVE ON THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND RELAXATION
Christina M. Luberto, PhD, Daniel L. Hall, PhD, Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH, Aviad Haramati, PhD, and Sian Cotton, PhD
The purpose of the current article is to offer an evidence-informed perspective on similarities and differences between mindfulness and relaxation. Specifically, mindfulness and relaxation practices are compared and contrasted in terms of theoretical foundation, intention, and psychological and physiological effects and mechanisms.
IMPACT OF MIND-BODY MEDICINE PROFESSIONAL SKILLS TRAINING ON HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL BURNOUT
Eva E. Weinlander, MD, Eric J. Gaza, DrPH, MPS, and Marcy Winget, PhD
We conducted pre- and post-evaluation of a mind-body medicine skills training for healthcare professionals on six wellness domains using two validated instruments. In addition to providing an important patient care skill set, mind-body medicine training may be an effective way to mitigate burnout and improve healthcare professional well-being.
THE EFFECT OF MIND BODY MEDICINE COURSE ON MEDICAL STUDENT EMPATHY: A PILOT STUDY
Allen K. Chen, Anagha Kumar, and Aviad Haramati
Empathy among medical practitioners has been shown to affect patient care and outcomes. Factors such as stress and depression are known to have a negative impact on medical student empathy. Approaches such as mindfulness, meditation, and other mind body techniques can enhance empathy and reverse burnout symptoms. In the present study, we evaluated impact of Mind Body Medicine course on perceived stress and empathy on first-year medical students