Meditation in Islamic and western cultures

Document Type : Brief Report

Author

Assistant professor of child and adolescent ‎psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral ‎Sciences Research Center, Mashhad ‎University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Meditation in the west culture is a mindfulness practice to achieve peace or progress of spiritual and in ethics and Islamic mysticism, it means self cleaning to reach God. According to performed research, meditation can physically make changes in the brain structure including Hypocampus and brain stem, which, considering performance of these parts, positive performance of meditation in learning improvement, memory, emotional control, making new neurons, anxiety disorders and mood and sleep disorders. Base on culture and religious factors of our country, using meditation can be effective in decreasing symptoms of some psychiatric disorders and Improving mental health of population.

Keywords

References

1. World Religions Research Center. Available from: URL; http://wrrc.ir/ Question.asp?Id=389. 
2. Baer RA. Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clin Psychol 2003; 10: 125-43.
3. Grossman P, Niemann L, Schmidt S, Walach H. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res 2004; 57: 35-43.
4. Carmody J, Baer RA. Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. J Behav Med 2008; 31: 23-33.
5. Teasdale JD, Segal ZV, Williams JM, Ridgeway VA, Soulsby JM, Lau MA. Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. J Consult Clin Psychol 2000; 68: 615-23.
6. Bowen S, Witkiewitz K, Dillworth TM, Chawla N, Simpson TL, Ostafin BD, et al. Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Psychol Addict Behav 2006; 20: 343-7.
7. Tapper K, Shaw C, Ilsley J, Hill AJ, Bond FW, Moore L. Exploratory randomised controlled trial of a mindfulness-based weight loss intervention for women. Appetite 2009; 52: 396-404.
8. Roemer L, Orsillo SM, Salters-Pedneault K. Efficacy of an acceptance-based behavior therapy for generalized anxiety disorder: evaluation in a randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol 2008; 76: 1083-9.
9. Grossman P, Tiefenthaler-Gilmer U, Raysz A, Kesper U. Mindfulness training as an intervention for fibromyalgia: evidence of post intervention and 3-year follow-up benefits in well-being. Psychother Psychosom 2007; 76: 226-33.
10. Davidson RJ, Kabat-Zinn J, Schumacher J, Rosenkranz M, Muller D, Santorelli SF, et al. Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosom Med 2003; 65: 564-70.
11. Farb NA, Anderson AK, Mayberg H, Bean J, McKeon D, Segal ZV. Minding one’s emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness. Emotion 2010; 10: 25-33.
12. Vestergaard-Poulsen P, van Beek M, Skewes J, Bjarkam CR, Stubberup M, Bertelsen J, et al. Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem. Neuroreport 2009; 20(2): 170-4.
13. Houlzel BK, Carmody J, Vangel M. Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Res 2011; 191(1): 36-43.
14. Sheline YI. 3D MRI studies of neuroanatomic changes in unipolar major depression: The role of stressand medical comorbidity. Biol Psychiatry 2000; 48:791–800.
15. Kasai K, Yamasue H, Gilbertson MW, Shenton ME, Rauch SL, Pitman RK. Evidence for acquiredpregenual anterior cingulate gray matter loss from a twin study of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry 2008; 63: 550-6.
16. Gilbertson MW, Shenton ME, Ciszewski A, Kasai K, Lasko NB, Orr SP, et al. Smaller hippocampal volume predicts pathologic vulnerability to psychological trauma. Nat Neurosci 2002; 5: 1242-7.
17. Gage FH. Neurogenesis in the adult brain. J Neurosci 2002; 22: 612-13.
18. Jacobs BL, Praag H, Gage FH. Adult brain neurogenesis and psychiatry: a novel theory of depression. Mol Psychiatry 2000; 5: 262-9.
19. Vermetten E, Vythilingam M, Southwick SM, Charney DS, Bremner JD. Long term treatment withparoxetine increases verbal declarative memory and hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stressdisorder. Biol Psychiatry 2003; 54: 693-702.
20. Santarelli L, Saxe M, Gross C, Surget A, Battaglia F, Dulawa S, et al. Requirement of hippocampal neurogenesis for the behavioral effects of antidepressants. Science 2003; 301: 805-9.
21. Naidlich TP, Duvernoy HM, Delman BN, Sorensen AG, Kollias SS, Haacke EM. Duvernoy’s atlas of the human brain stem and cerebellum. Wien: Springer; 2009.
22. Aston-Jones G, Cohen JD. An integrative theory of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine function: adaptive gain and optimal performance. Ann Rev Neurosci 2005; 28: 403-450.
23. Aston-Jones G, Rajkowski J, Cohen J. Locus coeruleus and regulation of behavioral flexibility and attention. Prog Brain Res 2000; 126: 165-82.
24. Driemeyer J, Boyke J, Gaser C, Buchel C, May A. Changes in gray matter induced by
learning-revisited. PLoS One 2008; 3: e2669.
25. Draganski B, Gaser C, Kempermann G, Kuhn HG, Winkler J, Buchel C, et al. Temporal and spatial dynamics of brain structure changes during extensive learning. J Neurosci 2006; 26: 6314-7.
26. May A, Hajak G, Gaenssbauer S, Steffens T, Langguth B, Kleinjung T, et al. Structural brain alterations following 5 days of intervention: Dynamic aspects of neuroplasticity. Cereb Cortex 2007; 17: 205-10.
27. Lutz A, Brefczynski-Lewis J, Johnstone T, Davidson RJ. Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: effects of meditative expertise. PLoS One 2008; 3: e1897.
28. Newberg A, Alavi A, Baime M, Pourdehnad M, Santanna J, d’Aquili E. The measurement of regionalcerebral blood flow during the complex cognitive task of meditation: A preliminary SPECT study. Psychiatry Res 2001; 106: 113-22.
Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 15, Issue 60 - Serial Number 60
January and February 2014
Pages 295-300

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics