In a new study, researchers found that mindfulness meditation training could alter how we process fearful memories.
Participating in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appears to change how the brain processes fear memories and eventually get rid of the fearful associations.
The research was led by a team from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
A common way to treat anxiety disorders is to expose patients to the cause of their anxiety in a safe environment until it no longer elicits fear, a process known as exposure therapy.
This exposure provides an opportunity to learn that these causes are not threatening and thereby help individuals regulate their emotional responses.
To be successful, first a new memory must be created between the root of the anxiety and a feeling of safety, then the ‘safety’ memory must be recalled when the cause is presented again in a new environment, rather than the original fearful memory.
Mindfulness meditation has been proposed to provide an optimal condition for exposure therapy because it involves experiencing the present moment with an open, curious and non-reactive mindset.
Numerous studies have documented that mindfulness meditation programs are useful for reducing anxiety, however, the exact reasons were unknown.
The current study examined enhanced learning of the ‘safety’ signal as one way through which mindfulness can help individuals learn to adapt more positively to the causes of their anxiety.
The researchers used MRI brain scans and a fear-conditioning task to examine changes in the brain associated with attention and memory following mindfulness meditation training.
In the study, 42 participants completed an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program in which they learned formal meditation and yoga practices.
Another 25 participants were randomized to an exercise-based stress management control group, in which they were taught about the impact of stress and performed light aerobic exercise.
The researchers found that changes in the brain after mindfulness training were linked to enhanced ability to recall the safety memory, and thus respond in a more adaptive way.
The results show that mindfulness can help people recognize that some fear reactions are disproportional to the threat, and thus reduces the fear response to those stimuli.
Mindfulness can also enhance the ability to remember this new, less fearful reaction, and break the anxiety habit.
The lead author of the study is Gunes Sevinc Ph.D., an investigator in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH.
The study is published in Biological Psychiatry.
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