Mindfulness-based teachings have shown benefits in everything from inflammatory disorders to central nervous system dysfunction and even cancer. Now, researchers are studying how cognitive therapy utilizing mindfulness techniques can serve as a natural alternative to pharmaceuticals for people with anxiety disorders.
Mindfulness is “the intentional, accepting and non-judgemental focus of one’s attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment”, which can be trained by a large extent in meditational practices.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric conditions affecting children and adolescents. While antidepressants are frequently used to treat youth with anxiety disorders, they may be poorly tolerated in children who are at high risk of developing bipolar disorder. Moreover, many antidepressants cannot be metabolized by segments of the population due to deficiencies in metabolic pathways such as Cytochrome 450. Historically, non-metabolizers are given more and more psych drugs as they become more and more psychotic until finally they hang themselves, kill someone else or become disabled in a mental institution.
So what’s better than medication? Mindfulness
Dr. Madhav Goyal of the John Hopkins School of Medicine, who led research published in JAMA, singled out mindfulness meditation as of of the most effective forms of introspection.
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