Fascinating New Article on Meditation and Pain: Referring to “No Appraisal” vs “Re-Appraisal”

The journal Pain has scheduled an article for publication in a future issue: “A non-elaborative mental stance and decoupling of executive and pain-related cortices predicts low pain sensitivity in Zen meditators.” The authors are Joshua A. Grant, Jerome Courtemanche, and Pierre Rainville.

ABSTRACT:

Concepts originating from ancient Eastern texts are now being explored

scientifically, leading to new insights into mind/brain function. Meditative practice, often viewed as an emotion regulation strategy, has been associated with pain reduction, low pain sensitivity, chronic pain improvement, and thickness of pain-related cortices.

Zen meditation is unlike previously studied emotion regulation

techniques; more akin to ‘no appraisal’ than ‘reappraisal’. This implies the cognitive evaluation of pain may be involved in the pain-related effects observed in meditators.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a thermal pain paradigm

we show that practitioners of Zen, compared to controls, reduce activity in executive, evaluative and emotion areas during pain (prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus). Meditators with the most experience showed the largest activation reductions. Simultaneously, meditators more robustly activated primary pain processing regions (anterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, insula). Importantly, the lower pain sensitivity in meditators was strongly predicted by reductions in functional connectivity between executive and pain-related cortices.

Results suggest a functional decoupling of the cognitive-evaluative and

sensory-discriminative dimensions of pain, possibly allowing practitioners to view painful stimuli more neutrally. The activation pattern is remarkably consistent with the mindset described in Zen and the notion of mindfulness. Our findings contrast and challenge current concepts of pain and emotion regulation and cognitive control; commonly thought to manifest through increased activation of frontal executive areas. We suggest it is possible to self-regulate in a more ‘passive’ manner, by reducing higher-order evaluative processes, as demonstrated here by the disengagement of anterior brain systems in meditators.

The author note provides the following contact information: Joshua

Grant, Departement de physiologie, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada H3C3J7; <joshua.grant@umontreal.ca>

Further Evidence of the Distinction Between Sensation & Distress in Pain

This study provides some insight into how pain is experienced in the brain and the potential power of mindfulness practice in impacting that experience. We often talk about distinguishing between sensation and distress when it comes to pain, and this study provides some insight into how that works and how mindfulness might play a role in reducing distress and thereby improving the quality of life of those in pain. Check it out!

Mindfulness in the popular press

More good press for mindfulness, this time from cnn.com.