Mindfulness‐based stress reduction for older adults with worry symptoms and co‐occurring cognitive dysfunction

Abstract

Background Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has the potential to reduce worry and improve cognitive functioning. Objectives In this treatment development project, we examined MBSR in older adults with worry symptoms and co-occurring cognitive dysfunction. We examined (1) acceptability of MBSR, (2) whether MBSR needs to be lengthened providing more repetition, (3) MBSR's benefits for worry reduction and cognitive improvements, and (4) continued use of MBSR techniques during follow-up. Method Two sites (St. Louis and San Diego) enrolled individuals aged 65+ with significant anxiety-related distress plus subjective cognitive dysfunction, into traditional 8-session MBSR groups and 12-session groups that had the same content but more repetition of topics and techniques. We examined measures of mindfulness, worry, and a neuropsychological battery focused on memory and executive function before and after the MBSR program, and we followed up participants for 6 months after the completion of MBSR regarding their continued use of its techniques. Results Participants (N=34) showed improvements in worry severity, increases in mindfulness, and improvements in memory as measured by paragraph learning and recall after a delay, all with a large effect size. Most participants continued to use MBSR techniques for six months post-instruction and found them helpful in stressful situations. There was no evidence that the extended 12-week MBSR produced superior cognitive or clinical outcomes, greater satisfaction, or greater continuation of MBSR techniques than 8-week MBSR. Conclusions These preliminary findings are promising for the further testing and use of MBSR in older adults suffering from clinical worry symptoms and co-occurring cognitive dysfunction. These are common problems in a broad range of older adults, many of whom have anxiety and mood disorders; therefore, stress reduction intervention for them may have great public health value.

Comparison of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): Reducing Anxiety Symptoms

“…Not only previous studies have supported the application of mindfulness-based stress reduction in patients with this disorder (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19) but also therapists have supported CBT in patients improvement (20)(21)(22). Furthermore, some studies have investigated MBSR versus CBT (23)(24)(25)(26).…”

Mindfulness in mood and anxiety disorders: a review of the literature

“…Study limitations include failure to not provide details from medical records on veterans' characteristics that could have influenced the effect of treatment, for instance, any significant diagnoses or basic anthropomorphic data; this study is therefore worth following up. 14,15 The studies selected for the review also reported that mindfulness meditation training reduced anxiety symptoms in patients with GAD and improved coping during a laboratory stress paradigm due through greater resilience to stressful psychological questions. 13 MBCT was another method that used mindfulness and aimed to reduce rates of relapse and recurrence of major depression and treatment-resistant depression causing emotional reactivity in mindfulness meditation training.…”

“…13 Anxiety disorders are centered on excessive worrying about future events and negative thoughts, and the practice of mindfulness helps individuals focus on the present moment, helping to decrease worry, negative thoughts and feelings, and to ameliorate cognitive dysfunction in older adults. [14][15][16]19 The practice of mindfulness develops a state of acceptance, emphasizing emotional regulation strategies and increasing QoL and thereby decreasing invasive thoughts, anxiety, and depression. 12 Awareness may be one benefit achieved by using stress-reduction techniques in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.…”

Aging Mindfully to Minimize Cognitive Decline

“…Indeed, longitudinal studies which explicitly investigated this question found beneficial effects of meditative practices on age-related cognitive performance (Berk et al 2016;Gard et al 2014;Marciniak et al 2014), cognitive flexibility (Alexander et al 1989;Lenze et al 2014;McHugh et al 2010;Oken et al 2010), task switching capacity (Lavretsky et al 2013;Newberg et al 2010), memory (Sun et al 2013), verbal fluency (Lenze et al 2014), attention (Lavretsky et al 2013;Lenze et al 2014;Newberg et al 2010;Oken et al 2010), and alerting (Oken et al 2010). In addition, meditation was reported to diminish the level of age-related cognitive impairment (Lavretsky et al 2013;Sun et al 2013).…”