Abstract
Despite findings linking low trait mindfulness to higher distress, neuroticism, and psychopathology, and a large literature broadly supporting the efficacy of mindfulness meditation (MM)-related interventions in mental healthcare, surprisingly, little is yet known about what persons with psychological disorders actually experience when they practice MM. We therefore undertook such an investigation in a pilot study of 25 mental health help-seeking participants. In summary, we found that (1) psychopathological symptoms occur during MM practice with some frequency in at least a subset of persons seeking mental health treatment; (2) the experience of psychopathology during MM practice likely represents a source of distraction from focused attention (FA) toward breathing, as measured by strong correlations between increased experience of psychopathological symptoms during MM and lower Meditation Breath Attention Scores (MBAS); (3) psychopathological symptoms occurring during MM are negatively associated with certain facets of trait mindfulness; and (4) the association between trait mindfulness as a predictor of psychopathology during MM practice is partially mediated by poor FA toward the breath (i.e., MBAS). Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27–45.
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Lykins, E., Button, D., Krietemeyer, J., Sauer, S., Walsh, E., Duggan, D., & Williams, J. M. G. (2008). Construct validity of the five facet mindfulness questionnaire in meditating and nonmeditating samples. Assessment, 15, 329–342.
Blevins, C. A., Weathers, F. W., Davis, M. T., Witte, T. K., & Domino, J. L. (2015). The posttraumatic stress disorder checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5): development and initial psychometric evaluation. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 28, 489–498.
Bohlmeijer, E., Ten Klooster, P. M., Fledderus, M., Veehof, M., & Baer, R. (2011). Psychometric properties of the five facet mindfulness questionnaire in depressed adults and development of a short form. Assessment, 18, 308–320.
Bowlin, S. L., & Baer, R. A. (2012). Relationships between mindfulness, self-control, and psychological functioning. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 411–415.
Brown, A. P., Marquis, A., & Guiffrida, D. A. (2013). Mindfulness-based interventions in counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 91(1), 96–104.
Canadian Mental Health Association Middlesex (2016). About Us. .Retrieved from http://cmhamiddlesex.ca/about-us/
Carmody, J., Reed, G., Kristeller, J., & Merriam, P. (2008). Mindfulness, spirituality, and health-related symptoms. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 64, 393–403.
de Vibe, M., Bjørndal, A., Tipton, E., Hammerstrøm, K. T., & Kowalski, K. (2012). Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) for improving health, quality of life and social functioning in adults. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 3. doi:10.4073/csr.2012.3.
Derogatis, L. R. (2001). Brief symptom inventory (BSI)-18: administration, scoring and procedures manual. Minneapolis: NCS Pearson.
Derogatis, L. R., & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The brief symptom inventory: an introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13(3), 595–605.
Derogatis, L. R., Lipman, R. S., & Covi, L. (1973). The SCL-90: an outpatient psychiatric rating scale-preliminary report. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 9, 13–28.
Eberth, J., & Sedlmeier, P. (2012). The effects of mindfulness meditation: a meta-analysis. Mindfulness, 3, 174–189.
Fetterman, A. K., Robinson, M. D., Ode, S., & Gordon, K. H. (2010). Neuroticism as a risk factor for behavioral dysregulation: a mindfulness-mediation perspective. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29(3), 301–321.
Frewen, P. A., & Lanius, R. (2015). Healing the traumatized self. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc..
Frewen, P. A., Evans, E. M., Maraj, N., Dozois, D. J. A., & Partridge, K. (2008). Letting go: mindfulness and negative automatic thinking. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32(6), 758–774.
Frewen, P. A., Lundberg, E., MacKinley, J., & Wrath, A. (2011). Assessment of response to mindfulness meditation: meditation breath attention scores in association with subjective measures of state and trait mindfulness and difficulty letting go of depressive cognition. Mindfulness, 2, 254–269.
Frewen, P. A., Unholzer, F., Logie-Hagan, K. R.-J., & MacKinley, J. D. (2014). Meditation breath attention scores (MBAS): test-retest reliability and sensitivity to repeated practice. Mindfulness, 5, 161–169.
Frewen, P. A., Brown, M. F. D., & Lanius, R. A. (2016a). Trauma-related altered states of consciousness (TRASC) in an online community sample: Further support for the 4-D model of trauma-related dissociation. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1037/cns0000091.
Frewen, P. A., Hargraves, H., DePierro, J., D’Andrea, W., & Flodrowski, L. (2016b). Meditation breath attention scores (MBAS): development and investigation of an internet-based assessment of focused attention during meditation practice. Psychological Assessment, 28(7), 830–840.
Giluk, T. L. (2009). Mindfulness, big five personality, and affect: a meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 805–811.
Grossman, P. (2008). On measuring mindfulness in psychosomatic and psychological research. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 64, 405–408.
Grossman, P. (2011). Defining mindfulness by how poorly I think I pay attention during everyday awareness and other intractable problems for psychology’s (re)invention of mindfulness: comment on Brown et al. (2011). Psychological Assessment, 23(4), 1034–1040.
Harnett, P. H., Reid, N., Loxton, N. J., & Lee, N. (2016). The relationship between trait mindfulness, personality and psychological distress: a revised reinforcement sensitivity theory perspective. Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 100–105.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.
Heeren, A., & Philippot, P. (2010). Mindfulness-based interventions: a conceptual and empirical review. Revue Québécoise de Psychologie, 31(3), 37–61.
Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169–183.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2014). Meditation is not for the faint-hearted. Mindfulness, 5, 341–344.
Keng, S.-H., Smoski, M. J., & Robins, C. J. (2011). Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: a review of empirical studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 1041–1056.
Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., Chapleau, M.-A., Paquin, K., & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: a comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 763–771.
Kiken, L. G., Garland, E. L., Bluth, K., Palsson, O. S., & Gaylord, S. A. (2015). From a state to a trait: trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during intervention predict changes in trait mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 41–46.
Lau, M. A., Bishop, S. R., Segal, Z. V., Buis, T., Anderson, N. D., Carlson, L., Shapiro, S., & Carmody, J. (2006). Toronto mindfulness scale: development and validation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(12), 1445–1467.
Lotan, G., Tanay, G., & Bernstein, A. (2013). Mindfulness and distress tolerance: relations in a mindfulness preventive intervention. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 6(4), 371–385.
Meijer, R. R., de Vries, R. M., & van Bruggen, V. (2011). An evaluation of the brief symptom inventory–18 using item response theory: which items are most strongly related to psychological distress? Psychological Assessment, 23(1), 193–202.
Nguyen, T. D., Attkisson, C. C., & Stegner, B. L. (1983). Assessment of patient satisfaction: development and refinement of a service evaluation questionnaire. Evaluation & Program Planning, 6, 299–314.
Rosen, C. S., Drescher, K. D., Moos, R. H., Finney, J. W., Murphy, R. T., & Gusman, F. (2000). Six- and ten-item indexes of psychological distress based on the symptom checklist-90. Assessment, 7(2), 103–111.
Sedlmeier, P., Eberth, J., Schwarz, M., Zimmermann, D., Haarig, F., Jaeger, S., & Kunze, S. (2012). The psychological effects of meditation: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin . doi:10.1037/a0028168.Advance online publication
Wenzel, M., von Versen, C., Hirschmuller, S., & Kubiak, T. (2015). Curb your neuroticism—mindfulness mediates the link between neuroticism and subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 80, 68–75.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Carswell, J., Frewen, P. Experiences of Psychopathology Distract from Focused Attention During Mindfulness Meditation: Assessment in Relation to Meditation Breath Attention Scores in Mental Health Help-Seeking Participants. Mindfulness 8, 943–948 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0670-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0670-1