Meditation, an Essential Mental Health Tool

Meditation has grown in popularity.

 I’m definitely hearing from more patients that meditation is a regular part of their daily routine. This is great news because it has a number of benefits for supporting mental health.

There are different types of meditation techniques. Some common practices include gratitude meditation, focused attention meditation, loving-kindness or metta meditation, and mindfulness meditation. The research on meditation can incorporate any of these or other practices.

Brain Changes from Meditation

There are changes that can be measured in the brains of those that practice meditation. These include:

• Increased volume of the hippocampus, which is an important area involved in memory. Volume size can frequently be decreased as a result of trauma.

• Thickening of the cortex. This is the gray matter in the brain that is responsible for higher cognitive functions. 

• Changes in the caudate nucleus and putamen help with attention and filter unneeded information. This is so important to help us navigate information overload.

• Improved functioning of the prefrontal cortex, which is important for decision making.

• There is improved connectivity between different parts of the brain, strengthening the networks of connections.

Effectiveness in Mental Health Conditions

Depression

Meditation has been shown to be beneficial in major depressive disorders in both the acute and subacute treatment phases. It improves the severity of depression and anxiety experienced in depressive disorders. Meditation can also help those that have not responded well to psychiatric medication. It has demonstrated effectiveness in the prevention of the relapse of depressive episodes.

PTSD

The effects of meditation have been studied in various populations of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, including veterans. Symptom improvements include; decreased reactivity, improved mood, decreased anxiety, and decreased avoidance.

ADHD

Improved attention, executive functioning and decreased depression and anxiety have been shown to be benefits gained by a meditation practice for those with ADHD.

Substance Use Disorders

There are a number of ways that meditation helps support substance use disorder recovery. One way is that it assists with the management of cravings, often referred to as “urge surfing”. Meditation helps to soothe the nervous system which is an important part of strengthening recovery. Another result of meditation is it can strengthen a sense of spiritual connection for people, an important piece as many believe that a core component of addiction is a lack of connection.

What if you’ve tried meditation or have been meaning to try it?

Often people try meditation and find it too difficult, or they have been putting it off. I urge you to give it another whirl. Even a brief meditation has been proven to be effective. Begin with 5 minutes per day. Schedule it at the same time so it’s part of your daily routine. Most people will do it at the beginning or at the end of their day. Many apps like Insight Timer and Calm are designed to help you with meditation. YouTube is a great resource for meditation. These resources have guided meditations and music to help you. If one style doesn’t work for you, try others and continue to experiment with this effective tool.

References:

Shen, H., Chen, M., & Cui, D. (2020). Biological mechanism study of meditation and its application in mental disorders. General Psychiatry, 33(4), e100214.

Shonin, E., & Van Gordon, W. (2016). The Mechanisms of Mindfulness in the Treatment of Mental Illness and Addiction. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 14(5), 844–849.