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Exploring The Effects Of Brief Mindfulness And Reappraisal Training On Executive Control And Affect, Lee Schaefer

Psychology Theses

Despite the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for a wide range of psychological problems, their mechanisms remain unknown. Analogue studies of key treatment components can help distinguish these approaches. One such component, focused-breathing meditation, has rarely been studied in direct comparison to another active and theoretically distinct technique, cognitive reappraisal. The present study examined the effects of mindful breathing and cognitive reappraisal instructions on negative affect and executive control, two potential mechanisms of mindfulness, in a laboratory setting. Non-clinical college undergraduates (N = 136) were randomly assigned to a 10-minute mindfulness, reappraisal, or mind-wandering control condition. Contrary to hypotheses, no …

An Examination Of Associations Among Components Of Mindfulness And Women's Attention Bias To Sad Faces, Cheryl Garn

Psychology Dissertations

Mindfulness, a set of techniques for engaging with stimuli in the present-moment environment, has recently received considerable attention in the literature. Mindfulness is drawn from Eastern, Buddhist traditions and has been integrated into contemporary psychology, in part, as a technique for improving the ability to respond skillfully to emotionally distressing stimuli and processes (Bishop, et al., 2004). However, the boundaries of the mindfulness construct have yet to be solidly established; a variety of definitions exist and are used inconsistently in the literature. Clarifying how engaging attentional control processes in response to emotionally-charged stimuli, such as sad faces, relates to precisely-articulated …

Returning To Presence: The Effects Of Mindfulness On Emotion Regulation Following Worry Among Individuals With Analogue Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Jessica Rose Morgan Goodnight

Psychology Dissertations

Ways to reduce the impact of worry in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have received little experimental research attention. Previous research has found that those with GAD are vulnerable to negative emotionality immediately following periods of worry; emotion regulation strategies could be useful to mitigate reactivity following worry. One promising strategy is mindfulness, defined as sustained attention toward the present moment with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance. Experimental research has found that mindfulness reduces negative affect and improves emotion regulation. This strategy is likely more effective than thought suppression, a common strategy used in GAD.

This online study recruited 300 …

Evaluation Of An Integrated Mindfulness Parenting Program For Parents In A Low Ses Neighborhood, Josephine Ojo

Public Health Capstone Projects

INTRODUCTION: Mindfulness is most commonly associated with meditation techniques which aim to increase an individual’s awareness in the present moment, reduce mindless responding, and enhance non-judgmental observation. Building on this definition, researchers defined mindful parenting as “the intentional bringing of moment-to-moment awareness to the parent-child relationship.”

AIM: The purpose of this study is investigate whether parents of young children living in low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods are able to effectively use mindfulness practices to lower levels of depression, anxiety, and parental stress.

METHODS: This study utilized a pretest-posttest group design with follow up to evaluate the effectiveness of the integrated …

Healing Ptsd With Mindfulness: Exploring Mindfulness' Mechanism Of Change, Sara Klco

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

Trauma has the capacity to produce a wide range of symptoms that have a damaging impact on psychological, biological, and social functioning (van der Kolk & McFarlane, 1996; Briere & Scott, 2013). Though several empirically-supported treatments for trauma exist and are used widely, the literature has identified concerns with some of the leading treatments, such as increased suicidality, panic attacks, alcoholic relapse (Pitman, et al., 1991), high nonresponse rates, and high dropout rates (Jeffreys, et al., 2013). Others have observed that cognitive-behavioral interventions, while often effective in decreasing specific PTSD symptoms, often do not address other common reactions to trauma …