Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation showed they were less depressed, anxious or stressed, and more compassionate and aware of others’ feelings, according to a UCSF-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions, a report by ScienceDaily.com stated.
The study, designed to create new techniques to reduce destructive emotions while improving social and emotional behavior, is published in the April issue of the journal “Emotion.”
“The findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behavior,” said lead author Margaret Kemeny, PhD, director of the Health Psychology Program in UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry in the ScienceDaily.com report. “The study is particularly important because opportunities for reflection and contemplation seem to be fading in our fast-paced, technology-driven culture.”
A total of 82 female schoolteachers between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the project and were chosen because their work is stressful and the meditation skills they learned could be immediately useful to their daily lives, possibly trickling down to benefit their students, according to the report.
The study began after a meeting with USCF emeritus professor and world expert in emotions, Paul Ekman, PhD, met with the Dalai Lama at his home, along with other Buddhist scholars and behavioral scientists.
The Dalai Lama to posed the question: In the modern world, would a secular version of Buddhist contemplation reduce harmful emotions? Ekman and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace then developed a 42-hour, eight-week training program, integrating secular meditation practices with techniques learned from the scientific study of emotion.
The program incorporated concentration practices involving sustained, focused attention on a specific mental or sensory experience; mindfulness practices involving the close examination of one’s body and feelings; and directive practices designed to promote empathy and compassion toward others, according to the report.
In the randomized, controlled trial, the schoolteachers learned to better understand the relationship between emotion and cognition, and to better recognize emotions in others, along with their own emotional patterns so they could better resolve difficult problems in their relationships, the report stated.
“We wanted to test whether the intervention affected both personal well-being as well as behavior that would affect the well-being of their intimate partners,” Kemeny said in the report.