A Randomized Controlled Trial of Meditation and Massage Effects on Quality of Life in People with Late-Stage Disease: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The combination of meditation and massage has a significantly favorable influence on overall and spiritual QOL in late-stage disease relative to standard care, or either intervention component alone.

The Use of Palliative Sedation for Existential Distress: A Psychiatric Perspective

“…Patients with subacute existential distress represent a different ethical category because of the possibility of withdrawal of care and voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED). 34 In our view these patients could also be ethically considered for palliative sedation (see next section), but the clinical and personal acceptability of implementing that approach would depend on the patient, his or her decision-making capacity, an evaluation of the advanced directive (if any), the refractory nature of the condition, and the family context. Palliative sedation, a passive intervention with respect to hastening death, generally leaves the active, death-promoting intervention to the elimination of fluids and treatment.…”

Psychological Distress in End-of-Life Care: A Review of Issues in Assessment and Treatment

“…Body work, as it is popularly described, could therefore be used alone or in conjunction with psychotherapeutic interventions to relieve depression, anxiety, and the sense of hopelessness that arises at the endof-life (Groupman). In a pilot study conducted at a Connecticut nursing home, late-stage AIDS patients receiving a combination of metta (loving kindness) meditation and massage interventions over a 4-week period showed higher quality of life (Missoula-Vitas QOLI) scores than patients receiving either intervention alone or no treatment (Williams et al, 2005). The investigators were further surprised that the improvement in the perceived quality of life in the combined meditation-massage group far exceeded the additive effects of the two interventions, ''implying a synergy'' (p. 947).…”

A preliminary study of spiritual self‐schema (3‐S+) therapy for reducing impulsivity in HIV‐positive drug users

“…From a neurophysiological perspective, it could potentially strengthen inhibitory control circuits and executive function, whose dysfunction is implicated in addictive disorders (Volkow & Li, 2004). Mindfulness-based therapies have been used previously in the treatment of depression (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002), prison recidivism (Coulter, 2002, HIV/AIDS (Robinson, Mathews, & Witek-Janusek, 2003;Williams et al, 2005), and alcohol and drug abuse (Alterman, Koppenhaven, Mulholland, Ladden, & Blaime, 2004;Avants, Beitel, & Margolin, 2005;Marlatt, 2002;Marlatt et al, 2004;Witkiewitz, Marlatt, & Walker, 2005).In this article, we focus on a manual-guided, cognitive-behavioral, spiritualityfocused, psychotherapy-spiritual self-schema (3-S) therapy-that is not solely mindfulness training, but rather has mindfulness training as one of its primary components. An eight-session version of 3-S therapy, developed for drug users whose HIV-serostatus is negative or unknown, has shown efficacy in a randomized clinical trial (Margolin, Beitel, Schuman-Olivier, & Avants, 2006): Specifically, the addition of 3-S therapy to standard addiction treatment decreased HIV risk behavior and increased spiritual practices and motivation for abstinence and HIV prevention.…”