Lecture 6: Mindfulness and other contemplative therapies

Question 1

What are the central assumptions of mindfulness?

Answer 1

1. Our usual state of mind is uncontrolled and dysfunctional
2. This is unrecognized because we all share the dysfunction and because it is self-masking, thus distorting awareness of the dysfunction
3. The dysfunction causes much of our suffering
4. Contemplative practices are tools for training and developing the mind
5. These claims can be tested for oneself

Question 2

What are contemplative practices?

Answer 2

Involves meditation (self-regulation practices to train attention and perception with goal to have more voluntary control) and yoga (ethics, lifestyle, body postures, breath control and intellectual analysis changes). Integrated with other practices to improve wellbeing. Buddhist mindfulness (clear seeing) is self understanding through insights. Transcendental meditation is repeating a mantra to transition to peaceful state

Question 3

Developmental perspective

Answer 3

Assumes 3 broad levels of development:
- prepersonal which has no coherent sense of self or social conventions
- personal which is a more coherent sense of self and accepting cultural assumptions (more superficial semiconscious existence and acceptance of cultural beliefs and values)
- transpersonal which is growth beyond personal stage and herd mentality

Question 4

Principles for comparing psychotherapies

Answer 4

1. Each system can offer a valuable but only partial contribution to understanding and treatment
2. If any psychotherapy claims supremacy it is S U S
3. Effective therapies share a range of methods and mechanisms
4. Different therapies could be complementary, not always conflictual
5. If a therapist only knows one system they may fall into the procrustean trap
6. Good therapists are flexible and know many methods

Question 5

How can other therapies be compared to mindfulness?

Answer 5

• psychoanalysis has ignored human strengths and possibilities, ignoring the need to maintain health, but both therapies place value on introspective practices
• agrees with humanistic that there is an innate drive to growth and development, self-actualization and formative tendency
  -cognitive therapy agrees that erroneous thoughts can become beliefs and assumptions. But create specific cognitive profiles while contemplatives identify and modify deep layers of thought, so thought-stopping can be extended
• existential therapies focus on ultimate concerns which cause anxiety, modern ways of living seen as superficial. While existentials argue that courage and authenticity is needed to face challenges, contemplative practices involve mental qualities and maturation to transpersonal stages

Question 6

What was the history behind mindfulness?

Answer 6

Precursors was the existence of shamans which seek healing and self-understanding, both physicians and therapists. After this during the Axial age, more focus on training the mind and meditative, philosophical and psychological disciplines and Buddhists created a map of experience based on introspection. After this traditions emerged for specific practices to train mental capacities

Question 7

What is the current status?

Answer 7

More popular, and there are theories to integrate traditional and contemplative techniques. Transpersonal psychology honours insights from all types of psychology while integral psychology use Western psychology to trace development from infancy to adulthood + contemplative resources to trace development from personal to transpersonal. Also emphasises importance of diet and exercise

Question 8

What is often misunderstood about mindfulness?

Answer 8

1. Mindfulness is so popular that some people think it is all contemplative practices
2. Contemplative practices are often ripped from their context nowadays, thus only one aspect is given which may reduce their benefits
3. Unique benefits of contemplative therapies usually remain unresearched because it is easier to measure biological changes
4. The broader motive of compassion and altruism is often overlooked in today’s goal-focused contemplative practice
5. Some therapists do not take extensive personal experience into account before wanting to become contemplative therapists

Question 9

How does contemplative psychology see consciousness?

Answer 9

Waking state of consciousness is suboptimal (pervasive daydreaming and distorting thoughts). Through meditation there are many unrecognized thoughts and distortions of experience-> type of consensus trance and awakening from this is achieving nirvana. A combination of waking state and additional capacities is the higher state. Monophasic culture is the view of reality from a waking state and a polyphasic culture relies on multiple states like dreams, meditations and yogas to form view on reality.

Question 10

What is the contemplative psychology view of identity?

Answer 10

No consistent and permanent ego but a changing stream of thoughts, images and emotions with no consistent self-concept and self-image. Involves removing yourself from false identification to become free through precise and sensitive awareness. These assume a deep nature through pure awareness and consciousness not the contents of the mind-> original mind or transpersonal self. Unitive experiences induced through various methods and peak experiences of mind’s potential

Question 11

What are aspects of our deep identity?

Answer 11

1. Recognition of the self as pure consciousness which is aware of but does not identify with thoughts, images, emotions
2. Recognizing that everyone else possesses such a consciousness
3. Artificial boundaries between people are transgressed and the universal interconnectedness with everyone is recognized

Question 12

Motivation in contemplative psychology

Answer 12

Emphasizes metamotives which are parts of nature that have to be practised. If ignored: shallow, distorted view of themselves, starving of wellbeing, lesser motives are only means to happiness so seek this out more often (hedonic treadmill) If kindness and care are not exercised then people remain immature and inauthentic and could feel a sense of lack when dissatisfied (metapathologies)

Question 13

Higher capacities according to mindfulness

Answer 13

• Profound reduction of painful emotions and increase of positive emotions
• Cognitive achievement of a network logic seeing connections between groups of ideas
• Redirecting motivation thus shrinking compulsions
• Profound concentration to still constant thought flow
• Wisdom through long reflections on existential issues

Question 14

What types of meditation are there?

Answer 14

• Concentration meditations: holding attention on a single stimulus (e.g. image, breath) to develop concentration and calm
• Awareness meditations: exploring the flux of moment-to-moment experience which can produce insight and self understanding

Question 15

Psychological health aspects

Answer 15

→ relinquishing unhealthy mental qualities
→ developing healthy mental qualities
→ maturing transpersonal levels of being

Question 16

What leads to psychopathology according to contemplative practices?

Answer 16

Due to immaturity of personal stage and beneficial qualities remain underdeveloped. The factors influencing psychopathology include:
- delusion (unrecognized mental dullness, mindlessness which produces pathogenic beliefs, behaviors, motives)
- craving ( addiction but can be compulsive and produce distress). Iron chains: money, sex, power, prestige and golden chains: ideals. Need to accept reality to reduce craving
- aversion is the compulsive need to avoid stimuli and create destructive reactions

Question 17

How to deal with craving?

Answer 17

1. either devoting our lives to satisfying and satiating cravings thereby committing to long-term suffering
2. recognizing, reducing, and relinquishing cravings

Question 18

What are the 7 qualities of mind and behaviour?

Answer 18

1. Ethics: ethics are seen as crucial for developing the mind as unethical practices strengthen destructive qualities of the mind through conditioning
   → ethical behavior cultivates healthy behavior, such as kindness and compassion
   → ethics is enlightened self-interest
   → old habits should be reversed until this practice becomes habitual
2. Emotional transformation: reducing painful emotions (fear, hatred, jealousy) and cultivating positive emotions (love, joy, compassion) to encompass everything unconditionally
3. Redirecting motivation: motivation should be focused on what really matters, not on compulsions thus emphasizing metamotives
4. Training attention: attention must be sustained to realize our potentials and to achieve calm
   → Western psychology has denied this possibility
5. Refining awareness: both external and internal awareness should become more sensitive and accurate, as usually it is fogged by emotions, scattered desires, attentional instability
6. Wisdom: deep insight into the self and central existential issues of life, in addition to responding adequately and benevolently to these
   → wisdom requires deep understanding, it cannot be learned like knowledge
   → wisdom can be sought out from wise people but periods of quiet and solitude are also necessary
7. Altruism and service: giving through altruistic service helps enhance positive qualities and inhibit harmful ones as what we intend for others is often experienced by us as well

Question 19

What is the process of psychotherapy?

Answer 19

The benefits are slow and cumulative, and need to be practiced. Involves: visualization (visualizing a black circle on a white background and trying to hold this image for 2 mins) and breath meditation (focus on breathing and counting from 1 to 10)

Question 20

What are the stages of practice?

Answer 20

Starts with 3 stages of recognition or insight and follows with 3 stages of developing exceptional capacities.
1. First stage: recognizing how little control we have over our own mental processes which can be humbling and indicate how little control we have over our own lives, in addition to also reflecting less happiness
2. Second stage: recognizing habitual patterns
3. Third stage: deeper cognitive insights through examination of subtle psychological processes
4. Fourth stage: emergence of a variety of exceptional abilities
5. Fifth stage: emergence of transpersonal experiences
6. Sixth stage: stabilization, skills become permanent (e.g. peace and calm from meditation extending to outside meditation)

Question 21

What are some difficulties which arise?

Answer 21

Emotional lability, psychosomatic symptoms, unfamiliar perceptual changes and existential challenges. Intense short-lived emotions can surface but these should be accepted and habitual assumptions should be questioned. Without external distractions the most important parts of existence with deep human significance are contemplated. Difficulties can emerge when processing repressed memories and conflicts. To overcome this: reframing, reattribution and normalization. Medication only for comorbid disorders

Question 22

Metaphorical explanations

Answer 22

Speak about awakening or freeing from illusions and lead to growth processes that contribute to self-actualizing

Question 23

Mechanisms suggested by contemplative traditions

Answer 23

• Calming the mind: concentration and calming the mind through contemplative techniques which puts us into our essential nature of unbounded consciousness
• Enhanced awareness: can often include internal observation or watching the moment
• Disidentification: awareness observing in detail without identifying with thoughts, feelings, fantasies; the meditator has the option to act on thoughts but is not controlled by them
  -Rebalancing mental element: this involves increasing healthy, decreasing unhealthy elements; in Buddhist psychology: 7 factors of enlightenment are identified: mindfulness, effort, investigation, rapture, concentration, calm, equanimity.

Question 24

Mechanisms suggested by mental health professionals

Answer 24

Some psychological mechanisms include relaxation, desensitization to stimuli, counterconditioning. Automatic habits may become less automatic and more controlled.
Cognitive mechanisms are self-acceptance, self-control, and self-understanding. Contemplative techniques may also restart and catalyze development.

Question 25

Which psychological disorders is mindfulness helpful for?

Answer 25

Stress disorders: anxiety disorders can be improved with meta-analyses showing large effect sizes as compared with CBT, especially if multicomponent mindfulness-based therapies are used instead of mindfulness alone
Drug use: reductions in drug use have been documented, but therapists require practitioners to give up drugs for several days before training
Depression: MBCT can help reduce both the symptoms of depression and relapse, and lifestyle changes can have a large helpful effect as well
ADHD: little evidence for the effectiveness of meditation
Contemplation for youth: preliminary positive results for adolescents exist
Meditation combination therapies: combination therapies usually show strong research support, even with a nonmindfulness meditation component (DBT)

Question 26

Therapeutic applications for somatic issues

Answer 26

The cardiovascular system: reduction of high blood pressure and cholesterol levels as long as the practice is maintained; healthier lifestyle changes can also reverse the course of coronary artery disease
Hormonal and immune effects: partially responsive hormonal disorders are type II diabetes, dysmenorrhea, premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Further adjuvant treatments: meditation can help enhance conventional treatment of disorders such as asthma, prostate cancer, chronic pain disorder
Enhancing well-being: improvement on multiple measures, such as personality, performance, health, maturity, and relationships may be possible through contemplative practices (combined effect size of meditation on a range of variables: 0.28, medium)

Question 27

What specific benefits does meditation produce?

Answer 27

Reduction in anxiety, negative emotions, neuroticism, relationship quality, increases in perceptual sensitivity, speed, accuracy and intelligence, LTM and creativity. Shows emotional transformation

Question 28

Do different meditations produce different effects?

Answer 28

Meditation increases psychological maturity and enhanced performance in sports, business etc. MBSR found to be effective and multimodal with education, yoga and social support

Question 29

Specific techniques and skills

Answer 29

Lucid dreaming which is modifying, contemplating during dreaming and can solve issues quicker than while awake and can maintain awareness. Cultivating love by substituting people or groups of people to condition individual to feel love when encountered. Empathic joy can be cultivated (experiencing happiness when others are happy

Question 30

What are the aspects of treatment?

Answer 30

• careful awareness in every situation about what is true about experience (looking for lies and recording temptations to lie)
• increased concentration to practice wise attention to help foster desired qualities
• focus on experience of addiction and influencing the mind
• fostering concentration and calm to focus on a single thing
• awareness of experiencing all feelings and observing experience and done using mindfulness meditation
• recognizing mortality
• downward comparisons to transform sadness into compassion and should be done after meditation

Question 31

What has evidence found mindfulness?

Answer 31

• can be evaluated by testing them personally and shows positive effects on personality, performance and biochemical changes
• helpful for those interested in internal experiences and recognizing unfavorable personality characteristics
• development can reach transpersonal level like sustaining attention, emotional transformation and equanimity
• ## unique abilities include ANS control, reduction of drive conflicts, increased cortical thickness and detecting facial expressions of emotion

Question 32

Diversity dynamics

Answer 32

Approach to cultural diversity and emphasises diversity in all systems, with tensions between problems and benefits. Attention starts with self and community, with maturation. Limited in the developmental stage to influence attitudes and responses to diversity. Conventional ethnocentric stage is the assumption that beliefs and values are correct and others to be misguided. Postconventional pluralistic stage is questioning assumptions and recognizing that all beliefs and values are personal and cultural constructions

Question 33

What are issues are needed to be considered?

Answer 33

1. cultural relativism: ALL values and beliefs are EQUALLY valid, they cannot be evaluated because that is cultural imperialism
2. developmental denial: either denying the existence of developmental stages or saying that they foster elitism
   Also involves postconventional integral stage (questioning and evaluating beliefs and values from different perspectives)

Question 34

What is the dark side of diversity sensitivity?

Answer 34

• problematizing differences (distinct intrinsic value different from extrinsic values and the difference is not recognized)
  -Sensitivity can turn into hypersensitivity and confirmation bias.
• importance of being open to many possible interpretations