Mindfulness helps lower anxiety and stress

Mindfulness a Strategy Used to Help Lower Anxiety and Stress

By Robin Williams Adams
THE LEDGER

Published: Monday, March 25, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 4:08 a.m.

LAKE WALES | Mindfulness, a form of meditation therapy, is accumulating a growing amount of support from professionals working to improve people's sense of well being.

Psychologists at Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham use it, along with other alternative therapies, to help people lower anxiety and stress, increase their daily relaxation and to treat depression and other mood disorders.

Closer to home, mindfulness of breathing will be part of a one-day meditation course the Central Florida Meditation Society is hosting April 6 at Bok Tower Gardens. (See Health Events listing above for more information.)

After reviewing "mindfulness-based practices," which include meditation as a key component, a University of Utah psychiatrist found "convincing evidence" that they are effective in treating psychiatric symptoms and pain when used along with more conventional therapy.

Dr. William R. Marchand's review focused on Zen meditation, a Buddhist spiritual practice of developing mindfulness by meditation; mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a secular method of using Buddhist mindfulness; and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, MBSR combined with principles of cognitive therapy (such as recognizing and disengaging from negative thoughts).