The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation in Older Adults
The purpose of this study is to test if an 8-week mindfulness meditation training (vs a wait-list control condition) program reduces neurobehavioral reactivity and improves affect regulation in a sample of older adults, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Additionally, we will examine if mindfulness meditation training reduces loneliness and markers of chronic inflammation.
NCT01532596 — Aging
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/aging/NCT01532596/
Troubleshooting the Mind Through Kelee® Meditation: A Distinctive and Effective Therapeutic Intervention for Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
The purpose of this study is to determine how effective Kelee meditation is in improving stress, anxiety, and depression.
NCT01527955 — Depression
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/depression/NCT01527955/
Portable Mantram Meditation for Veterans With Military Related PTSD
The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of a portable, meditation-based intervention called the Mantram Repetition Program (MRP) for Veterans with military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study compared the individual delivery of the MRP to individual delivery of Present-Centered Therapy (PCT) at two sites in San Diego, California, and Bedford, Massachusetts.
NCT01506323 — Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/stress-disorders-post-traumatic/NCT01506323/
A Diet, Physical Activity, and Meditation Intervention in Men With Rising Prostate-specific Antigen
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a vegetable-based diet, physical activity program, and stress reduction training will reduce or maintain PSA levels, an indicator of prostate cancer progression, in men who have had their prostate gland removed following a prostate cancer diagnosis.
NCT01434004 — Prostate Cancer
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/prostate-cancer/NCT01434004/
Mindfulness Meditation in Chronic Stress: Measures of Adherence, Ability & Stress
The study purpose is to evaluate efficacy of a mindfulness training intervention and learn about cognitive and physiological markers of stress.
NCT01386060 — Aging
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/aging/NCT01386060/
The Effects of Concentration/Meditation on the Innate Immune Response During
The innate immune response is the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Ideally, the inflammatory response is tightly regulated leading to both adequate protection to invading pathogens as well as limitation of an exuberant or unwanted immune response such as seen in sepsis or auto-immune diseases. It has become increasingly clear that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the innate immune response are intimately linked. Activation of the sympathetic division of ANS dampens inflammation via β2-adrenoceptors. On the other hand, in some cases, sympathetic drive can also stimulate the inflammatory response via α2-adrenoceptors. The parasympathetic branch of the ANS modulates the inflammatory response as well, since it was discovered that electrical stimulation of the efferent vagus nerve in rats greatly inhibits the innate immune response. Generally, the ANS is regarded as pure autonomic which can not be influenced by behavior. However, trough special concentration/mediation techniques mastered by certain individuals, it might be possible to modulate ANS activity. In addition, recent unpublished findings indicate that these concentration/meditation techniques can also influence the inflammatory response ex vivo. In this study the investigators wish to investigate the effect of concentration/meditation on the innate immune response in vivo. In addition the investigators wish to elucidate the mechanism via which this effect is mediated. The investigators aim to use the so called human endotoxemia model. This model permits elucidation of key players in the immune response to a gram negative stimulus in vivo, therefore serving as a useful tool to investigate potential novel therapeutic strategies in a standardized setting. Objectives: Primary objective: The primary objective of the study is to determine the effect of concentration/meditation on the innate immune response induced by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. Secondary Objective(s): 1. To determine the effects of concentration/meditation on ANS activity. Electroencephalography (EEG), heart-rate variability (HRV), muscle sympathetic nerve activity and plasma concentrations of catecholamines will be measured for this purpose. 2. To determine if concentration/meditation can attenuate (subclinical) renal damage known to occur during human endotoxemia, markers of proximal and distal tubular damage will be measured at various time points.
NCT01352871 — Innate Immune Response
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/innate-immune-response/NCT01352871/
Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Meditation for Combat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial and Mechanistic Study
This project will study whether a new therapy that includes the practice of forms of meditation is helpful for combat veterans returning from deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan suffering with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). "Mindfulness meditation" cultivates present-focused, non-judgmental attention to ones body, emotions, and thoughts, and is proposed to lead to a greater sense of well-being and acceptance and better tolerance of painful and distressing emotions. "Compassion" and "loving-kindness" meditations help stabilize positive emotions like love and compassion, and may also be helpful for chronic pain, and possibly depression and PTSD. This study will compare a 16 week psychotherapy group for PTSD involving Mindfulness and Self-compassion meditation, with a more standard form of group psychotherapy known as "Present-centered group therapy". Both therapies will be conducted at the VA Ann Arbor PTSD clinic by VA psychotherapists. (The study is also approved by the IRB of the VA Ann Arbor). Combat veterans will be randomly assigned to either the Meditation or the standard group psychotherapy. All patients will also receive fMRI brain scans before and after the therapy, as well as assessment interviews before, at 8 weeks, and immediately post-therapy, and at 3 mo and 6 mo follow-ups. Saliva cortisol and measures of attention will also be obtained at each assessment.
NCT01347749 — Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/posttraumatic-stress-disorder/NCT01347749/
Effects of Mindfulness Practice on the Neural Circuitry of Conditioned Fear Extinction in Healthy Participants
It is well-established that the practice of mindfulness meditation leads to improvements in mental health and well-being and the cultivation of positive emotions. However, the neural mechanisms of these improvements are largely unknown. A few recent studies suggest that mindfulness meditation impacts the structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. Interestingly, recent studies have shown that these regions are part of a brain circuit that is critical for the extinction of conditioned fear responses, and for the retention of fear extinction memory. Building on the overlap of these regions and on conceptual considerations, the project investigates whether mindfulness meditation could influence one's capacity to retain the memory of fear extinction. Meditation-naïve participants will be randomized to either a mindfulness-meditation based training or an active control training that controls for all mindfulness-unspecific components. Participants will undergo a fear conditioning, extinction and extinction recall protocol in an MRI scanner before and after the trainings. We hypothesize that participants who have practiced mindfulness meditation will show greater improvements in fear extinction memory after the course, and that these improvements will be correlated with anatomical and functional changes in the brain regions of interest. Improvements in fear extinction memory will also be related to improvements in self-reported psychological well-being. Merging the fields of an ancient spiritual tradition and a fundamental learning mechanism, the project investigates the underlying neural mechanisms of a practice for the enhancement of mental health and well-being.
NCT01320969 — Healthy Individuals
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/healthy-individuals/NCT01320969/
Project Inspire: A New Translational Tool for Studying the Role of Breathing in Meditation
A recent National Health Interview Survey reported that breathing exercises were the second most common complementary and alternative medicine practice in the United States, following only the use of "natural products." With such widespread interest in breathing exercises, alone or as a component of practices such as meditation, a need exists for research that examines not only its efficacy, but also investigates potential mechanisms of action. Indeed, a recent National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Meditation Workshop recommended research to clarify biological pathways by which meditation practices, including breathing exercises, can impact health. To explore mechanisms underlying the health effects of breathing exercises, new translational tools are needed that can measure breathing patterns in both the clinic and natural environment. The primary objective of the present proposal is the application of a new technology to the investigation of pathways by which breathing exercises can affect health. For this project, the health-related outcome measure to be studied is a major cardiovascular risk factor, blood pressure.
NCT01264627 — Hypertension
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/hypertension/NCT01264627/
Mechanisms of Meditation
The increasingly widespread use of meditation for stress-related emotional and medical conditions highlights the urgent need to rigorously evaluate mechanisms through which the benefits of practice might be conferred. Primary challenges in this regard include evaluating dose response relationships between practice time and outcomes; clarifying whether physiological and behavioral effects of meditation derive primarily from non-specific aspects of training or result from specific meditation practices; and identifying molecular mechanisms by which meditation might affect physiological responses relevant to stress-related illness. Recent findings from a cross-sectional study by our group indicate that young adults who are randomized to, and practice, compassion meditation demonstrate reduced inflammatory responses, less emotional distress, and reduced autonomic responses to a standardized laboratory psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]) when compared to subjects randomized to an active control condition. However, as a result of the cross-sectional study design and lack of a meditation comparator arm, these results provide only partial insight into key issues outlined above regarding the role played by specific meditation procedures and/or practice time in observed physiological and behavioral outcomes. The primary hypothesis of the proposed work is that practicing a meditation procedure specifically designed to enhance empathic concern for others (i.e. compassion meditation) will optimize autonomic reactivity to psychosocial stress in a manner that results in diminished activation of peripheral inflammatory signaling pathways and reduced behavioral distress.
NCT01251341 — Immune System Processes
Status: Completed
http://inclinicaltrials.com/immune-system-processes/NCT01251341/