Developing an observing attitude: an analysis of meditation diaries in an MBSR clinical trial

Abstract

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week training that is designed to teach participants mindful awareness of the present moment. In randomized clinical trials (RCTs), MBSR has demonstrated efficacy in various conditions including reducing chronic pain related distress and improving quality of life in healthy individuals. There have, however, been no qualitative studies investigating participants' descriptions of changes experienced over multiple time-points during the course of the program. This qualitative study of a MBSR cohort (N=8 healthy individuals) in a larger RCT examined participants' daily diary descriptions of their homepractice experiences. The study used a two-part method, combining grounded theory with a closeended coding approach. The grounded theory analysis revealed that during the trial, all participants, to varying degrees, described moments of distress related to practice; at the end of the course, all participants who completed the training demonstrated greater detail and clarity in their descriptions, improved affect, and the emergence of an observing self. The closed-ended coding schema carried out to shed light on the development of an observing self, revealed that the emergence of an observing self was not related to the valence of participants' experiential descriptions: even participants whose diaries contained predominantly negative characterizations of their experience throughout the trial were able, by the end of the trial, to demonstrate an observing, witnessing attitude towards their own distress.Conclusion-Progress in MBSR may rely less on the valence of participants' experiences and more on the way participants describe and relate to their own inner experience.

Who experiences depressive symptoms following mindfulness-based stress reduction and why?

“…"Reperceiving" (a fundamental shift in perspective such that one is able to step back from, and be less identified with one's own thoughts and emotions) is purported to be one way that becoming more mindful can reduce distress 29 . This notion was supported in a qualitative study of MBSR participants' diary entries in a small community sample of women 30 as well as an examination of a subset (n = 13) of the cohort in the present study 31 . Equally important may be reductions in self-referential thinking, especially narrative self-reference that perpetuates negative self-judgments and dsyphoria 32 .…”

Assessing Decentering: Validation, Psychometric Properties, and Clinical Usefulness of the Experiences Questionnaire in a Spanish Sample

“…In a recent comprehensive review on the mechanisms of mindfulness, Hölzel and colleagues proposed that a deidentification from some parts of mental contents could be often experienced even in the earliest stages of mindfulness training (Hölzel et al, 2011). Such is commonly referred as decentering and is detached manner, as temporary events in the mind, as neither necessarily true nor reflections of (Kerr, Josyula, & Littenberg, 2011;Safran & Segal, 1990). Enhancement of this ability with mindfulness practice may lead to respond less emotionally to internal and external experiences (Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freedman, 2006).…”

From Retreat Center to Clinic to Boardroom? Perils and Promises of the Modern Mindfulness Movement

“…Appealing to Western science to test changes in capacity may therefore be one way that secular appropriation can actually aid in our understanding and refinement of meditation techniques. Indeed, many Western science's successful efforts to understand mindfulness have investigated capacity-based accounts rather than exploring qualitative reports surrounding meditation-related change [59,60], but see [61] for a more an example of a more qualitative approach. The research questions in such studies have undoubtedly been guided by Buddhist psychological theory, but the results of the studies also extend beyond the most obvious claims of the Buddhist canon, informing our understanding of meditation in ways that would not easily be gleaned from the study of classical texts.…”