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Mindful Grounding and Trauma |
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| Author |
Bartanian, Garbis J (著)
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| Date | 2019.03.05 |
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| Pages | 241 |
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| Publisher | ProQuest LLC |
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| Publisher Url |
https://www.proquest.com/
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| Location | Ann Arbor, MI, US [安娜堡, 密西根州, 美國] |
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| Content type | 博碩士論文=Thesis and Dissertation |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Degree | doctor |
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| Institution | University of the West |
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| Department | Buddhist Chaplaincy |
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| Advisor | Nicole Nardon |
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| Publication year | 2019 |
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| Abstract | The qualitative research on this intervention involves therapists and their work with patients within the field of mental health, working with inner city and under-served teens from 12 to 18 years’ old in Middle and High School settings. While providing care to patients, one of the key elements used in therapeutic interventions is that of mindfulness. Thus, while using mindfulness-based techniques, such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) or Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), therapists worked to treat patients’ symptoms. Often however, many of the therapists using these interventions faced situations where patients began exhibiting maladaptive behaviors with their original symptoms being left intact or severely intensified. Furthermore, in using mindfulness techniques many of the patients working through severe anxiety found themselves dissociating from their bodies in an attempt to avoid re-experiencing powerful traumatic emotions. Thus, two main issues resulted, a) symptoms got worse, and b) dissociation from the body took place.
As a response, I devised an intervention that incorporated principles of Buddhist meditative practice such as virtue, mental cultivation through awareness, and subsequently wisdom, i.e. the three trainings (sīa, samāhi, paññā). The goal of this intervention is to alter patients’ automatic reactions of being drawn into overwhelming feelings and the dysregulation of bodily sensations, and instead to simply ground the patient by intentionally directing their thoughts and attention to the here and now, while using the body and its parts as anchors of awareness. Thus, the intervention was coined the “Mindful Grounding” (MG).
In using the MG, patients were able to meet their treatment goals much sooner than originally anticipated in their initial assessment during intake. In some cases, therapists observed reduction of anxiety, depression, anger, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms within one or two sessions from first introducing patients to the MG intervention. The process of experiencing the body thus in a new way as prescribed by the MG, involves helping patients become calmly reacquainted with their own bodies. It is through this connection of body and mind that they develop a deeper and more existential connection with their world, as they heal with the insight gained through acceptance and understanding of their trauma and thereby rebuild their lives. |
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| Table of contents | Acknowledgements ii
Dedication xi
Abstract xii
Table of Contents xiii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Why the Mindful Grounding intervention? 8
1.2 Mindfulness as a way of connecting to the body 11
1.3 Mindfulness practices that although incomplete, inspired the development of the MG 13
1.4 A culture of mental disorders and psychopharmacology 14
1.5 Staying put and experiencing the world through the body 16
1.6 Therapeutic role of the Dhamma 18
1.7 The futility of mindfulness without right understanding 20
1.8 Patient-therapist relationship grounded in empathy 25
1.9 Summary 31
Chapter 2: Review of Current Literature 36
2.1 Neuroscience and reflective awareness 38
2.2 How trauma is processed in the body 43
2.3 Therapy: symptoms, diagnosis, and interventions 44
2.4 Mindfulness and ethics 53
2.5 Empathy: the foundation for the relational model 54
2.6 Awareness, intentional remembering, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) 59
2.7 "Right" vs. "wrong" mindfulness 62
- Mindfulness, as presented in the current culture 63
- Is mindfulness enough by itself? 66
- Moving the patient from avoidance to the present moment 67
2.8 Linking trauma with emotions 70
- Reflective mindfulness of the body and trauma 76
- Biological need for safety 77
- MG’s interdisciplinary scope and the cognitive/affective capacity of subjects 78
- Dealing with trauma through Right Effort 80
- Trauma: Buddhism and science in dialogue 85
2.9 Summary 94
Chapter 3: Methodology 96
3.1 The MG: what is it? 100
- Grounding in the details of trauma 100
- Uniting feelings and thoughts through body awareness 102
- The full participation of the therapist, as a requirement of MG 103
- Possible obstacles for clinicians to fully commit 104
3.2 Mindful Grounding (MG) as an Intervention 107
- Therapists as subjects 108
- Accessibility of both author and the intervention 109
- Easy-to-follow directions 110
- Applicability to the three stages of treatment 112
3.3 Data collection 113
- Some demographic information 115
- Therapist/author's own observations in using the MG, gathering data, and conducting assessments 116
- An added challenge faced by therapists at my clinical site 118
3.4 Consideration of diversity factors 120
3.5 The need for a new therapeutic framework 121
3.6 Summary 124
Chapter 4: Results 126
4.1 Initial results obtained by this author (a supportive factor) 126
4.2 Relational work and its impact on the data collected 127
4.3 Data collection 128
4.4 Pre-study and post-study questionnaires 129
- Questionnaire data analyzed 129
4.5 Data collected from journals 142
- Analysis of the journals 142
- Additional excerpts from journals 145
4.6 One-on-one informal interviews 149
- Samples of interviews 149
4.7 Mindfulness: a doorway to the Third Noble Truth 155
4.8 Limitations 157
4.9 Summary 160
Chapter 5: Conclusion 163
5.1 Background to the MG 163
5.2 Author’s personal experience as part of this research 167
- Applying insights gained through personal challenges and mental illness faced throughout life 168
- Communicating with mettā 168
- Appreciation of the sense of urgency and the 'two arrows' mentioned by the Buddha 170
- Making room for loving kindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), altruistic joy (muditā), and equanimity (upekkhā)
in patients 171
- Relationally lived life: a life worth living 172
5.3 An opportunity to share the Dhamma 173
- Bringing the Satipaṭṭ |
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| Hits | 117 |
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| Created date | 2023.05.08 |
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| Modified date | 2024.05.28 |
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