Remedy to curb anxiety, depression, says study.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A study led by an Indian American professor at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has uncovered that mindfulness meditation may be an indispensable tool in the fight against depression, anxiety, and pain – both physical and mental.
Dr. Madhav Goyal and his team at the renowned Baltimore university pored through data from 47 separate studies, which featured a total of over 3,500 individuals who were studied, about the effects of meditation on mental stability and physical health, ultimately coming to the conclusion that there is a noticeable correlation between meditating and mitigating the risks for severe psychological disorders.
The findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a monthly medical journal. In their report, Dr. Goyal and his team found that 5%-10% of those who meditate were less likely to experience symptoms of anxiety, while 10%-20% of those who meditate regularly were less likely to succumb to depression.
Meditation in the US is something of a niche activity, with very few partaking in it. According to an National Institutes of Health study published in 2007, roughly 7% of US citizens say they meditate, while only 1% said they use meditation as a form of medicine.
Mindfulness meditation is, in essence, the practice of sitting very still and in complete silence for extended periods of time, doing absolutely nothing. By doing this, practitioners say you are focusing the mind and bringing yourself to inner and outer peace, which is likely why it has such an effect on reducing the risk for certain mental afflictions.
Goyal, however, says that the “doing nothing” part is, in fact, not entirely true. In a statement to Reuters, he says “It is an active training of the mind to increase awareness, and different meditation programs approach this in different ways.”
An assistant professor of medicine at JHU, Goyal earned his BA at UC Berkeley in 1992, followed by his MD at UC San Diego in 1997 and his Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree in 1995. He completed his residency at UC San Diego and his medical fellowship at the JHU School of Medicine. His current area of research interest, according to his staff page, is “Effects of meditation on chronic pain and symptoms, stress and overall health; low-cost means to improve health in rural India; ethics.”
The full study can be read at the JAMA Internal Medicine website, found here.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com