Developing Mindfulness: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches

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Developing MindfulnessA Comparison of
Alternative Approaches
Gordon SpenceCoaching Psychology
Unit,University of Sydney
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Living Life in the Now

• Change is tough!
• Successfully negotiating change has a lot to do
  with managing internal processes
• The more comfortably we can sit with discomfort,
  the more likely we are to stick at it
• Coaches are uniquely placed to assist clients to
  both recognise the destabilising effects of these
  processes AND enhance individual abilities to
  deal with them

enter mindfulness
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The Trouble with Consciousness
Most of the evils of life arise from mans being
unable to sit still in a room Blaise
Pascal French Philosopher Mathematician
Buddhists have long know how tricky the mind can
be to operate Taming the monkey mind
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Mindfulness

• Describes a quality of consciousness
• Although most typically associated with Buddhism,
  there is nothing particularly Buddhist about it
• We are all mindful to one degree or another,
  moment by moment (Kabat-Zinn, 2003,
  p.145-146)
• Not surprisingly, perspectives on mindfulness are
  not limited to Eastern religious traditions
• Western psychological science has also had
  something to say

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Alternative ConceptualisationsEastern Religious
Keeping ones consciousness alive to the present
reality (Hahn, 1976, p.11) The awareness that
emerges through paying attention on purpose, in
the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the
unfolding of experience moment by moment
(Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p.145)

• The Buddhist notion of mindfulness invokes a
  process of life long learning that (for many) is
  a way of life
• Not just meditation!
• An important part of a phenomenological
  description of the nature of mind, human emotion
  and the potential release from suffering

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Are we to understand that Life has undertaken to
think for them? They explain the new by the
oldbehind their self-importance you can
distinguish a morose laziness they see a
procession of semblances pass by, they yawn, they
think that theres nothing new under the
sun Nausea, J-P Sartre (p. 102).
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Alternative ConceptualisationsWestern
Psychological (I)

• Socio-Cognitive (Langer, 1989)
• Modes of consciousness mindlessness /
  mindfulness
• Mindless individuals rely too heavily on
  schematic information to guide behaviour (a state
  of reduced cognitive activity)
• Mindful individuals have a lively state of mind
  they consciously manipulate information
  actively construct reality from environmental
  cues
• Emerges from process of drawing novel
  distinctions and through an awareness of context

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Alternative ConceptualisationsWestern
Psychological (II)

• Cognitive-Attentional (Wells Matthews, 1994)
• The S-REF a clinical model
• Specifies how attentional processes influence
  cognition, affect behaviour
• Identifies the role of self-focused attention in
  etiology maintenance of affective disorders
• Treatments designed to reduce bias towards
  self-relevant information
• Not a theoretical account of mindfulness but
  addresses processes central to achievement of
  mindful states

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Shared Understandings East Meets West

• McIntosh (1997) found tacit agreement between Zen
  Buddhist psychology on aspects of mindfulness
• Both identify strong attachments (to objects,
  people and/or ideas) as deleterious to
  psychological functioning
• The self is implicated as a primary cause of
  psychological dysfunction as it drives
  attachments biases attention (creating
  self-focus)
• Regardless of orientation, these perspectives
  offer procedures designed to cultivate greater
  levels of mindfulness

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Conceptual Overlap?

• Each of these perspectives espouses similar views
  on what promotes and maintains healthy human
  functioning and well-being
• The ability to control attention is key
• Of course, people vary in mindfulness exist
  between persons
• However, individual mindfulness can be sharpened
  or dulled by a variety of factors
• Not a static state, each moment present as an
  opportunity to be mindful

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Cultivating Mindfulness
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The Study

• n 72
• Randomised controlled trial with 3 experimental
  groups or a wait-list control condition
• 6-week programs
• Participants attended weekly group meetings
  (60-90 mins) completed daily practice exercises
• DVs measured at pre, post 4-month follow-up

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Group 1 Attention Training

• A series of 3 auditory tasks
• Involves listening directing attention to
  different parts of a soundscape
• Designed to reduce self-focused attention

An auditory-based task in which subjects listened
to a soundscape of increasing complexity In-class
exercises (tape recording) daily homework
(sounds arranged by subjects) aimed at improving
attentional control by changing information
processing routines
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Group 2 Mindfulness Meditation

• A series of meditative exercises (incl. breathing
  walking meditations)
• Involves paying attention on purpose and noticing
  (without judgment) what is happening from moment
  to moment

Classes run by an experienced Buddhist
teacher Participants introduced (in class) to
basic meditative techniques (of increasing
complexity duration) and assigned weekly
homework
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Group 3 Mindfulness Training

• Program centred around creative projects freely
  chosen by participants
• Six weeks of mindful creativity

Weekly group sessions held to monitor progress on
projects and explore strategies for increasing
mindfulness using aspects of Langers theoretical
model (e.g. creating new categories, using
context, process over outcome) Concluded with an
Extraordinary Art Exhibition
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Hypotheses Research Questions
Hypothesis 1 Mindfulness will be negatively
associated with DEP, STR ANX and positively
associated with SWL, AB, PWB OPN Hypothesis
2 MM AT will result in significant
increases in mindfulness, with increases
maintained at 4-month follow-up Research
Question 1 Will MT be an effective means of
enhancing mindfulness, and will it produce a
similar pattern of effects? Research Question
2 Does mindfulness lead to enhanced behavioural
self-regulation (in the absence of goal-focused
coaching)?
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Measures

• Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (15-items)
• I forget a persons name almost as soon as Ive
  been told it for the first time
• I snack without being aware that Im eating
• I find myself preoccupied with the future or the
  past
• Goal Attainment Scaling
• 3 personal goals scaled according to difficulty
  and past attainment
• Subjective Psychological Well-Being
• Satisfaction with Life, Affect Balance, Scales of
  PWB
• Psychopathology
• Depression, stress anxiety
• Homework Completion
• Qualitative interviews

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Results Homework Completion
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Mindfulness

• Highly significant increases (p lt .001) across
  all groups
• Increases maintained at 4-month follow-up
• Control group reported modest increases
  (non-significant)

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Psychopathology
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Goal Striving
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SubjectiveWell-Being
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PsychologicalWell-Being
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Summary

• Mindfulness interventions associated with a
  variety of positive effects
• Decreases in psychopathology matched by several
  increases in SWB PWB variables
• Increases best maintained by meditation group
• Enhancing mindfulness appeared to improve
  self-regulation (even in the absence of coaching)
  
• AT MT exercises required extra investments of
  time energy adherence rates appeared to vary
  with the degree of task difficulty

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Future Directions

• Given the decreases in levels of depression,
  stress and anxiety, mindfulness training (MT)
  would appear to be useful in preparing
  individuals for change
• Perhaps coaching can be usefully delivered as a
  sequential intervention, which includes some
  element of mindfulness training
• How are these techniques best presented to
  non-clinical clients?
• What about the religious connotations associated
  with meditation?

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Developing MindfulnessA Comparison of
Alternative Approaches
Thanks for listeningAny questions?