Mindfulness Meditation and the Perception of Beauty: Implications for an Ecological Well-Being

Meditation is a first-person method for contemplating ourselves and the world, with more than 2500 years of history, rooted in the philosophical and contemplative traditions of the east. The present chapter aims to explore this worldview in order to demonstrate its relevance to our capacity for the appreciation of beauty. To this end, the aesthetic experience, the contemplative experience and their relationship with the practice of mindfulness are analysed. We suggest that the contemplative meditative experience bestows a state of consciousness and acceptance of life which places the practitioner in a progressive encounter with a self-concept that begins to detach from a static sense of the self and from the categories that define it, so that it may be experienced as an ongoing mental event, removed from cultural ideals of beauty or positivity. The result of this de-identification from the static self is a greater degree of psychological flexibility and a more genuine way of seeing the world, leading to a new perception of the self that is connected to an experience of freedom, and contributes to one’s own well-being, as well as to that of others and of the environment

Clinical resilience : toward a unified definition

Clinical practice takes place under particularly complex conditions. Exposure to everyday challenges, stress, traumas, uncertainty, and dysfunction of the healthcare system are associated with burnout, lower quality of patient care, and deterioration of relationships within health teams and institutions. These factors have been exacerbated during coronavirus pandemic and associated social unrest, raising more acute and long-term concerns about the ability of health professionals, teams, and institutions to be sufficiently resilient in order to face their current and future challenges

Conjugated-polymer micro- and milliactuators for biological applications

The development of new conjugated-polymer tools for the study of the biological realm, and for use in a clinical setting, is reviewed in this article. Conjugated-polymer actuators, based on the changes of volume of the active conjugated polymer during redox transformation, can be used in electrolytes employed in cell-culture media and in biological fluids such as blood, plasma, and urine. Actuators ranging in size from 10 μm to 100 μm suitable for building structures to manipulate single cells are produced with photolithographic techniques. Larger actuators may be used for the manipulation of blood vessels and biological tissue.Original Publication:Charlotte Immerstrand, Kajsa Holmgren Peterson, Karl-Eric Magnusson, Edwin Jager, Magnus Krogh, Mia Skoglund, Anders Selbing and Olle Inganäs, Conjugated-Polymer Micro- and Milliactuators for Biological Applications, 2002, MRS bulletin, (27), 6, 461-464.http://www.mrs.org/s_mrs/sec_subscribe.asp?CID=2959&amp;DID=171856&amp;action=detailCopyright: MRS Materials Research Societyhttp://www.mrs.org/</p

The effect of a mindfulness-based intervention in cognitive functions and psychological well-being applied as an early intervention in schizophrenia and high-risk mental state in a Chilean sample: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: According to the projections of the World Health Organization, 15% of all disabilities will be associated with mental illnesses by 2020. One of the mental disorders with the largest social impacts due to high personal and family costs is psychosis. Among the most effective psychological approaches to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders at the world level is cognitive behavioral therapy. Recently, cognitive behavioral therapy has introduced several tools and strategies that promote psychological processes based on acceptance and mindfulness. A large number of studies support the effectiveness of mindfulness in dealing with various mental health problems, including psychosis. This study is aimed at determining the efficiency of a mindfulness-based program in increasing cognitive function and psychological well-being in patients with a first episode of schizophrenia and a high risk mental state (those at risk of developing an episode of psychosis). Methods and design: This is an experimentally designed, multi-center randomized controlled trial, with a 3-month follow-up period. The study participants will be 48 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (first episode) and 48 with a high-risk mental state, from Santiago, Chile, aged between 15 and 35 years. Participants will be submitted to a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), which will involve taking part in eight mindfulness workshops adapted for people with psychosis. Workshops will last approximately 1.5 hours and take place once a week, over 8 weeks. The primary outcome will be the cognitive function through Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) and the secondary outcome will be psychological well-being measured by self-reporting questionnaires. Discussion: The outcomes of this trial will add empirical evidence to the benefits and feasibility of MBIs for the psychotherapeutic treatment of patients with schizophrenia and high-risk mental states in reducing cognitive impairment in attention, working memory, and social cognition, as well as increasing the psychological well-being by empowering the patients' personal resources in the management of their own symptoms and psychotic experiences.Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development Chilean Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism, through the Millennium Scientific Initiative IS130005 FONDECYT 11150846 1114046