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Meditation Studies in the Mind-Body Program
Over the millennia religious practices have played a central role in infusing human life with a sense of meaning and purpose. More recently, many lines of research have suggested that these practices also improve emotional and physical health. In this regard, much attention has been paid to contemplative practices in general, and to meditation in particular. Studies have shown that meditation holds promise for the treatment of conditions ranging from psoriasis and chronic pain to depression and fibromyalgia.
The Mind-Body Program at Emory University has initiated a research program into the mental health benefits of meditation that focuses on physiological mechanisms by which meditative training may improve emotional well-being. Our group is especially interested in examining the possibility that meditation may improve emotional and physical health by reducing inflammatory reactivity to psychosocial stress. Increasing data suggest that psychosocial stress may contribute to the development of depression, at least in part, by promoting dysregulation of the body’s stress system, which—in turn—may lead to increased inflammatory activation in the context of both psychological stress and medical illnesses. While researchers have known for decades that both psychological stress and medical illness are significant risk factors for depression, it has only been in the last several years that depression itself has come to be recognized as a condition characterized by increased inflammation, even in people who are otherwise medically healthy. Our interest in the potential for meditation to reduce this inflammatory activation builds upon recent work from our group showing that medically-healthy people with major depression demonstrate increased inflammation in response to a psychosocial stressor when compared to people without depression. We suspect that this type of overly intense inflammatory activation may account for the strong associations between stress, depression and a host of modern maladies for which depression is a risk factor, including heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.
In its search to identify a meditative practice that might be especially effective for severing the pathological association between stress and inflammation, the Mind-Body Program has benefited from academic strengths unique to Emory University in the area of Tibetan Buddhism. Working in collaboration with Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi from the Department of Religion, the Mind-Body Program has facilitated the development of a novel compassion meditation technique designed to enhance one’s perceived sense of social connectivity. Based on several practices central to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this compassion meditation technique focuses on training the mind to optimize the way it represents relationships with friends, enemies and strangers. Recent studies have found that experienced practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist compassion meditation techniques are capable of altering brain functioning in ways that have been shown to be associated with positive emotions, as well as enhanced immune system functioning.
In collaboration with the Department of Religion and the Department of Health, Physical Education and Dance, the Mind-Body Program has commenced a pilot study of compassion meditation in college freshmen. The aim of this study is to examine whether a six-week training period in compassion meditation will protect against depressive symptoms by reducing inflammatory reactivity to the multiple psychosocial stressors endemic to college life. Preliminary results from the 2005/2006 academic year suggest that compassion meditation does reduce depressive symptoms and may be especially beneficial for students who suffer from mild to moderate depressive symptoms prior to the training. These studies, which will be expanded in the 2007/2008 academic year, are poised to lay the foundation for a more comprehensive program in contemplative studies which is currently taking shape at Emory University.
The Mind-Body Program meditation studies are currently open ONLY to Emory University freshman. If you are interested in learning more about personal meditation programs, please visit the following sites:
Drepung Loseling Institute
Emory-Tibet Partnership
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