Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness (24 page)

and self-reported associations of emotions with the self.
Brown and Ryan

(2003)
found that, in general, people showed little or no concordance

between explicit (self-) reports of their pleasant and unpleasant emotional

Chapter 4 Phenomenology and Emotional Correlates of Mindfulness

71

self-concept on the one hand and their implicit emotional self-concept on

the other. However, those higher in MAAS-assessed mindfulness showed a

stronger concordance between explicit and implicit emotional self-concept,

suggesting that these individuals may have greater emotional self-awareness.

This finding is consistent with the phenomenological nature of mindfulness

discussed earlier, but the research is still preliminary, and replication and

extension are needed before it can be concluded that mindfulness fosters

emotional awareness.

There is more research addressing the other primary emotion regulatory

skill, namely, the alteration of emotional responses. First, trait mindfulness

and mindfulness practice skills have been associated with less thought sup-

pression, rumination, impulsivity, and passivity, all maladaptive forms of reg-

ulation linked with poorer mental health
(Baer et al., 2006;
Brown & Ryan,

2003;
Cardaciotto et al., 2008;
Chambers, Lo, & Allen, 2008;
Feldman et al.,

2007;
Frewen et al.,
in press;
McKee et al., 2007;
Shapiro, Brown, & Biegel,

2007;
Wupperman et al., in press). Conversely, mindfulness and mindfulness skills have been positively associated with adaptive regulatory strategies,

including acceptance and letting go of negative thoughts (e.g.,
Baer et al.,

2006;
Brown & Ryan, 2003;
Frewen et al., in press). The adaptive nature of acceptance of emotional and other subjective experiences is consistent with

the notion that it is sometimes more adaptive to experience or express an

emotion than to alter its trajectory
(Barrett & Gross, 2001).

Beyond such preliminary investigations of dispositional emotion regula-

tory tendencies, several trait-based studies have tested the efficacy of mind-

fulness to attenuate the experience of negative emotion in emotionally

provocative situations. Among the most emotionally charged situations that

individuals find themselves in are those involving interpersonal conflict. It

has been argued
(Goleman, 2006)
that the receptive attentiveness that char-

acterizes mindfulness may promote a greater ability or willingness to take

interest in a communication partner’s thoughts and emotions and may also

enhance an ability to attend to the content of a partner’s communication

while also being aware of the partner’s (sometimes subtle) affective tone and

nonverbal behavior. At the same time, such a person may be more aware

of their own cognitive, emotional, and verbal responses to the communica-

tion.
Boorstein (1996)
has argued that mindfulness promotes an ability to

witness thought and emotion so as not to react impulsively and destructively

to them. Initial research guided by this theorizing has been conducted in the

realm of romantic relationships, in which studies have addressed whether

mindfulness may affect the emotional tone of romantic partner conflicts and,

perhaps relatedly, enhance the communication that happens within those

relationships.

Barnes, Brown, Krusemark, Campbell, and Rogge
(2007)
and Wachs and

Cordova
(2007)
found that higher MAAS-measured trait mindfulness pre-

dicted higher relationship satisfaction and greater capacities to respond

constructively to relationship stress among non-distressed dating couples

and married couples. In the second study in their series with dating cou-

ples,
Barnes et al. (2007)
tested the reliability of those findings in the heat of a relationship conflict. Using a well-validated paradigm (e.g., Gottman,

Coan, Carrere, & Swanson,
1998),
higher trait MAAS scores predicted lower emotional stress responses to conflict (anxiety and anger hostility), and this

72

Kirk Warren Brown and Shari Cordon

effect was explained by lower emotional stress before the discussion. This

corroborates other cross-sectional and experience sampling research, noted

already, showing that those more dispositionally mindful are less suscepti-

ble to negative emotional states in general, and suggests that this lower sus-

ceptibility extends into the specific context of romantic couple interactions.

Interestingly, Barnes et al.’s (2007) results showed that rather than buffering

the effects of emotional arousal during conflict, mindfulness helped to inoc-

ulate against such arousal. The capacity of mindfulness to inhibit reactivity

to conflict was also evident in the cognitive judgments that each partner

made; those higher in trait mindfulness showed a more positive (or less neg-

ative) pre–post conflict change in their perception of the partner and the

relationship. This study also supported the importance of bringing a mindful

state into challenging exchanges, in that self-reported state mindfulness was

related to better communication quality, as assessed by objective raters of

the videotaped conflicts.

Whether mindfulness influences affective appraisals has also been tested

experimentally in two studies using state inductions of mindfulness. Arch and

Craske
(2006)
used a focused breathing exercise to induce a mindful state, while two experimental control groups received inductions of unfocused

attention and worrying. Relative to experimental controls, those receiving a

mindfulness induction showed less negative reactivity and emotional volatil-

ity in response to affectively valenced picture slides and a greater willing-

ness to maintain visual contact with aversive slides. This latter finding sug-

gests evidence for one process theorized to explain the salutary effects

of mindfulness on emotion regulation and mental health, namely, willing

exposure to threatening information. Interestingly, this study also found that

those receiving mindfulness instructions maintained consistent, moderately

positive responses to neutral picture slides, while the groups induced by

unfocused attention and worry responded more negatively to neutral slides,

providing some basis for the claim that mindfulness helps to protect against

negatively biased processing of experience.

The
Barnes et al. (2007),
Wachs and Cordova (2007),
and
Arch and Craske

(2006)
findings suggest that mindfulness may influence emotional content by altering situational meaning through a primary appraisal process, in particular by reducing negative emotional reactivity to challenging stimuli. Other

evidence suggests that a mindful state may alter the time course of emo-

tion by facilitating recovery following a provocative event.
Broderick (2005)

found that, in comparison to those in distraction and rumination condi-

tions, individuals in a mindful induction condition showed quicker emotional

recovery from an induced sad mood. Though preliminary, these findings

on reduced reactivity and speeding the recovery from unpleasant emotional

experiences offer support for the hypothesized consequences of the recep-

tive, non-evaluative mode of processing that characterizes mindfulness, and

also offer promise for clinical research by suggesting a means to cope with

difficult emotions when they arise
(Broderick, 2005).

Dynamic relations between mindfulness and emotional content and

regulation
. As other chapters in this volume attest, a growing body of

research indicates that mindfulness-based interventions can have positive

impacts on mental health. Mindfulness interventions are purported to

increase participants’ mindfulness, and this is believed to be responsible for

Chapter 4 Phenomenology and Emotional Correlates of Mindfulness

73

the positive effects of the interventions on cognitive, emotional, and behav-

ioral indicators of mental health. Yet to date little research has examined

whether mindfulness itself is enhanced through such multi-modal treatments

and whether such enhancements are related to emotional content, emotion

regulation, and other mental health outcomes observed. Such research can

not only help to address basic questions about the role of mindfulness in

mental health, but can also inform study of the processes by which mind-

fulness interventions achieve their beneficial effects. In large part, the lack

of attention to such questions is because measures of the mindfulness con-

struct have developed only recently, but since then, intervention studies

have begun to test the dynamic relation between change in mindfulness and

changes in emotional and cognitive indicators of mental health in healthy,

healthy stressed, and clinical populations.

Several uncontrolled studies have shown scores on dispositional mind-

fulness and mindfulness practice skills to increase significantly over the

course of MBSR and related interventions with healthy and distressed sam-

ples (e.g., Carmody & Baer, 2008;
Cohen-Katz et al., 2005;
Frewen et al., in press; Forman, Herbert, Moitra, Yeomans, & Geller, 2007). In a study of

healthy adults participating in a 10-day intensive mindfulness training, Cham-

bers et al. (2008) found that, relative to matched control participants, trained

participants reported significant increases in MAAS mindfulness from pre-

to post-training and significant reductions in negative affect, reflective rumi-

nation, and depressive symptoms. Increases in mindfulness over the study

period were associated with declines in anxiety, depressive symptoms, and

reflective rumination, and increases in positive affect and working memory.

Other intervention studies testing these dynamic associations have focused

on health-care professionals, and professionals in training, whose occupa-

tions can put them at risk for a range of stress-related conditions, including

depression, anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and occupational burnout (Sher-

win et al.,
1992; Tyssen, Vaglum, Gronvold, & Ekeberg, 2001).
In a matched-control MBSR study of psychotherapists in training,
Shapiro et al. (2007)

found that intervention participants reported significant increases in MAAS-

assessed mindfulness over 8 weeks, as well as increases in positive affect

and declines in perceived stress, negative affect, state and trait anxiety, and

rumination relative to controls. Further, enhanced mindfulness was associ-

ated with declines in anxiety and distress and a reduced tendency to use

rumination to regulate emotion. Research has also begun to test such asso-

ciations in clinical populations. In an uncontrolled MBSR study with cancer

patients,
Brown and Ryan (2003)
found that increases in MAAS-assessed trait mindfulness were related to declines in stress as well as anxiety, depressive

symptoms, and other indicators of mood disturbance (cf.
Carlson & Brown,

2005).

In sum, preliminary trait-based research suggests that mindfulness is asso-

ciated with a variety of affective (and cognitive) indicators of well-being,

while both trait- and state-based research suggests that mindfulness is asso-

ciated with more pleasant affect and, in particular, less unpleasant affective

experience. Those higher in dispositional and state mindfulness appear to

experience unpleasant affect less intensely on a day-to-day basis, and when

in a mindful state, individuals react less intensely to emotionally provocative

stimulation. This lower reactivity, combined with initial evidence for quicker

74

Kirk Warren Brown and Shari Cordon

recovery from induced unpleasant (sad) moods, suggests that mindfulness

promotes more efficient emotion regulation, which may help to explain

the more positive emotional states associated with mindfulness. In turn,

this research also offers support for a variety of theories emphasizing the

importance of attentional sensitivity to psychological and other cues for self-

regulated functioning (e.g.,
Baumeister, Heatherton & Tice, 1994;
Carver & Scheier,
1998;
Deci & Ryan, 1985).

Mindfulness and Affective Processes

Research on the affective processes underlying the apparent salutary emo-

tional correlates of mindfulness is even more recent than that focused on

core affect, specific emotional content, and cognitive appraisals, but the few

available studies are worth noting, particularly because they help to cor-

roborate the research on mindfulness and subjective emotional experiences

described already as well as suggest neural substrates for them.

Emotional processes involve an array of diverse, correlated neurologi-

cal processes
(Anderson, 2007),
but two areas of the brain – the amyg-

dala and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) – appear to be important to both the

experience and the regulation of emotion. There is indication that amyg-