Dispositional Mindfulness and Attentional Control: The Specific Association Between the Mindfulness Facets of Non-judgment and Describing With Flexibility of Early Operating Orienting in Conflict Detection

Background: A state of mindfulness refers to a present-centered attentional awareness without judging. Being mindful seems to increase the ability to be flexible and adaptive in attention focus according to situational contingencies. The way mindfulness affects such attentional control is often measured with three different but interacting attentional networks of alerting (preparedness), orienting (selection of stimulus), and conflict detection (suppression of irrelevant stimuli). In the current study, the aim was to study the effects of dispositional mindfulness on these attention networks, and specifically the effects on the interactions between these attention networks.Methods: Fifty participants between 19 and 29 years old filled out the questionnaire Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and performed the revised version of the Attention Network Test (ANT-R). The five FFMQ facets of Describing, Non-Judgment, Orienting, Non-Reactivity, and Acting with Awareness were included as predictors in multiple linear regression analyses with the ANT-R scores of alerting, orienting, conflict detection, and the interaction scores of alerting by conflict detection and orienting by conflict detection as outcome variables, respectively.Results: Higher dispositional mindfulness as measured with the five FFMQ facets predicted interaction scores (faster reaction times) of orienting by conflict detection, but none of the other ANT-R scores. It was specifically the FFMQ facets of Describing and non-judgment that predicted this lower interaction score of orienting by conflict detection.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that being mindful is associated with a more flexible and efficient orienting attention. It is associated with a higher ability to disengage from salient stimuli that is irrelevant to pursue goal-directed behavior (conflict detection)

The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on risk and protective factors of depressive relapse – a randomized wait-list controlled trial

Background The aim of this randomized wait-list controlled trial was to explore the effects of Mindfulness–Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on risk and protective factors for depressive relapse within the domains of cognition, emotion and self-relatedness. Methods Sixty-eight individuals with recurrent depressive disorder were randomized to MBCT or a wait-list control condition (WLC). Results Completers of MBCT (N = 26) improved significantly on measures assessing risk and protective factors of recurrent depression compared to WLC (N = 30) on measures of rumination (d = 0.59, p = .015), emotion regulation (d = 0.50, p = .028), emotional reactivity to stress (d = 0.32, p = .048), self-compassion (d = 1.02, p < .001), mindfulness (d = 0.59, p = .010), and depression (d = 0.40, p = .018). In the Intention To Treat sample, findings were attenuated, but there were still significant results on measures of rumination, self-compassion and depression. Conclusions Findings from the present trial contribute to evidence that MBCT can lead to reduction in risk factors of depressive relapse, and strengthening of factors known to be protective of depressive relapse. The largest changes were found in the domain of self-relatedness, in the form of large effects on the participants’ ability to be less self-judgmental and more self-compassionate.publishedVersio

Is Dispositional Self-Compassion Associated With Psychophysiological Flexibility Beyond Mindfulness? An Exploratory Pilot Study

Background: Dispositional mindfulness and self-compassion are shown to associate with less self-reported emotional distress. However, previous studies have indicated that dispositional self-compassion may be an even more important buffer against such distress than dispositional mindfulness. To our knowledge, no study has yet disentangled the relationship between dispositional self-compassion and mindfulness and level of psychophysiological flexibility as measured with vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV). The aim was thus to provide a first exploratory effort to expand previous research relying on self-report measures by including a psychophysiological measure indicative of emotional stress reactivity. Methods: Fifty-three university students filled out the “Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire” (FFMQ) and the “Self-Compassion Scale” (SCS), and their heart rate was measured during a 5 min resting electrocardiogram. Linear hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the common and unique variance explained by the total scores of the FFMQ and the SCS on level of resting vmHRV. Results: Higher SCS total scores associated significantly with higher levels of vmHRV also when controlling for the FFMQ total scores. The SCS uniquely explained 7% of the vmHRV. The FFMQ total scores did not associate with level of vmHRV. Conclusion: These results offer preliminary support that dispositional self-compassion associates with better psychophysiological regulation of emotional arousal above and beyond mindfulness.publishedVersio

Self-Compassion and Its Association With Ruminative Tendencies and Vagally Mediated Heart Rate Variability in Recurrent Major Depression

Background: Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most disabling mental disorders in modern society. Prior research has shown that self-compassion protects against ruminative tendencies, a key feature of recurrent MDD. In addition, self-compassion has been found to be positively related to higher psychophysiological flexibility (indexed by a higher vagally mediated heart rate variability; vmHRV) in young, healthy adults. To our knowledge, there is a lack of studies on how self-compassion relates to vmHRV in patients with recurrent MDD. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether higher self-compassion would associate with (1) lower ruminative tendencies and (2) higher vmHRV in a sample of adults with recurrent MDD. Methods: We included a sample of 63 patients (46 females) between 20 and 71 years old (M = 40.24, SD = 12.8) with a history of three or more depressive episodes. They filled out the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Rumination Rating Scale (RRS). ECG (used to derive vmHRV) was acquired while resting and the square root of the mean squared differences of successive RR interval values (RMSSD) was calculated as measure of vmHRV. Results: As hypothesized, self-compassion was associated with lower ruminative tendencies. However, self-compassion was not associated with level of vmHRV. Several confounding variables were controlled for in the statistical analyses, and higher age predicted lower vmHRV across all statistical analyses. Conclusion: The results confirmed our hypothesis that higher self-compassion would be associated with lower ruminative tendencies in recurrent MDD. Contrary to our expectation, we did not find that the tendency to be more self-compassionate was associated with higher vmHRV. As such, higher self-compassion seems to relate with a lower tendency to ruminate about past mistakes and events but does not seem to relate to a flexible autonomic stress response (as indexed by higher vmHRV). Other potential explanatory factors for lower vmHRV in recurrent MDD is suggested as focus for exploration in future studies.publishedVersio

Self-compassion - Relationship with mindfulness, emotional stress symptoms and psychophysiological flexibility

How we relate to ourselves when facing negative emotions may impact on our psychological health. Drawn from Buddhist psychology, self-compassion involves treating oneself kindly in times of suffering and remembering that failure and imperfection is part of the shared human condition. Converging evidence shows higher levels of dispositional self-compassion to associate with lower levels of selfreported emotional stress symptoms, such as depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and rumination. Self-compassion is suggested to be closely related to mindfulness, another Buddhist concept, and is proposed as a key mechanism explaining why individuals who are mindful tend to be less depressed. Less research has examined how self-compassion relates to psychophysiological functioning, for instance by using biomarkers of autonomic flexibility such as vagally mediated heart rate variability. The purpose of this thesis was thus to examine how self-compassion relates to emotional stress symptoms, mindfulness, and psychophysiological flexibility as indexed by vagally mediated heart rate variability in healthy adults. The overall hypothesis was that self-compassion would specifically protect against emotional stress symptoms. In the first paper, we examined whether self-compassion could explain the well-established link between high levels of mindfulness and lower levels of depressive symptoms. We also included rumination, as a hypothesized counterpart to self-compassion, as another potential mediator of the mindfulness-depressive symptoms relationship. Our main hypothesis was thus that higher levels of selfcompassion and lower levels of rumination would mediate the relationship between higher levels of mindfulness and lower levels of depressive symptoms. The sample consisted of 277 healthy university students. They filled out the &ldquo;Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire&rdquo; (FFMQ), &ldquo;Self-Compassion Scale&rdquo; (SCS), Rumination subscale of the &ldquo;Reflection Rumination Questionnaire&rdquo; (RRQ), and the Depression subscale of the &ldquo;Symptom Checklist-90 Revised&rdquo; (SCL-90-R-dep). The results were consistent with our hypothesis, showing that both higher levels of self-compassion and lower levels of rumination mediated the relationship between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. The results suggest that mindfulness may exert its effect on reduced depressive symptoms both through promoting a compassionate way of relating to oneself, as well as reducing the tendency to ruminate about negative thoughts and feelings. In the second paper, we examined whether dispositional self-compassion is associated with vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), a proposed biomarker of autonomic flexibility. We had four hypotheses. First, we expected that higher levels of dispositional self-compassion would positively associate with higher levels of vmHRV measured during a five-minute resting condition. Second, we expected that the relationship between dispositional self-compassion and vmHRV would persist even when controlling for trait anxiety and rumination. Third, to validate that the proposed relation between higher self-compassion and higher vmHRV was representative of participants&rsquo; everyday lives, we expected that higher levels of self-compassion would associate with higher levels of a 24-hour measure of vmHRV in a subsample of the participants. Finally, we expected to replicate previous study findings that self-compassion associates with lower trait anxiety and rumination. The sample consisted of 53 healthy university students. They completed the SCS, FFMQ, the rumination subscale of the RRQ, and the trait subscale of the &ldquo;State-Trait Anxiety Inventory&rdquo; (STAI). In addition, their heart rate variability was measured during a five-minute resting electrocardiogram, and the subsample (N=26) wore heartrate monitors for 24 hours. The results supported our hypotheses, showing that higher dispositional self-compassion positively related with higher resting and 24-hour vmHRV. This relation was found to persist when controlling for trait anxiety and rumination. Further, dispositional self-compassion also inversely related to trait anxiety and rumination. The results suggest that individuals with high tendencies to treat themselves compassionately are better able to physiologically adapt emotional responses. In the third paper, we aimed to disentangle the effects of dispositional selfcompassion and mindfulness on vmHRV. Drawing from previous study findings that self-compassion exceeds mindfulness in predicting self-reported outcome measures such as depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms, we hypothesized that self-compassion would explain variance in vmHRV beyond mindfulness. We also expected to replicate the previous study findings using self-reported outcome measures of trait anxiety and rumination. The sample was identical to the one used in paper II and consisted of 53 healthy university students who completed the SCS, FFMQ, the rumination subscale of the RRQ, and the trait subscale of the STAI. Resting vmHRV was measured during a five-minute resting electrocardiogram. The results were consistent with our hypotheses, indicating that dispositional selfcompassion predicted variance in vmHRV beyond what was predicted by mindfulness. Self-compassion also predicted variance above mindfulness in trait anxiety and rumination. This suggests that being more self-compassionate relates to better psychophysiological regulation above and beyond the effects of being mindful, pointing to self-compassion as an important buffer against psychophysiological stress reactivity. Together, the findings support the emerging picture of self-compassion as a healthy way of self-responding, facilitating psychological and physiological functioning

The association between self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation and heart rate variability: The salient role of not accepting negative emotions

Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with development and maintenance of psychopathology. Typically, features of emotion regulation are assessed with self-report questionnaires. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an objective measure proposed as an index of emotional regulation capacity. A limited number of studies have shown that self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with HRV. However, results from prior studies are inconclusive, and an ecological validation of the association has not yet been tested. Therefore, further exploration of the relation between self-report questionnaires and psychophysiological measures of emotional regulation is needed. The present study investigated the contribution of self-reported emotion regulation difficulties on HRV in a student sample. We expected higher scores on emotion regulation difficulties to be associated with lower vagus-mediated HRV (vmHRV). Sixty-three participants filled out the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and their resting HRV was assessed. In addition, a subsample of participants provided ambulatory 24-h HRV data, in order to ecologically validate the resting data. Correlation analyses indicated that self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation was negatively associated with vmHRV in both resting HRV and 24-h HRV. Specifically, when exploring the contribution of the different facets of emotion dysregulation, the inability to accept negative emotions showed the strongest association with HRV. The results are discussed and need for future research is described

The Association between Juvenile Onset of Depression and Emotion Regulation Difficulties

Juvenile onset of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with increased likelihood of recurrent episodes of depression and more detrimental clinical trajectories. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of juvenile onset of MDD on emotion regulation as measured by self-report and Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Furthermore, we wanted to assess whether juvenile onset impacted the association between rumination and depressive symptoms. Sixty-four individuals with at least three prior episodes of MDD were recruited and filled out self-report questionnaires measuring rumination and emotion regulation abilities. In addition, electrocardiographic assessments were used to calculate HRV. Based on self-reported age of MDD onset, individuals were divided in two groups: Juvenile onset of MDD (first MDD episode before the age of 18, n = 30) and adult onset of MDD (first MDD episode after the age of 18, n = 34). Results showed that individuals whose first depressive episode occurred in childhood and adolescence reported more rumination and less emotional clarity compared to individuals who had their first episode of MDD in adulthood. Moreover, the tendency to ruminate was strongly associated with depressive symptoms in the juvenile onset of MDD group, whereas no such association was found in the adult onset group. There was no significant group difference for HRV. The findings are discussed in light of existing literature, in addition to suggesting how our findings may inform clinical practice and future research. We conclude that juvenile onset of MDD may lead to difficulties in emotion regulation and that these difficulties may increase depressive symptoms and vulnerability for relapse in this particular subgroup

The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on risk and protective factors of depressive relapse – a randomized wait-list controlled trial

Background The aim of this randomized wait-list controlled trial was to explore the effects of Mindfulness–Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on risk and protective factors for depressive relapse within the domains of cognition, emotion and self-relatedness. Methods Sixty-eight individuals with recurrent depressive disorder were randomized to MBCT or a wait-list control condition (WLC). Results Completers of MBCT (N = 26) improved significantly on measures assessing risk and protective factors of recurrent depression compared to WLC (N = 30) on measures of rumination (d = 0.59, p = .015), emotion regulation (d = 0.50, p = .028), emotional reactivity to stress (d = 0.32, p = .048), self-compassion (d = 1.02, p < .001), mindfulness (d = 0.59, p = .010), and depression (d = 0.40, p = .018). In the Intention To Treat sample, findings were attenuated, but there were still significant results on measures of rumination, self-compassion and depression. Conclusions Findings from the present trial contribute to evidence that MBCT can lead to reduction in risk factors of depressive relapse, and strengthening of factors known to be protective of depressive relapse. The largest changes were found in the domain of self-relatedness, in the form of large effects on the participants’ ability to be less self-judgmental and more self-compassionate

Trait self-compassion reflects emotional flexibility through an association with high vagally mediated heart rate variability

Converging evidence shows a positive effect of self-compassion on self-reported well-being and mental health. However, few studies have examined the relation between self-compassion and psychophysiological measures. In the present study, we therefore examined the relation between trait self-compassion and vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) in 53 students (39 female, mean age = 23.63). Trait self-compassion was assessed using the Self-Compassion Scale, and resting vmHRV was measured during a 5-min ECG baseline period. We hypothesized that higher levels of trait self-compassion would predict higher levels of resting vmHRV. Controlling for potential covariates (including age, gender, and BMI), the results confirmed our hypotheses, showing that higher levels of trait self-compassion predicted higher vmHRV. These results were validated with a 24-h measure of vmHRV, acquired from a subsample of the participants (n = 26, 16 female, mean age = 23.85), confirming the positive correlation between high trait self-compassion and higher vmHRV. The relation between trait self-compassion, vmHRV, self-reported trait anxiety (the trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI) and self-reported rumination (the Rumination subscale of the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire; RRQ-Rum) was also investigated. Higher levels of trait anxiety and rumination were highly correlated with low levels of trait self-compassion. Trait anxiety, but not rumination, correlated marginally significantly with the level of vmHRV. The findings of the present study indicate that trait self-compassion predicts a better ability to physiologically and psychologically adapt emotional responses. Possible implications and limitations of the study are discussed