Potential Therapeutic Effects of Meditation for Treating Affective Dysregulation. (12th August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leung, Natalie T. Y.; Lo, Mandy M.; Lee, Tatia M. C.
• Other Names: Pan Si-Yuan Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine. Volume 2014(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-08-12
• Subjects: Alternative medicine -- Periodicals; 615.505
• DOI: 10.1155/2014/402718
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1741-427X

Abstract

Abstract : Affective dysregulation is at the root of many psychopathologies, including stress induced disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression. The root of these disorders appears to be an attenuated, top-down cognitive control from the prefrontal cortices over the maladaptive subcortical emotional processing. A form of mental training, long-term meditation practice can trigger meditation-specific neuroplastic changes in the brain regions underlying cognitive control and affective regulation, suggesting that meditation can act as a kind of mental exercise to foster affective regulation and possibly a cost-effective intervention in mood disorders. Increasing research has suggested that the cultivation of awareness and acceptance along with a nonjudgmental attitude via meditation promotes adaptive affective regulation. This review examined the concepts of affective regulation and meditation and discussed behavioral and neural evidence of the potential clinical application of meditation. Lately, there has been a growing trend toward incorporating the "mindfulness" component into existing psychotherapeutic treatment. Promising results have been observed thus far. Future studies may consider exploring the possibility of integrating the element of "compassion" into current psychotherapeutic approaches.