Life is stressful; cars break down, people break up, families dispute, accidents happen, and all of
this is inevitable. Additionally, to all of that, people have mental disorders which can exaggerate this stress, add to this stress, and or, make it harder to handle. With mid- terms upon us, as well as the looming deadline for this blog period, and upcoming test, I found myself wondering if there was any way to lessen the effects of stress. Specifically, whether the practice of mindfulness and meditation had any effect on the reduction of one’s stress.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction, MBSR for short, focuses on cognitive awareness which connects the mind and body. This practice has been done for thousands of years, and while it can have spiritual connotations, in recent years it has moved past that when being applied to health and wellness. In this context, it is said to increase one’s awareness of one’s mental processes, and enhance one’s coping abilities.
One study, conducted by Diana Koszycki, Melodie Benger, Jakov Schlik, and Jaques Bradwejn, looked and how MBSR faired in comparison to traditional psychological intervention in regards to patients who suffer from social anxiety disorder. Their experiment involved 40 patients, all of which had said disorder. They were then randomized into two groups, one which received treatment in the form of MSRB session, and the other in the form of a more traditional style therapy session. The results here showed that while MSRB may not be as effective as interventions through therapy sessions, MSRB definitely did have a positive effect on the patients.
I also found a meta-analysis on this topic which analyzed the results of 64 studies. They looked at the effects of MSRB in regards to several illnesses, in regards to coping with the symptoms (including stress). As a result of all of these studies, the meta-analysis concluded that there is a basis for saying that meditation and mindfulness can improve one’s physical and mental health, but there is also a need for more research to better back this claim, and understand it in terms of having more specific applications.
Based on these studies, while more research is needed, thus far, the null hypothesis, that mindfulness and meditation does not affect one’s stress reduction, was rejected. It can be concluded that through the practice of mindfulness based stress reduction, one’s stress is actually reduced. So next time you are stressing, like when trying to submit all of these blogs on time, take a minute to meditate, reflect, and refocus, because it really does make you feel better.
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