A recent study by Dr. Madhav Goyal at Johns Hopkins Medical Center has scientifically confirmed many of the claimed benefits of mindfulness meditation. Mindful meditation is similar to the powerful techniques used in hypnosis and self hypnosis. It incorporates the focusing of thought rather than than the idea of drifting or nothingness. What many have understood for centuries is that Mindfulness meditation may be useful in battles against anxiety, depression and pain. Now, according to a fresh look at past research, such claims have been verified.
When Dr. Goyal and researchers incorporated data from 47 past studies, they found evidence to support the use of mindfulness meditation to treat the conditions of anxiety, depression and pain. Meditation alone didn’t seem have much of an affect on mood, sleep or substance use. Hypnosis would appear to be a better alternative treatment for those conditions – especially in the area of Pain Management, where specific hypnosis programs are tailored for many common painful ailments.
Quoting from an email that Dr. Goyal wrote to Reuters Health, “Many people have the idea that meditation means just sitting quietly and doing nothing. That is not true. It is an active training of the mind to increase awareness, and different meditation programs approach this in different ways.”
Dr. Goyal headed up the study at the prestigious The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
He and his colleagues write in JAMA Internal Medicine that meditation techniques emphasize mindfulness and concentration. It is interesting to note that mindfulness and concentration (focus) are also the hallmarks of proven treatments using hypnosis.
Mindfulness meditation is aimed at allowing the mind to pay attention to whatever thoughts enter it, such as sounds in the environment, without becoming too focused. Mantra meditation, on the other hand, involves focusing concentration on a particular word or sound. Hypnosis techniques are generally guided to increase concentration and focus to even higher levels.
Approximately 9 percent of people in the U.S. reported meditating in 2007, according to the National Institutes of Health. About 1 percent said they use meditation as some sort of treatment or medicine.
For the new report, the researchers searched several electronic databases that catalog medical research for trials that randomly assigned people with a certain condition – such as anxiety, pain or depression – to do meditation or another activity. These randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard of medical research.
The researchers found 47 studies with over 3,500 participants that met their criteria.
After combining the data, Goyal said his team found between a 5 and 10 percent improvement in anxiety symptoms among people who took part in mindfulness meditation, compared to those who did another activity.
There was also about a 10 to 20 percent improvement in symptoms of depression among those who practiced mindfulness meditation, compared to the other group.
“This is similar to the effects that other studies have found for the use of antidepressants in similar populations,” Goyal said.
Hypnosis is still the alternative treatment of choice for depression where relief without the use of drugs is sought. Hypnosis can also be used as an an ongoing treatment in such programs as the recommended Hypnosis for Depression Recovery program.
Mindfulness meditation was also linked to reduced pain. But Goyal said it’s hard to know what kind of pain may be most affected by meditation. Since there are specific hypnosis programs for pain, the meditation techniques may be better used as a supplement to hypnosis.
The benefits of meditation didn’t surpass what is typically associated with other treatments, such as drugs and exercise, for those conditions. However, the study did not compare specific improvements in conditions to the effectiveness of hypnosis and self hypnosis.
“As with many therapies, we try to get a moderate level of confidence that the therapy works before we prescribe it,” Goyal said. “If we have a high level of confidence, it is much better.”
But he noted that the researchers didn’t find anything more than moderate evidence of benefit from meditation for anxiety, depression and pain. Whereas previous clinical studies of hypnosis have shown significant improvement in these areas.
There was some suggestion that meditation may help improve stress and overall mental health, but the evidence supporting those findings was of low quality.
There was no clear evidence that meditation could influence positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep or weight. Again, self hypnosis or hypnotherapy would be a better alternative.
“Clinicians should be prepared to talk with their patients about the role that meditation programs could have in addressing psychological stress, particularly when symptoms are mild,” Goyal said.
Dr. Allan Goroll, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study, told Reuters Health the analysis is an example of an area of much-needed scientific study, because many people make treatment decisions based on beliefs – not data.
“That is particularly the case with alternative and complimentary approaches to treating medical problems,” he said. “It ranges from taking vitamins to undergoing particular procedures for which the scientific evidence is very slim but people’s beliefs are very great.”
Goroll is professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Goyal said people should remember that meditation was not conceived to treat any particular health problem.
“Rather, it is a path we travel on to increase our awareness and gain insight into our lives,” he wrote. “The best reason to meditate is to gain this insight. Improvements in health conditions are really a side benefit, and it’s best to think of them that way.”
Related:
Hypnosis for Depression Relief
Stress Management
Overcoming Addiction
Anxiety and Fear
Pain Relief
Thank you for the comment. On the contrary, hypnosis can do all of that and more. When the mind is in a deep state of relaxation and at the same time attentive, wondrous journeys of enlightenment can be achieved.
Thank you for this post. I learned more in the last few minutes tan ‘ve learned about this in the past year.
People who switched themselves to drug abuse to beat depression can rely on meditation to remove it.
Positive interpretation is the best way to avoid depression.
How safe is meditation for kids and children?
Patients who suffer from chronic pain are also suggested to meditate to improve their mood during the treatment.
Depression is often due to overaction of the brain, we got worried about things that don’t even exist. We need to have better self control and meditation is there for us!
Meditation is only a practice, people can do it at anytime!
I am satisfied that meditation plays an important role in healing some chronic pain or illness, it already happened to me! And nowadays, I keep on doing it.
Does hypnosis act as a pain killer?
Yes, self-hypnosis is an excellent way to control pain. Here is a link to get started