Discovering and promoting ways that help regulate emotions has been a recurrent concern in the field of psychology, given that how one feels and reacts to and expresses emotions can have both short- and long-term effects on physical and mental health. Many psychological strategies that can influence this process, such as reappraisal, attention allocation, and suppression, have been previously investigated. The aim of the present work was to review the emotion regulation potential of yoga practice, given that it combines techniques that foster positive psychological outcomes. The results suggest that yoga produces improvements in emotional functioning in healthy subjects and people who suffer from some physical illnesses, particularly in psychological self-reported variables. Evidence regarding behavioral and neurophysiological correlates remains less well-established. Mechanisms that possibly mediate the relationship between yoga and emotion regulation are discussed and methodologies are considered, with suggestions for future studies. In summary, emerging evidence suggests that yoga may help foster healthier psychological responses, indicating its potential as an emotion regulation strategy.

BackgroundPrenatal cigarette smoke exposure may have adverse psychological effects on offspring. The objective was to assess the association between parental smoking during pregnancy and offspring happiness at age 18, as well as depression.MethodologyParticipants were part of a birth cohort study in Pelotas, Brazil (5,249 participants). Happiness was measured by the Subjective Happiness Scale, a Likert-like scale with four questions generating a score from 1 to 7, with ≥ 6 indicating "happiness". Depression was measured using the Mini International Psychiatric Interview.​ResultsAbout one third of mothers reported having smoked during pregnancy and 4.6% reported smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day. The prevalence of happiness was 32.2% (95% CI 30.8; 33.7), depression 6.8% (95% CI 6.1; 7.6), and simultaneous happiness and depression less than 1%. The prevalence of offspring happiness decreased as smoking in pregnancy increased, even after control for confounding variables, showing an OR = 0.79 [95% CI 0.55; 1.13]. The opposite happened to depression; the prevalence of offspring depression increased as smoking in pregnancy increased (<20 cigarettes/day OR = 1.38 [95% CI 1.03; 1.84] and ≥20 cigarettes/day OR = 2.11[95% CI 1.31; 3.40]. Smoking by the partner was associated with decreased offspring happiness after adjustment for confounders, but did no show association with offspring depression.ConclusionsOffspring were less likely to be happy and more likely to be depressed if their mother smoked during pregnancy, and less likely to be happy if their father smoked during mother’s pregnancy. Although we can not affirm that this is a “causal pathway”, public policies to reduce smoking in pregnancy could improve the health of the offspring in the short and long term.

Self-regulatory trainings can be an effective complementary treatment for mental health disorders. We investigated the effects of a six-week-focused meditation training on emotion and attention regulation in undergraduates randomly allocated to a meditation, a relaxation, or a wait-list control group. Assessment comprised a discrimination task that investigates the relationship between attentional load and emotional processing and self-report measures. For emotion regulation, results showed greater reduction in emotional interference in the low attentional load condition in meditators, particularly compared to relaxation. Only meditators presented a significant association between amount of weekly practice and the reduction in emotion interference in the task and significantly reduced image ratings of negative valence and arousal, perceived anxiety and difficulty during the task, and state and trait-anxiety. For attention regulation, response bias during the task was analyzed through signal detection theory. After training, meditation and relaxation significantly reduced bias in the high attentional load condition. Importantly, there was a dose-response effect on general bias: the lowest in meditation, increasing linearly across relaxation and wait-list. Only meditators reduced omissions in a concentrated attention test. Focused meditation seems to be an effective training for emotion and attention regulation and an alternative for treatments in the mental health context.

A meditação, descrita como uma prática de auto-regulação do corpo e da mente, caracteriza-se por um conjunto de técnicas que treinam a focalização da atenção. Também conhecida como treinamento mental, essa prática constitui uma técnica capaz de produzir efeitos psicossomáticos. Este artigo apresenta a revisão de algumas evidências acerca dos benefícios da meditação e do seu papel na aplicação clínica. Inúmeros estudos vêm mostrando a sua eficácia, que está especialmente relacionada à diminuição dos sintomas ligados ao estresse e à ansiedade. Além disso, as pesquisas revelam que essa prática pode produzir efeitos de curta e longa duração que podem afetar positivamente as funções cognitivas e afetivas. Discutemse aspectos relacionados às definições e às particularidades de cada técnica e aos contextos aos quais pode estar atrelada. Apesar do crescente acúmulo de evidências sobre a relação entre meditação e saúde física e mental, ainda são necessárias mais investigações.

A meditação sentada e silenciosa pode ser descrita como um treinamento mental, o qual tem sido tradicionalmente associado ao bem-estar. O crescente interesse científico pela prática tem ajudado a demonstrar esta relação através de diferentes metodologias. Este trabalho objetiva discutir a interface entre alguns pressupostos da meditação e da ciência psicológica no que tange ao bem-estar, assim como resultados empíricos que parecem apoiar o efeito da prática sobre experiências emocionais positivas. O artigo também propõe que esta relação ocorre mediada por três processos psicológicos principais e interdependentes: relaxamento, metacognição/mindfulness e autorregulação. Discute-se que a investigação destes, assim como dos efeitos da meditação em geral, pode auxiliar na sua aplicação no campo da psicologia, assim como no desenvolvimento da ciência psicológica.Palavras-chave: meditação; bem-estar; relaxamento; mindfulness; autorregulação.

This study verified the effects of a Mindfulness and Social-Emotional Learning Program (M-SEL) in mental health problems and quality of life (QoL) in fifth graders of elementary public schools in Southern Brazil. A total of 132 students with a mean age of 11.1 (SD ϭ 1.19) years old were selected. Students (n ϭ 64) who received up to 12 M-SEL sessions during 5 months were compared with a wait-list control group (n ϭ 68). Intervention combined mindfulness practices, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning competencies, and the council method. Outcomes were measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Fleitlich, Cortazar, & Goodman, 2000), the Youth Quality of Life Instrument (Salum et al., 2012), and the Swanson, Nolan and Pelham-IV (Mattos, Serra-Pinheiro, Rohde, & Pinto, 2006) questionnaire. Relative to controls, M-SEL participants significantly improved in most mental health domains (emotional, conduct, relationship, and prosocial behavior) and in QoL scores. No changes occurred for attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms. These preliminary results suggest the potential psychological contribution of the M-SEL program, as well as its feasibility as a psychosocial intervention for Brazil's educational system.

Background: Despite several attempts to review and explain how meditation alters the brain and facilitates emotion regulation, the extent to which meditation and emotion regulation strategies share the same neural mechanisms remains unclear.Objective: We aim to understand the influence of meditation on the neural processing of negative emotional stimuli in participants who underwent meditation interventions (naive meditators) and long-term meditators.Methodology: A systematic review was conducted using standardized search operators that included the presence of terms related to emotion, meditation and neuro-imaging techniques in PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases.Results: Searches identified 882 papers, of which 11 were eligible for inclusion. Results showed a predominance of greater prefrontal/frontal activity related to meditation, which might indicate the increased recruitment of cognitive/attentional control resources in naïve and long-term meditators. This increased frontal activity was also observed when participants were asked to simply react to negative stimuli. Findings from emotion-related areas were scarce but suggested increased insular activity in meditators, potentially indicating that meditation might be associated with greater bodily awareness.Conclusions: Meditation practice prompts regulatory mechanisms when participants face aversive stimuli, even without an explicit request. Moreover, some studies reported increased insular activity in meditators, consistent with the hypothesis that meditation helps foster an interoceptive awareness of bodily and emotional states.

Meditation has been associated with positive psychological outcomes, but few studies have investigated brief interventions. This randomized controlled pilot study assessed the effects of five days of focused meditation on positive and negative affect, state and trait anxiety, as well as concentrated attention in a nonclinical sample distributed in two groups (experimental = 14, 51.8% female, M age = 23.9; control = 19, 62% female, M age = 24.9). The instruments used were the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale, State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Concentrated Attention Test. The meditation group reduced negative affect and trait anxiety, and also improved correct responses on the attention test, relative to controls. These preliminary findings indicate that even short focused meditation training may help improve some psychological variables. It is discussed that the early manifestation of these benefits may be especially relevant to strengthen the motivation to continue and practice regularly. Keywords Efectos de un Breve Entrenamiento de la Meditación en el Afecto Negativo, la Ansiedad Rasgo y la Atención ConcentradaResumen: La meditación se ha relacionado con resultados psicológicos positivos, todavía intervenciones breves son poco investigadas. Este ensayo piloto controlado yaleatorio evaluó el efecto de cinco días de la meditación focalizada en el afecto positivo y negativo, en el ansiedad estado y rasgo, así como en la atención concentrada en una muestra no clínica distribuida en dos grupos (experimental = 14, 51,8% mujeres, M edad = 23,9, control = 19,62% mujeres, M edad = 24,9). Se utilizó la Escala de Afecto Positivo y Afecto Negativo, el Inventario de Ansiedad Rasgo y Estado, y la prueba de Atención Concentrada. La meditación ha reducido el afecto negativo y el ansiedad rasgo, así como ha aumenta do las respuestas correctas de la prueba de atención concentrada, en comparación con los controles. Estos hallazgos preliminares indican que incluso un breve entrenamiento con la meditación focalizada puede ayudar a mejorar algunas variables psicológicas. Se argumenta que la manifestación temprana de estos beneficios puede ser espe-cialmente relevante como una manera de fortalecer la motivación para práctica regular.