Drumming To Communicate Emotion: Dual-Brain Imaging Informs An Intervention In A Carceral Setting

Drumming is an ancient nonverbal communication modality for expression of emotion. However, there has been limited exploration of its possible applications in clinical settings. Further, the underlying neural systems engaged during live communication with drumming have not been identified. We investigated the neural response to live, natural communication of emotion via drumming using a novel dual-brain neuroimaging paradigm to discover its unique neurophysiological mechanisms related to drum behavior and cross-brain coherence, and as compared to talking. We then investigated the application of a drumming intervention in an incarcerated, halfway house population to characterize intervention feasibility, elucidate the phenomenology of social and emotional effects of group drumming, and identify its possible benefits for treatment engagement and community reintegration. For neural response investigation, hemodynamic signals were acquired using whole-head functional near infrared spectroscopy. Dyads of 36 subjects participated in two conditions, drumming and talking, alternating between “sending” (drumming or talking to partner) and “receiving” (listening to partner) in response to emotionally salient images from the International Affective Picture System. Results indicated that increased frequency and amplitude of drum strikes was behaviorally correlated with higher arousal and lower valence measures, and neurally correlated with temporoparietal junction (TPJ) activation in the listener. Contrast comparisons of drumming greater than talking also revealed neural activity in right TPJ. For the interventional investigation, a group drumming program was implemented once a week for eight weeks for incarcerated participants in a halfway house. Twenty-eight participants were randomized to either the drum group or treatment as usual. Interviews and a focus group were conducted to assess the experienced benefits of the group drumming intervention, and halfway house retention rates were compared across groups. Retention rate was significantly higher in the drum group than in the treatment as usual group. Qualitative analysis elicited three themes: group drumming 1) functions therapeutically as a method of coping with difficulty, 2) offers opportunity for connection through building relationship and experiencing communion in a setting where isolation is the norm, and 3) provides an environment for personal growth, particularly toward re-humanization and self-empowerment. Neural findings suggest that emotional content communicated by drumming engages right TPJ mechanisms in an emotionally and behaviorally sensitive fashion; interventional findings suggest significant therapeutic potential in social and emotional domains that can have quantifiable impact on recovery process. Together, findings suggest that drumming may provide access to neural mechanisms with known sensitivity to social and emotional conditions that facilitates therapeutic aims. Informed by this research, drumming may provide novel, effective clinical approaches for treating social-emotional psychopathology

A randomized controlled trial of smartphone-based mindfulness training for smoking cessation: a study protocol

BACKGROUND: Tobacco use is responsible for the death of about 1 in 10 individuals worldwide. Mindfulness training has shown preliminary efficacy as a behavioral treatment for smoking cessation. Recent advances in mobile health suggest advantages to smartphone-based smoking cessation treatment including smartphone-based mindfulness training. This study evaluates the efficacy of a smartphone app-based mindfulness training program for improving smoking cessation rates at 6-months follow-up. METHODS/DESIGN: A two-group parallel-randomized clinical trial with allocation concealment will be conducted. Group assignment will be concealed from study researchers through to follow-up. The study will be conducted by smartphone and online. Daily smokers who are interested in quitting smoking and own a smartphone (n = 140) will be recruited through study advertisements posted online. After completion of a baseline survey, participants will be allocated randomly to the control or intervention group. Participants in both groups will receive a 22-day smartphone-based treatment program for smoking. Participants in the intervention group will receive mobile mindfulness training plus experience sampling. Participants in the control group will receive experience sampling-only. The primary outcome measure will be one-week point prevalence abstinence from smoking (at 6-months follow-up) assessed using carbon monoxide breath monitoring, which will be validated through smartphone-based video chat. DISCUSSION: This is the first intervention study to evaluate smartphone-based delivery of mindfulness training for smoking cessation. Such an intervention may provide treatment in-hand, in real-world contexts, to help individuals quit smoking. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02134509 . Registered 7 May 2014

Women Benefit More Than Men in Response to College-based Meditation Training

Objectives: While recent literature has shown that mindfulness training has positive effects on treating anxiety and depression, there has been virtually no research investigating whether effects differ across genders—despite the fact that men and women differ in clinically significant ways. The current study investigated whether college-based meditation training had different effects on negative affect for men and women.Methods: Seventy-seven university students (36 women, age = 20.7 ± 3.0 years) participated in 12-week courses with meditation training components. They completed self-report questionnaires of affect, mindfulness, and self-compassion before and after the course.Results: Compared to men, women showed greater decreases in negative affect and greater increases on scales measuring mindfulness and self-compassion. Women’s improvements in negative affect were correlated to improvements in measures of both mindfulness skills and self-compassion. In contrast, men showed non-significant increases in negative affect, and changes in affect were only correlated with ability to describe emotions, not any measures of experiential or self-acceptance.Conclusion: These findings suggest that women may have more favorable responses than men to school-based mindfulness training, and that the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions may be maximized by gender-specific modifications