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Do psychoanalytic treatment and mindfulness meditation have anything in common? One may reflexively answer in the negative. Yet the mental functions underlying mindfulness meditation and psychoanalytic process have some striking similarities, suggesting that there may be considerable overlap in the relevant neural circuitry. At the very least, consideration of insights provided by the study of the neural bases of meditation might yield benefits for psychoanalytic research.
Yi-Yuan Tang et al. review in detail the status of current neuroscientific research in mindfulness meditation, providing a critical overview of findings and making important methodological points along the way.
Implicated in different types of meditative practices (e.g., mantra, tai-chi, chi-gong, yoga), mindfulness meditation has received much attention over the last few years and has been incorporated into treatments such as integrated body-mind training, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and related therapeutic interventions. Mindfulness is based on the Buddhist concept of equanimity, usually described as nonjudgmental attention to the present moment. Mindfulness-based practices rely either on focused attention or on open monitoring of experiences.
Neuroscientific evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation increases overall self-regulation through three mechanisms: increased attentional control; improved emotion regulation; and a modification of self-awareness.
Attentional control includes alerting, orienting, and conflict-monitoring. In beginners, mindfulness meditation appears to improve conflict-monitoring and orienting, while in more experienced practitioners alerting is enhanced. Functional and structural changes following meditation have been observed in regions known to support attentional control, specifically the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).
Mindfulness practices may also exert beneficial effects through improved emotion regulat