Can Mindfulness Soothe Anxiety? The trial suggests yes. – Harvard Gazette

The U.S. is facing a mental health crisis, with experts failing to respond to the surge in cases during the pandemic, according to research. Amanda Baker, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at the Massachusetts General’s Center, recently collaborated with colleagues at New York University and Georgetown on mindfulness-based stress reduction. We examined one potential reaction of hers. The team compared the effectiveness of the intensive intervention to the effectiveness of the commonly prescribed anxiety drug escitalopram. Participants in this study saw about the same amount of improvement after the eight-week course. We spoke with Baker about her research and its impact on the treatment of mental health issues, and her interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Gusset: How prevalent are anxiety disorders?

Baker: Anxiety disorders are very prevalent. It is estimated that between 2% and 10% of the population are experiencing some type of anxiety disorder, 20% of the population are currently diagnosed with some form of anxiety disorder, and nearly a third of the U.S. population lives I am experiencing significant anxiety within.

Gusset: What are the treatments for it?

Baker: We have gold standard treatments that have gone through rigorous research, both on the pharmacological side (mostly SSRI type medications) and on the therapeutic side such as cognitive behavioral therapy. The pressure is strong, the access is getting harder and harder and harder. Anxiety and depression symptoms increased during the pandemic. 30% of people would have had significant symptoms, but now he is in 40%. I have also received recommendations for further screening for depression and anxiety.

This research was born out of all these fragments. We need more treatments and need to assess whether our treatments are as good as these gold standard treatments. It’s Ness. Some studies show that 15% of the population has at least dabbled in mindfulness or meditation, and it’s growing in popularity. The approach used in this study was mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which is a specific her eight-week intervention.

Gusset: What are MBSRs?

Baker: Developed and taken off by Jon Kabat-Zinn of UMass. This is his eight-week course, which prescribes 2.5 hours per week plus 45 minutes of mindfulness homework each day. So this is a lot of mindfulness, but it can be rigorously studied and compared to other standard treatments that follow a similar regimen. often include medications. In this case, he compared Lexapro’s generic, escitalopram, with his MBSR.

Gusset: What about asymptomatic anxiety? Is that part of the picture too?

Baker: am. Many people experience symptoms of anxiety that do not necessarily result in a diagnosable anxiety disorder. When something is in what we call a disability category, it causes considerable distress in daily life and interferes with daily activities such as work, socializing, and school. and may not be disabling. They can still manage and get things done, but that’s probably causing them a lot of pain.

Gusset: What did you find in your research?

Baker: We wanted to find out if MBSR was as good as this gold standard drug, escitalopram. Clinically, both groups started with what we call moderate to moderate-to-high anxiety levels. They were reduced to mild, almost subclinical levels of anxiety. Both groups had a clinically significant amount of change, with a drop of 1 point or more in the primary outcome measure.

Gusset: How relevant is this to what you do in the clinic? Is this a test of two things you do all the time?

Baker: Our prescribers prescribe escitalopram daily, but our program does not offer MBSR because it is not usually reimbursed by insurance. It’s a service you have to find where you are. One of the benefits of MBSR is that more providers are trained to offer this intervention, as they do not need to have a clinical degree to receive the training. We hope that this study will provide evidence that insurance companies will be able to reimburse MBSR and offer it in our clinics.

Gusset: Is this seen as a potential tool for addressing unmet mental health needs?

Baker: Of course, I think more effort is needed. This was a strict dose of therapy, all done face-to-face. If it was delivered live online, if it was asynchronous, if it was delivered on the app, I need to know if it succeeded. There are many remaining questions. But our findings arguably provide evidence for another option. MBSR is another option and hopefully opens the door to other mindfulness-based interventions.

Gusset: What symptoms should a person look for if there is a sense that there may be a problem?

Baker: Symptoms vary from person to person. For some people, there may be physical symptoms such as heart palpitations, sweating, and difficulty breathing. For others, there may be thoughts, cognitive symptoms, worries, perhaps ruminations about the future or the past. , which comes in many forms, the problem is: Do you have any symptoms that are very distressing and interfering with your daily life? If so, contact your doctor or mental health professional for help.