CURRENT LAB PROJECTS

  • Principal Investigator: Caroline Mousa

    This program is designed for college students to reduce stress and increase focus. The program includes training in providing a mindfulness and spirituality intervention. The student will be expected to present the intervention to a classroom with true intent to spread mindfulness.

  • Principal Investigator: Cat Urso

 

Attached below are the latest scientific articles on the ever developing field of mindfulness and spirituality.

 

Mindfulness meditation may decrease impact of migraine

A recent clinical trial from Wake Forest Baptist Health found reduced days with migraines in both mindfulness and headache education groups, with the mindfulness group also showing increases in emotional well-being and quality of life.

Wells, R. E., Seng, E. K., Edwards, R. R., Victorson, D. E., Pierce, C. R., Rosenberg, L., ... & Schuman-Olivier, Z. (2020). Mindfulness in migraine: A narrative review. Expert review of neurotherapeutics, 20(3), 207-225.

Meditation increases effective compassion

Well-designed studies have found that loving-kindness meditations and compassion training enhance altruism. A particular study using game theory where groups observed a ‘dictator’ (with $10) misallocate funding to a ‘victim’ with no money found that individuals provided more to those suffering in the experimental group (compassion training), as opposed to individuals undergoing reappraisal training to decrease negative affect (active control group) - $1.14 vs. $0.62

Dacey, J., Baillargeron, L. N., Tripp, N., Astin, J., Shapiro, D., Baird, I., ... & Bergland, C. (2019). Compassion training alters altruism and the neural responses to suffering. Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul 1; 24(7): 1171–1180.

Mindfulness can help with relationship communication

Researchers from University of Wyoming/Oregon in observing how 88 couples would handle a conflict in their relationship found those partners with higher levels of dispositional mindfulness were able to return to baseline cortisol levels (stress response) much faster suggesting better emotional regulation, higher empathizing with partner and ‘not taking things too personally.

Laurent, H. K., Hertz, R., Nelson, B., & Laurent, S. M. (2016). Mindfulness during romantic conflict moderates the impact of negative partner behaviors on cortisol responses. Hormones and Behavior, 79, 45-51.