This comprehensive review examined the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on the physical and emotional wellbeing of older adults, a rapidly growing segment of the general population. Search procedures yielded 15 treatment outcome studies meeting inclusion criteria. Support was found for the feasibility and acceptability of mindfulness-based interventions with older adults. Physical and emotional wellbeing outcome variables offered mixed support for the use of mindfulness-based interventions with older adults. Potential explanations of mixed findings may include methodological flaws, study limitations, and inconsistent modifications of protocols. These are discussed in detail and future avenues of research are discussed, emphasizing the need to incorporate geriatric populations into future mindfulness-based empirical research.
Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder often identify psychosocial stress as a factor that exacerbates their symptoms, and many trace the onset of symptoms to a stressful period of life or a discrete traumatic incident. However, the pathophysiological relationship between stress and obsessive-compulsive disorder remains poorly characterized: it is unclear whether trauma or stress is an independent cause of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, a triggering factor that interacts with a preexisting diathesis, or simply a nonspecific factor that can exacerbate obsessive-compulsive disorder along with other aspects of psychiatric symptomatology. Nonetheless, preclinical research has demonstrated that stress has conspicuous effects on corticostriatal and limbic circuitry. Specifically, stress can lead to neuronal atrophy in frontal cortices (particularly the medial prefrontal cortex), the dorsomedial striatum (caudate), and the hippocampus. Stress can also result in neuronal hypertrophy in the dorsolateral striatum (putamen) and amygdala. These neurobiological effects mirror reported neural abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder and may contribute to an imbalance between goal-directed and habitual behavior, an imbalance that is implicated in the pathogenesis and expression of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptomatology. The modulation of corticostriatal and limbic circuits by stress and the resultant imbalance between habit and goal-directed learning and behavior offers a framework for investigating how stress may exacerbate or trigger obsessive-compulsive disorder symptomatology.
Both maladaptive and adaptive emotion regulation strategies have been
linked with psychopathology. However, previous studies have largely examined
them separately, and little research has examined the interplay of these
strategies cross-sectionally or longitudinally in patients undergoing
psychological treatment. This study examined the use and interplay of adaptive
and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in 81 patients receiving
cognitive-behavioral interventions for comorbid alcohol use and anxiety
disorders. Patients completed measures of emotion regulation strategy use and
symptoms of psychopathology pre- and post-treatment. Cross-sectionally, higher
use of maladaptive strategies (e.g., denial) was significantly related to higher
psychopathology pre- and post-treatment, whereas higher use of adaptive
strategies (e.g., acceptance) only significantly related to lower
psychopathology post-treatment. Prospectively, changes in maladaptive
strategies, but not changes in adaptive strategies, were significantly
associated with post-treatment psychopathology. However, for patients with
higher pre-treatment maladaptive strategy use, gains in adaptive strategies were
significantly associated with lower post-treatment psychopathology. These
findings suggest that psychological treatments may maximize efficacy by
considering patient skill use at treatment outset. By better understanding a
patient's initial emotion regulation skills, clinicians may be better
able to optimize treatment outcomes by emphasizing maladaptive strategy use
reduction predominately, or in conjunction with increasing adaptive skill
use.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.