Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in the post-stroke population

 
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Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in the post-stroke population
Mindfulness-Based Therapies:
Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in
         the post-stroke population

   Steven Selchen, MD, MSt, FRCPC
   •Head, Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI),
   Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
   •Head, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & MBI,
   Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
   •Director, Sunnybrook Psychiatry Institute for
   Continuing Education (SPICE)
   www.sunnybrook.ca/mindfulness
Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in the post-stroke population
Disclosures
• None.
Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in the post-stroke population
Mindfulness-Based Therapies
• Typically involve eastern meditative practice in
  a secular, clinical context
• Robust evidence supporting therapeutic value
  in depression, anxiety, stress, chronic pain,
  coping with physical illness, etc. (e.g. Teasdale et
  al., 2000; Ma & Teasdale, 2004; Segal et al., 2010; Hofmann,
  et al., 2010; Khoury et al., 2013)
Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in the post-stroke population
Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Exploring potential benefits of mindfulness in the post-stroke population
Objectives
• Identify core principles of mindfulness

• Summarize the application of mindfulness-
  based therapies to various clinical populations

• Discuss potential applications in the post-
  stroke population
John was on his way to school.
He was worried about the math lesson.
He was not sure he could control the class again
   today.
It was not part of a janitor’s duty.

  – We actively ‘make meaning’ out of bare facts and
    are barely conscious that we are doing so
                  (Segal et al, 2002)
John was on his way to school.
He was worried about the math lesson.
He was not sure he could control the class again
   today.
It was not part of a janitor’s duty.

  – We actively ‘make meaning’ out of bare facts and
    are barely conscious that we are doing so
                  (Segal et al, 2002)
John was on his way to school.
He was worried about the math lesson.
He was not sure he could control the class again
   today.
It was not part of a janitor’s duty.

  – We actively ‘make meaning’ out of bare facts and
    are barely conscious that we are doing so
                  (Segal et al, 2002)
John was on his way to school.
He was worried about the math lesson.
He was not sure he could control the class again
   today.
It was not part of a janitor’s duty.

  – We actively ‘make meaning’ out of bare facts and
    are barely conscious that we are doing so
                  (Segal et al, 2002)
John was on his way to school.
He was worried about the math lesson.
He was not sure he could control the class again
   today.
It was not part of a janitor’s duty.

  – We actively ‘make meaning’ out of bare facts and
    are barely conscious that we are doing so
                  (Segal et al, 2002)
Suffering…

      http://www.etravelphotos.com/
Suffering…

      http://www.win-with-women.com/
Suffering…

      http://www.etravelphotos.com/
Suffering…

blogs.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/blog/Image/scared_man.jpg
Two Arrows…
What is Mindfulness?
“Mindfulness is the awareness
that emerges from paying attention…
   - on purpose
   - in the present moment
   - non-judgmentally
         to things as they are.”
Themes: interest; curiosity; receptivity;
  observation; openness; compassion …
Thought/image

emotion                urge/impulse

          sensations
Cultivation…

• Through mindfulness meditative practice,
  cultivate ‘new relationships’ to thoughts,
  emotions, bodily sensations and behaviour
  – Thoughts are thoughts; not facts
  – Emotions are emotions; tolerable
  – Urges are urges; need not be acted upon
• Bring interest, curiosity and compassion to our
  exploration of ourselves and our patterns of
  mind and experience
Metacognitive Awareness
• Instead of viewing thoughts as absolutely
  true or as descriptive of important self-
  attributes, patients learn to see negative
  thoughts and feelings as passing mental
  events that are not necessarily valid
  reflections of reality or central aspects of
  the self (Segal, et al.)
Learn to…
• Unhook ourselves from automatic
  maladapitve patterns of mind and behaviour
  (e.g. rumination & avoidance)
• Increase freedom and choice
• Make more adaptive choices
‘Strategic’ Maintenance Processes
• Rumination
  – Patients believe rumination will help uncover the
    causes of depression and its solutions
  – However, the main effect of going over and over
    losses, past mistakes, judgments and comparisons
    is often to perpetuate and amplify negative affect
‘Strategic’ Maintenance Processes
• Avoidance
  – Similarly, patients often believe avoidance will
    protect them from further harm
  – However, avoidance and withdrawal can keep
    people stuck, and confirm (or at least fail to
    disconfirm) negative predictions
Approach vs. Withdrawal
• When difficult thoughts, emotions or urges
  arise, can learn to turn toward them
  (“approach”) and explore them experientially
  in the present moment, rather than engaging
  in the kind of rumination or avoidance that
  would exacerbate and perpetuate them
• These ‘mental events’ are then able to
  dissipate as the transient phenomenon they
  were ‘designed’ to be
Responding vs. Reacting
• Mindfulness does not eliminate ‘cognitive
  reactivity’, but it can restrain us from
  getting carried away by it and spiraling
  down
• Instead, we can learn to respond more
  wisely and adaptively to our experiences
  and situations
Engagement in Life
• Mindfulness training can shift negative
  filters; directs attention also to positive
  aspects of experience and encourages
  deeper engagement in life
Mindfulness-Based Interventions
• MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction)
  – Secularized adaptation of Eastern meditative
    practices to a western medical context
  – Developed by Kabat-Zinn at UMass

• MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy)
  – integration of MBSR and CBT
  – Developed by Segal, Williams & Teasdale
Mindfulness-Based Interventions
• Group-based
• Structured; e.g. 8 weekly “classes”
• Psychoeducational, experiential
• Focus: mental process > content
• Teach a variety of meditations
• MBCT also weaves in a variety of cognitive-
  behavioural exercises
• Up to an hour of daily home practice
MBCT
• Mindfulness of routine activities (e.g. eating)
• Body Scan
      • awareness of sensations in the body; learning to direct attention
        to different parts of the body
• Mindfulness of the breath
      • (concentration on a single focus), then moving to mindfulness of:
        sounds, the whole body, and thoughts
• Mindful movement
• ‘Breathing Spaces’
      • scheduled regularly in working day, and additionally when under
        stress
• CBT components
Relapse Prevention in Depression
       (3 or more previous episodes)
                                     Teasdale et al., 2000 in JCCP
1.00                  And replicated: Ma & Teasdale, 2004 in JCCP

                                                        MBCT: 37%

 0.5

                                                 TAU: 66%
           10    20         30         40          50           60
Recurrence Across 18 Months – Intention to Treat
                 Analysis - Unstable Remitters

                                                 27%
                                                          28%

                                               71%

Log-rank test = 8.24, df =2, p = 0.016   Segal et al., 2010, Arch Gen Psychiatry
Hofmann et al., 2010 (JCCP): The Effect of MBT on
  Anxiety and Depression: A Meta-Analytic Review

• Effect size analysis of MBSR and MBCT for anxiety
  and mood symptoms in clinical samples
• 39 studies totaling 1,140 participants
• Range of conditions, incl. cancer, GAD, depression,
  chronic fatigue syndrome, panic disorder,
  fibromyalgia, chronic pain, social phobia, ADHD,
  arthritis, binge eating disorder, bipolar disorder,
  diabetes, heart disease, hypothyroidism, insomnia,
  organ transplant, stroke, and traumatic brain injury
• Updated and supported further in Khoury et al.,
  2013
The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Therapy on
Anxiety and Depression: A Meta-Analytic Review
• Results: MBI were moderately effective for improving anxiety
  (Hedges’s g 0.63) and mood symptoms (Hedges’s g 0.59)
  from pre- to post-treatment in the overall sample
• In patients with anxiety and mood disorders – effect sizes
  (Hedges’s g) of 0.97 and 0.95 for improving anxiety and mood
  symptoms, respectively
• Effect sizes were robust and were maintained over follow-up
• Conclusions: “These results suggest that mindfulness-based
  therapy is a promising intervention for treating anxiety and
  mood problems in clinical populations.”
Mindfulness training increases ‘viscero-somatic’ processing and
            uncouples ‘narrative-based’ processing (Farb et al, 2007, 2012)

Farb, N., Segal, Z.V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. (2007).
Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference.
Soc Cog Aff Neurosci., 2, 313-322.
Kuyken et al., 2010
Kuyken et al., 2010
Possibilities Post-Stroke…
Possibilities Post-Stroke…
• Moustgaard, A. (2005). Mindfulness-based
  cognitive therapy (MBCT) for stroke survivors:
  An application of a novel intervention.
  Unpublished Dissertation.
• n=23; no comparison condition
• Statistically significant improvement in
  depressive (BDI-II) and anxious (BAI)
  symptoms
Possibilities Post-Stroke…
• Johansson, B., Bjuhr, H., & Rönnbäck, L. (2012).
  Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) improves
  long-term mental fatigue after stroke or traumatic
  brain injury. Brain Injury, 26(13-14), 1621-1628.
• Primary endpoint: Mental Fatigue – reduced
  capacity for work and participation in social activities
• n=18 (stroke); 11 (TBI); randomized
• Statistically significant improvement on self-
  assessment for mental fatigue; also: neuropsych tests
  (Digit Symbol-Coding and Trail Making Test)
Possibilities Post-Stroke…
• H. Hofer, M. G. Holtforth, F. Luthy, E. Frischknecht, H.
  Znoj, and R. M. Muri (2012). The potential of a
  mindfulness-enhanced, integrative neuro-
  psychotherapy program for treating fatigue following
  stroke: a preliminary study. Mindfulness.
• combination of neuropsychological interventions,
  psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and
  mindfulness techniques.
• n=8; significant improvement in mental fatigue (pre
  vs. post)
Possibilities Post-Stroke…
• ? Decreasing risk of recurrence…
  – E.g. diabetes management, blood pressure
    management, etc.

• Clinicians, caregivers…
Summary
• Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) help
  cultivate ‘new relationships’ with our
  experiences
• MBIs have led to improved coping with
  psychological distress and increased wellbeing
  across a number of populations
• Early studies show promise for positive impact
  of MBIs on the post-stroke population, but
  much more research is needed
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