You are on page 1of 13
 
Putting the
Buddhist
 Back into Mindfulness:  A Research Round-Up
 The past is history and no longer exists. The future never arrives. Life can only be experienced in the present moment. Mindfulness involves focussing awareness on the present moment and paying attention, in real-time terms, to psychological and sensory processes. Mindfulness derives from Buddhist practice where it is deemed to constitute a form of spiritual training. In Buddhism, mindfulness comprises one small part of the path to spiritual awakening.  As Buddhist teachers, we have practiced mindfulness for most of our adult lives. However, about four years ago, we decided to commence a programme of empirical research with the objective of helping to improve scientific understanding of mindfulness and related contemplative techniques. The decision to do this was influenced by our growing concern that the rate at which mindfulness is being assimilated by academia (and Western society more generally) means that some researchers, scholars, and Buddhist teachers have overlooked the need to (i) consolidate and replicate research findings, (ii) clarify whether mindfulness (i.e., as it is used in contemporary mindfulness-based interventions) continues to bear any resemblance to the Buddhist model of mindfulness, (iii) investigate potential harmful effects of mindfulness, (iv) control for
a ‘popularity effect’
 in mindfulness intervention studies, (v) formulate comprehensive training and supervision curricula
 – 
 that are informed by the traditional meditation literature
 – 
 for secular mindfulness instructors, and (vi) investigate the Buddhist position that mindfulness has limited utility when isolated from the supporting meditative and spiritual techniques that  would traditionally accompany it.  Within the last four years, we have published (or submitted for publication)
 – 
 mostly as first authors
 – 
 over 80 academic papers specifically relating to mindfulness and related contemplative techniques (i.e., peer-reviewed papers, professional/practitioner journal papers, academic book chapters, and books [over 230 publications within the last 4 years if one counts peer-reviewed papers on
 
subjects not directly related to mindfulness, conference papers, blog posts, etc.]).
 Today’s post
provides a brief summary of findings from some of our key academic papers relating to mindfulness and outlines their implications for the field of mindfulness research and practice (see further reading list below for details of specific papers referred to in this post).
Second-Generation Mindfulness-Based Interventions
In order to address some of the aforementioned issues relating to mindfulness, an important part of our research has explored the applications of a newly-developed second generation of mindfulness-based intervention (SG-MBIs). SG-MBIs frame mindfulness as a spiritual or psycho-spiritual practice and employ a greater range of meditative techniques compared to first-generation mindfulness-based interventions (FG-MBIs). More specifically, a part of our empirical work has focussed on assessing the efficacy, versatility, and flexibility of an eight-week secular SG-MBI known as Meditation Awareness Training (MAT). MAT has been the subject of empirical investigation since 2010 and to our knowledge, it represents the first intervention meeting all the criteria of a SG-MBI to be formally evaluated in research settings. Findings from our research show that SG-MBIs (and more specifically MAT) may have a role in the treatment of a range of health-related disorders including fibromyalgia syndrome, work addiction, sex addiction, problem gambling, schizophrenia, sleep disturbance, stress, anxiety, and depression. Our published research findings also indicate that MAT can lead to improvements in (for example) job performance, goal attainment, decision-making competency, positive affect, negative affect, dispositional mindfulness, civic engagement, non-attachment (to self and symptoms), and job satisfaction. In addition to helping to prompt an international programme of empirical investigation into SG-MBIs (i.e., as a means of addressing some of the limitations of FG-MBIs), other specific examples of how our research has helped to advance scientific understanding are as follows:
 
Providing theoretical and empirical support for a novel definition of mindfulness that acknowledges its spiritual properties and that is increasingly being utilised in the academic literature (we have defined mindfulness as the
 
“process of engaging a full, direct, and active awareness of experienced phenomena that is (i 
 )
spiritual in aspect and (ii) maintained from one moment to the next”).
 
 
Defining the key components of SG-MBIs as well as the factors that distinguish them from FG-MBIs.
 
Delineating the key attributes of mindfulness from a Buddhist perspective and offering recommendations in terms of integrating them into contemporary secular mindfulness-based interventions.
 
 
Explicating the relationship between mindfulness and emptiness, and demonstrating how the emptiness principle could challenge some central assumptions of Western psychological thought.
 
Conceiving and providing preliminary empirical evidence for a new psychological theory (called Ontological Addiction Theory) that posits
‘addiction to self’ as a third category of addiction (i.e., in addition to chemical
 and behavioural addiction).
 
Eliciting rich quantitative and qualitative data to feedback into, and refine the design of, the secular MAT intervention.
 
Empirically demonstrating the role of self-attachment in the onset and maintenance of mental illness.
 
Conducting the first ever empirical study to use mindfulness as a treatment for  workaholism.
 
Conducting the first ever controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of any treatment for individuals suffering from workaholism.
 
Conducting the first ever empirical study to use mindfulness as a treatment for sex-addiction.
 
Conducting the first ever empirical study to use mindfulness as a treatment for co-occurring schizophrenia and problem gambling.
 
Conducting the first ever qualitative study to evaluate the experiences of individuals suffering from fibromyalgia syndrome following participation in a mindfulness-based intervention.
 
Eliciting rich quantitative and qualitative data to facilitate the design of suitable non-pharmacological interventions for treating behavioural addiction.
 
Delineating how an in-depth understanding of a Buddhist model of suffering can inform the effective practice of mindfulness as well as its use in clinical settings.
Limitations
Findings from our research need to be considered in light of their limitations that are discussed in detail in the various papers referred to in this post (see further reading list below). However, a more general limitation of our research is that although SG-MBIs have been presented as a means of addressing some of the limitations of FG-MBIs, our research findings do not allow direct comparisons to be drawn as to the relative effectiveness of FG- versus SG-MBIs. Accurately drawing such conclusions would require the conducting of head-to-head comparison studies in which the FG- and SG-MBI protocols are delivered under identical research conditions (although it is acknowledged that effect size calculations as part of rigorously conducted meta-analytical studies could provide an approximation of relative effectiveness). Thus, our research could be criticised for relying too heavily on supposition as to the necessity for SG-MBIs.

Reward Your Curiosity

Everything you want to read.
Anytime. Anywhere. Any device.
No Commitment. Cancel anytime.
576648e32a3d8b82ca71961b7a986505