Neuroimaging of meditation's effect on brain reactivity to pain

Orme-Johnson, David W.; Schneider, Robert; Son, Young-Don; Nidich, Sanford; Cho, Zang-Hee

doi:10.1097/01.wnr.0000233094.67289.a8

Cited by 68 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Brefczynski-Lewis et al 2007;Newberg et al 2001. Modulations of thalamic activity during meditation were correspondingly observed by Orme-Johnson et al (2006). As previously remarked, activity in the basal ganglia has also been observed in various studies.…”

Section: Results From Ica and Ica-spm Combinedmentioning

confidence: 60%

An investigation of brain processes supporting meditation

et al. 2009

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Meditation is an ancient spiritual practice, which aims to still the fluctuations of the mind. We investigated meditation with fMRI in order to identify and characterise both the "neural switch" mechanism used in the voluntary shift from normal consciousness to meditation and the "threshold regulation mechanism" sustaining the meditative state. Thirty-one individuals with 1.5-25 years experience in meditation were scanned using a blocked on-off design with 45 s alternating epochs during the onset of respectively meditation and normal relaxation. Additionally, 21 subjects were scanned during 14.5 min of sustained meditation. The data were analysed with SPM and ICA. During the onset of meditation, activations were found bilaterally in the putamen and the supplementary motor cortex, while deactivations were found predominately in the right hemisphere, the precuneus, the posterior cingulum and the parieto-temporal area. During sustained meditation, SPM analysis revealed activation in the head of nucleus caudatus. Extensive deactivations were observed in white matter in the right hemisphere, i.e. mainly in the posterior occipito-parieto-temporal area and in the frontal lobes. ICA identified 38 components including known baseline-resting state components, one of which not only overlaps with the activated area revealed in the SPM analysis but extends further into frontal, temporal, parietal and limbic areas, and might presumably constitute a combination of frontoparietal and cinguloopercular task control systems. The identified component processes display varying degrees of correlation. We hypothesise that a proper characterisation of brain processes during meditation will require an operational definition of brain dynamics matching a stable state of mind.

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Section: Results From Ica and Ica-spm Combinedmentioning

confidence: 60%

An investigation of brain processes supporting meditation

et al. 2009

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“…In a report on how meditation affects the brain responses to pain, the activities of thalamus, prefrontal cortex and total brain in the long-term TM practitioners were reduced to 50% of those in the control subjects without meditation practice and a 25% reduction of pain rating was shown a thermal pain study [30] . In the study of a Yogi Master [31] , MEG alpha-activity was much increased over occipital, parietal and temporal regions, and evoked MEF activity at SI and SII were weak during meditation, while fMRI showed marked changes in thalamus, SII-insula (mainly the insula) and cingulate cortex.…”

Section: Meditationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher cortical modulation of pain perception in the human brain: Psychological determinant

Chen

2009

Neurosci. Bull.

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Pain perception and its genesis in the human brain have been reviewed recently. In the current article, the reports on pain modulation in the human brain were reviewed from higher cortical regulation, i.e. top-down effect, particularly studied in psychological determinants. Pain modulation can be examined by gene therapy, physical modulation, pharmacological modulation, psychological modulation, and pathophysiological modulation. In psychological modulation, this article examined (a) willed determination, (b) distraction, (c) placebo, (d) hypnosis, (e) meditation, (f) qi-gong, (g) belief, and (h) emotions, respectively, in the brain function for pain modulation. In each, the operational definition, cortical processing, neuroimaging, and pain modulation were systematically deliberated. However, not all studies had featured the brain modulation processing but rather demonstrated potential effects on human pain. In our own studies on the emotional modulation on human pain, we observed that emotions could be induced from music melodies or pictures perception for reduction of tonic human pain, mainly in potentiation of the posterior alpha EEG fields, likely resulted from underneath activities of precuneous in regulation of consciousness, including pain perception. To sum, higher brain functions become the leading edge research in all sciences.How to solve the information bit of thinking and feeling in the brain can be the greatest challenge of human intelligence.Application of higher cortical modulation of human pain and suffering can lead to the progress of social humanity and civilization.

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“…They are also supported by research on the effects of TM that are relevant to FM. One study showed decreased pain perception amongst practitioners of the TM technique [8]. Other studies of large groups of TM practitioners suggest decreased usage of medical services [9,10].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Treatment of fibromyalgia at the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway II—a 24-month follow-up pilot study

Rasmussen¹,

Mikkelsen²,

Haugen

et al. 2012

Clin Rheumatol

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Treatments offered at the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway are based on Maharishi Vedic Medicine (MVM). MVM is a consciousness-based revival by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program of the ancient Ayurvedic medicine tradition in India. To extend from 6 to 24 months, a pilot study of the effects of the treatment program at the Health Centre on fibromyalgia. Retesting 2 years after a clinical trial. In this intention to treat study, 31 women with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia received an individually tailored program of (1) physiological purification therapy (Maharishi Panchakarma) and (2) Ayurvedic recommendations regarding daily routine and diet including a novel approach to food intolerance. Five subjects chose to learn TM for stress reduction, pain management and personal development. All were recommended Ayurvedic herbal products for follow-up treatment. A modified Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) that included seven dimensions. Scores at 24 months follow-up were compared with pre-treatment scores. At 24-months follow-up, there were significant reductions (26% to 44%) in six of the seven fibromyalgia dimensions: impairment of working ability, pain, tiredness, morning tiredness, stiffness and anxiety. The 7th, depression, decreased 32% (borderline significant). At 24 months, the four subjects who continued practising TM, had almost no symptoms and significantly lower FIQ change scores (-92% to 97%) than the non-meditators on all outcomes. This pilot study suggests that the treatments and health promotion programs offered at the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway lead to long-term reductions in symptoms of fibromyalgia, which is considered a treatment-resistant condition, and further studies are warranted.

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Neuroimaging of meditation's effect on brain reactivity to pain

Cited by 68 publications

References 22 publications

An investigation of brain processes supporting meditation

An investigation of brain processes supporting meditation

Higher cortical modulation of pain perception in the human brain: Psychological determinant

Treatment of fibromyalgia at the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway II—a 24-month follow-up pilot study

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