Who else can Mindfulness Benefit?

     Chronic pain is a prominent issue in primary care in many adults, especially those of the older population. Chronic pain can impact someone's physical and emotional well-being that can lead to disability, anxiety, and depression. Pain is something that is poorly controlled in Western medicine and patients have turned to alternative modalities to control their suffering outside of usual opioid prescriptions. Many studies have taken place suggesting that treatments targeting higher cognitive centers, which are involved in the chronic pain experience, may not be actually helping pain sensations or pain vigilance and attention. After seeing this connection, the studies gave insight into the ways Mindfulness and Meditation may have an influence on chronic pain experiences. 

     A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) study combines a sample of 51 individuals with chronic pain in their back, shoulder, neck, and headache. The results showed that 65% had a pain reduction of over 33% and 50% had a pain reduction of over 50%. 76% of individuals reported seeing a reduction in mood disturbance of over 33% and 62% reported a reduction on over 50%. There was also a follow-up study done that compared those with chronic pain going through a 10 week mindfulness program and a group receiving traditional treatment protocols. The control group saw no improvements in pain levels, while there was significant improvements in the mindfulness group, this stayed the same at a 15 month follow-up. The same researchers later reported that the medical and psychological improvements for the mindfulness group continued up to four years after completing the course in 225 participants. 

     Many others studies have been done that incorporate mindfulness practices into chronic pain management and all of them have seen vast improvements in reducing pain and psychological distress.  These practices also significantly improved patients quality of life in terms of physical, general health, vitality, social functioning, and mental health scores. Many patients reported a "reframing" of their pain with mindfulness, a major part of mindfulness training is to arrive at acceptance of the pain and disability in the present and letting go of the struggle to return to pre morbid status. The improvements that have been seen in these studies have paved a great future for those suffering with chronic pain and can greatly improve the lives of many people. 

     Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and accounts for over 7 million deaths every year. Receiving a diagnosis for this disease and undergoing treatment is a very common source of dread and fear for many people. Cancer is associated with high levels of emotional distress and also causes many physical symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, pain, hair loss, and temporary and permanent changes in someone's physical appearance. The emotional reactions of cancer are fear, confusion, anxiety, and anger, it not only effects the person with the disease, it increases these same emotions and stress for family members and friends. Even after completing primary treatments of cancer, patients continue to have high levels of anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep problems, and the threat of disease recurrence can create immense psychological stress. 

     Mindfulness meditation has become an increasingly popular tool to reduce stress and improve symptoms for many clinical illnesses including cancer. There has been a rise in the development of treatment programs that are group interventions consisting of mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga that correlates with reducing stress, pain, and illness. This program is different from more common forms of meditation because it is not aimed at achieving a state of relaxation, it has a cultivation of insight and understanding of self. The individual is taught to pay attention to the breath, body sensations, and objects that enter their field of awareness. Normally mindfulness is practiced while sitting, standing, or lying down, but this program uses an "informal" approach for patients to practice while engaged in everyday activities. These programs are being implemented and evaluated across the globe in health care settings to help address the need for effective psychosocial care. 

     Many studies have indicated a strong effectiveness of mindfulness interventions that improve the physical symptoms of patients and their ability to cope with everyday distress and disability. Participants within these studies reported significant improvements in mood disturbance, tension, depression, anger, and were more vigor following the practices. They also had reduced symptoms of stress, including including peripheral manifestations of stress, cardiopulmonary symptoms of arousal, central neurological symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, habitual stress behavioral patterns, anxiety/fear, and emotional instability. Sleep disturbance, which is another common issue for patients, also showed promising results after patients completed the study and reported they were sleeping for longer periods of time with improved quality. In addition to improving all of these symptoms, MBSR had improved the quality of life and some biological aspects of patients immune systems that led to a more consistent and healthy functioning in their body.