Help and Influence of Meditation on Patients with Physical and Psychological Diseases - Essay Example

? Critique of a Health Psychology Journal Article The study was designed to learn the effect of complementary medicine on the patients. In this case, the study focused on meditation based programs, in a German sample, and how these practices helped patients. A sample of 21 participants was taken who suffered from various chronic physical and psychological illnesses. A study was designed such that it comprised of a pre-test and post- treatment design. The study was also accompanied by a 3 month follow-up. Both qualitative and quantitative data was gathered during the investigation. The quantitative data was based on five standardized health measures. The qualitative data measured was the overall satisfaction and the perceived benefits the patients felt after the entire program was complete. This was gauged through a post treatment interview with each participant. The results showed that majority of the participants were satisfied with the results of the meditation. It leads to significant symptom reduction in certain patients. It especially led to better quality of life and reduced psychological depression. This study, which was the first of its kind to be carried out in Germany, opened avenues for several related studies to be carried out, so as to study how effective mindfulness based methods of stress reduction are. Mindfulness is an age old psychological faculty that has been held in reverence in religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. Not only mindfulness leads to spiritual elevation, but it also leads to the alleviation of the symptoms of various physical and mental illnesses. This has been proven time and again by studies conducted by psychologists (Germer, Siegel & Fulton, 2005). In the USA, Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) has been used for the treatment of physiological and psychological illnesses. These methods have yielded promising results as well. Stemming from the Buddhist traditions, mindfulness based meditation teaches the practitioners to focus on acceptance and increases awareness of sensations, emotions and perceptions (van Vugt et. al., 2012). Having said this, the clinical application of mindfulness does not depend on its cultural or religious roots. It is not a practice which has been restricted to people of a certain religion or culture. It is used clinically just like any other form of complementary medicine. Through mindfulness meditations patients are able to understand their own mind without being judgmental. It helps them to be pleased about the good and the bad, the optimistic and pessimistic experiences of their lives (Hick, Bien & Segal, 2010). Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation and this form of meditation has been proven to improve conditions of eating disorders, depression (Zeidan et. al., 2010), and HIV related diseases and has an anti aging effect on the practitioner (Holzel et. al., 2011). In spite of the increased awareness, no study regarding mindfulness had been conducted before, based on a sample comprising of German population. According to Majumdar et al., interventions based on alternative medicine need an intra-cultural evaluation before they can be practiced on patients. The effectiveness of such interventions depends largely on how the patients perceive it to be. Since people from different cultures have different ways of thinking and analyzing situations, the same intervention might not prove to be successful in different cultures. The study was conducted on 21 participants who suffered from a chronic physical or psychological illness. The psychological illness was stress related. The participants took part in an 8 week long program which was divided into different time frames. The study had two main aims. One was to study the changes related to MBSR in a series of standardized health parameters. In addition to this, the study aimed to analyze how the intervention method was accepted by the patients, and how adherence and satisfaction was thus affected. The study was conducted with hopes of duplicating the results of the previous investigations, consequently employing mindfulness meditation as a clinical intervention technique in Germany. The article follows the standard format which is used for published experiments and studies. When publishing an investigation, it is very important to provide all the details to the readers, including assumptions, so that they can derive meaningful information out of it (Goodwin, 2009). The participants were provided with complete information about the study prior to the intervention. Most of the participants were under clinical supervision as they were recommended by their doctors. The study focused on the participants’ inability to cope with stress in their lives thereby becoming victims of disorders. The study was however, conducted on 17 men and 4 women. The psychological and biological reactions of the two genders are different in various conditions (Brannon, 2010). By using a skewed sample, gender wise, it is possible for the results of the study to be skewed as well. The level of satisfaction and adherence might be different in males and females. By studying the reaction of a male dominated sample, the results can’t be generalized for both the genders. The reports taken from the participants were self-reports. More often than not, self reports are not always accurate. For a study, such as the one carried out by Majumdar et al., it is important to have authentic reports from the doctors. People who deal with stress and other forms of psychological and physical disorders have a tendency to exaggerate their symptoms and thus mislead the investigators (Stone, 2000). Even though no participant had previous experience with mindfulness meditation, 76% of the participants had experience of some sort of meditation and yoga. It is not specified whether this meditation was done as a result of a clinical diagnosis, under supervision, or done on a personal basis. This can make a lot of difference in the result. As stated before, the results of complementary medicine depend largely on how the patient perceives the procedure to be. If the patient believes that the technique will help, it opens up their minds to new forms of medicine and thus the intervention is successful. However, if the patient believes that the intervention is of no use, there is a large possibility that it will not work (Brannon & Feist, 2009). The fact that almost 76% of the participants had prior experience with meditation might have skewed the results of the study. In addition to the pre-study session, the study required participants to fill questionnaires and send them back within a week. This gave the participants a lot of time to rethink their answers. For such studies to be successful, it is important for the investigators to record the actual answers of the participants, not something that they have stated after hours of pondering over it. The study required weekly sessions, which were conducted in the presence of the investigators and course leaders. In addition to this 30 minutes of daily homework sessions were also assigned to the participants. There was no way of making sure that the participants actually meditated for 30 minutes daily. There was no way of making sure that the participants were being truthful about the homework (Stone, 2000). The standardized parameters that were used in the study were: Hopkins Symptom Checklist 90, which measured any significant changes in the population; Bf-S, which measured emotional well being (Domino & Domino, 2006); Freiburg Complaint list, which measured physical complaints; Likert scale; Sense of Coherence and FLZM (Goodwin, 2009). To use all these measures, five different questionnaires were required. Even though these health measures give a new dimension to the study by providing the investigators with an in depth analysis, it gets redundant and frustrating for the participants. When people become a part of a study, especially one involving stress related disorders, they want the procedures to be relatively simple and easy. This way they can get great results without causing more stress to their minds and body. Having said this, such an in depth analysis was required by the investigators before they could conclude whether the mindfulness meditation techniques will be effective on the German population or not. Thus, such detailed questionnaires were important. The quantitative results of the study were in accordance with the results which were found in the USA. It was found that emotional and physical well being did improve over the course of 8 weeks. Psychological health and the quality of life also showed similar results. The qualitative results focused on the participants’ experiences during the course and how they perceived the entire intervention. Many participants agreed that the intervention did help them cope with the stress in their lives and helped give them a positive outlook towards life. Out of the sample of 21, only subjects reported that the meditation did not suit them and it did not have any effect on the symptoms. Apart from these, all the other participants agreed that they did experience significant changes as a result of the intervention, and it has given them the ability to better deal with their lives. Even though the duration differed, the participants did report that they practiced the meditation techniques daily. The participants undergoing other therapies found that the mindfulness meditation techniques were compatible with the therapies and complemented them. The results of the quantitative follow up results showed that the intervention helped the participants by either alleviating the symptoms or giving them the capability of coping with the disorder. Since the participants unanimously agreed that the meditation helped them, the adherence factor was high. Even the participants who suffered from chronic diseases were satisfied with the results. The study did conclude as the investigators had hoped. The results of the previous studies were indeed duplicated. But as stated, there were numerous loopholes in the way the study was conducted. For medical investigations, it is very important that all avenues are covered so that the results yielded are accurate and can be put into practice. There were numerous instances, as stated in the article, due to which the results of the study could have been skewed. References: Brannon, L. (2010). Gender: Psychology Perspectives. Allyn & Bacon/Pearson, 2010. Brannon, L. & Feist, J. (2009). Health Psychology: An Introduction to Behavior and Health. Cengage Learning, 2009. Domino, G. & Domino, M.L. (2006). Psychological Testing: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Germer, C.K., Siegel, R.D. & Fulton P.R. (2005). Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. Guilford Press, 2005. Goodwin, C.J. (2009). Research in Psychology: Methods and design. John Wiley & Sons, 2009 Hick S.F., Bien, T & Segal, Z.V. (2010). Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship. Guilford Press, 2010. Holzel, B.K. et al (2011). How does mindfulness meditation work? Perspectives on Psychological Science. Retrieved from http://contemplativeneurosciences.com/aboutme/Holzel_vago_2011.pdf Majumdar, M. et al. (2002). Does Mindfulness Meditation Contribute to Health? Outcome Evaluation of a German Sample. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol 8 No. 2, pp 719-730. Stone, A.A. (2000). The Science of self Reports. Routledge, 2000 Van Vugt, M.K. et al. (2012). The effects of mindfulness based cognitive therapy on affective memory recall dynamics in depression: a mechanistic model of rumination. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Vol. 6. Retrieved from http://brittonlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/van-vugt-2012-mbct-recall-dymanics-model-of-rumination.pdf Zeidan, F. et al. (2010). Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training. Elsevier Inc. Retrieved from http://jtoomim.org/brain-training/Zeidan2010_Mindfulness_Meditation.pdf Read More