The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being.

Abstract

Mindfulness is an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being. This research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of the role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. The development and psychometric properties of the dispositional Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) are described. Correlational, quasi-experimental, and laboratory studies then show that the MAAS measures a unique quality of consciousness that is related to a variety of well-being constructs, that differentiates mindfulness practitioners from others, and that is associated with enhanced selfawareness. An experience-sampling study shows that both dispositional and state mindfulness predict self-regulated behavior and positive emotional states. Finally, a clinical intervention study with cancer patients demonstrates that increases in mindfulness over time relate to declines in mood disturbance and stress.Many philosophical, spiritual, and psychological traditions emphasize the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being (Wilber, 2000). Despite this, it is easy to overlook the importance of consciousness in human well-being because almost everyone exercises its primary capacities, that is, attention and awareness. Indeed, the relation between qualities of consciousness and well-being has received little empirical attention. One attribute of consciousness that has been much-discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness.

Dispositional mindfulness mediates the relationships of parental attachment to posttraumatic stress disorder and academic burnout in adolescents following the Yancheng tornado

“…The original MAAS (Brown & Ryan, 2003) is a widely-used scale to assess an individual’s dispositional mindfulness. It has 15 items, each rated on a 6-point scale from 1 (always) to 6 (never).…”

“…Mindfulness refers to one’s general tendency to be able to attend to the present moment nonjudgmentally and purposefully (Brown & Ryan, 2003). As one’s state of mindfulness may be unstable and sensitive to change, dispositional mindfulness has been frequently assessed in the literature (Chiesa, Calati, & Serretti, 2011; Garland, Gaylord, & Fredrickson, 2011).…”

“…Chopko & Schwartz, 2009; Follette, Palm, & Pearson, 2006; Thompson, Arnkoff, & Glass, 2011). A vast body of literature from interventions and associational studies has demonstrated the health benefits of mindfulness in both clinical and community samples (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004; Khusid & Vythilingam, 2016). Based on a mindfulness stress-buffering hypothesis, which posits that mindfulness mitigates stress appraisals and reduces stress reactivity responses, and that these stress reduction effects partly or entirely explain how mindfulness affects mental and physical health outcomes, mindfulness could influence posttraumatic stress symptoms (Creswell, 2014, pp.…”

Physiological underarousal as a mechanism of aggressive behavior in university athletes with a history of concussion

“…In particular, this physiological dysregulation may serve as an indicator of a reduced capacity to monitor and therefore predict, one's environment. According to Brown and Ryan (2003), individuals naturally exhibit differences in the propensity to be engaged with, and responsive to, their surroundings; this personal disposition is referred to as mindfulness (Brown, Goodman, & Inzlicht, 2012), and it has been associated with increased sympathetic arousal (Lumma, Kok, & Singer, 2015), as well as greater self‐regulation (Short, Mazmanian, Oinonen, & Mushquash, 2016). Notably, Krzeczkowski, Robb, and Good (2017) found that individuals with a history of concussion who endorsed greater trait mindfulness presented with fewer postconcussive symptoms.…”

Protocol for a randomized controlled study of Iyengar yoga for youth with irritable bowel syndrome

“…Such acceptance or understanding of one's state appears to be important for those with chronic pain [75]. IY is also associated with mindful awareness, a concept that has been integrated in empirically-validated approaches including cognitive-behavioral therapy [76]. Mindfulness is an openness or receptive awareness to what is occurring in the present.…”