Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions

In the paper

“Specifically, Leary and colleagues (2007) observed that individuals with high levels of self-compassion reported less negative emotion when confronting real, imagined, or remembered negative events, were more willing to accept responsibility for negative events, but were less likely to ruminate about unpleasant events compared to individuals low in self-compassion.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Leary and colleagues (2007)

In the paper

“For the implicit measure, however, the effect of meditation was only evident for its target, with little or no impact on responses toward strangers.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hutcherson and colleagues (2008)

In the paper

“LKM was associated with greater positive affect toward its target, as well as toward nontarget neutral strangers.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hutcherson and colleagues (2008)

In the paper

“Interestingly, the effects of LKM were specific to positive emotions, because negative emotions did not show any substantial changes.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fredrickson and colleagues (2008)

In the paper

“Multilevel analyses of daily recordings further showed that more LKM practices were related to less pain that day and less anger the following day.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carson and colleagues (2005)

In the paper

“These increases in positive emotions could be observed both within the trajectories of change in daily emotions over the span of 9 weeks and also 2 weeks after formal training ended.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fredrickson and colleagues (2008)

In the paper

“Furthermore, the gains in personal resources led participants to become more satisfied with their lives and to experience fewer depressive symptoms.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fredrickson and colleagues (2008)

In the paper

“Without their presence, whenever confronted by unpleasant or negative perceptions (e.g., negative self-thoughts, disturbing emotions, or distressing images), one would be highly likely to come into an evaluative or ruminative state of mind and thus no longer be able to imagine or actually experience the emotional state as an object of attention and mindful awareness.”

In the paper

“Without them, negative judgments interfere with sustained mindfulness, whether to the breath or to any other object of awareness.”

In the paper

“Consequently, the four immeasurables, including loving-kindness and compassion, can be seen as attributes that underlie the nonjudgmental aspect of mindful awareness.”

In the paper

“Only when we are able to confront difficult sensations emotions or thoughts with a degree of kindness, compassion, and composure, can we attend to the variety and textures of present-moment experiences in a mindful way.”

In the paper

“The literature suggests that LKM and CM are associated with an increase in positive affect and a decrease in negative affect.”

In the paper

“However, it should be noted that LKM may have led to a greater reduction in negative emotions as compared to other studies because participants might have had higher negative emotions at baseline.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carson and colleagues (2005)

In the paper

“Both forms of meditation (LKM and CM) are centrally related to, and include the practice of, mindfulness, as noted by many scholars and practitioners from varying traditions, including Theravadin, Japanese, and Chinese Zen (e.g., Bodhi, 2005; Kuan, 2008; Sanharakshita, 2004; Shen-Yen, 2001; Suzuki, 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bodhi, 2005
• Not checked yetcites Kuan, 2008
• Not checked yetcites Sanharakshita, 2004

In the paper

“In many Buddhist practices, LKM and CM are combined together, and such is the case in most psychological studies (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Lutz et al., 2009).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kabat-Zinn, 1990
• Not checked yetcites Lutz et al., 2009 source

In the paper

“These effects may result from applying just those affective qualities of kindness and acceptance- inherent to LKM and CM - to challenging momentary states.”

In the paper

“Furthermore, the right middle insula showed a greater association with heart rate across subjects. This association was stronger in the left middle insula when experts were compared to novices (Lutz et al., 2009).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lutz et al., 2009 source

In the paper

“The perception-action model of empathy states that observing and imagining another person in a particular state activates a similar state in the observer (Preston & DeWaal, 2002).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Preston & DeWaal, 2002

In the paper

“Second, the CM was taught by a highly expert teacher and practitioner with many years of training, whereas the active control was taught by graduate students with certainly little expertise, training or even practice with the protocol.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Pace et al., 2009 source
• Not checked yetcites Pace et al., 2010 source

In the paper

“Given the preliminary nature of these studies and the fact that the techniques have little to do with Buddhist forms of meditation, it is doubtful that the procedure can be seriously compared to Buddhist approaches to LKM and CM.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gilbert & Procter, 2006 source
• Not checked yetcites Mayhew & Gilbert, 2008 source

In the paper

“Furthermore, participants reported a decrease in depression, anxiety, and paranoia.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Mayhew & Gilbert, 2008 source

In the paper

“Concentrative and self-investigative skills, a quiet mind and self-compassion may conceivably be necessary prerequisites for the cultivation of compassion to others.”

In the paper

“In the Buddhist tradition, LKM and CM have traditionally been combined with other meditation practices—such as multi-sensorial mindfulness--and may well be efficacious techniques when added to existing empirically supported therapies, such as cognitive behavioral treatments.”

In the paper

“These results suggest that CM reduces stress-induced subjective distress and immune response.”

• Also stated in: § Discussion · hedged

  “Neuroendocrine studies suggest that CM may reduce stress-induced subjective distress and immune response (Pace et al., 2009; 2010).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Pace et al., 2009 source
• Not checked yetcites Pace et al., 2010 source

In the paper

“Results showed that during meditation, activation in the insula was greater during presentation of negative sounds than positive or neutral sounds in the expert relative to the novice meditators, and that the degree of insula activation was associated with self-reported intensity of the meditation in both groups.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lutz et al., 2008

In the paper

“Furthermore, meditation increased activity in the amygdala, which is crucial for the processing of emotional stimuli, and in the right temporal parietal juncture, an area that is implicated in empathy and when perceiving mental and emotional states of others.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lutz et al., 2008
• Not checked yetcites Lutz et al., 2009 source

In the paper

“This may also account for the fact that mindfulness meditation is typically first learned before LKM and CM are practiced (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1990).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kabat-Zinn, 1990

In the paper

“Very little data exist on LKM and CM as a clinical intervention method.”

In the paper

“However, increased meditation practice was associated with decreased stress-induced interleukin-6 and subjective reports of distress in the meditation group.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Pace et al., 2009 source

In the paper

“Furthermore, these findings are very preliminary and have to be evaluated with great caution.”

In the paper

“In sum, existing research studies suggest that LKM and CM are highly promising practices for improving positive affect and for reducing stress and negative affect such as anxiety and mood symptoms.”

In the paper

“When effects upon LKM were examined alone in an intervention trial (Fredrickson et al., 2008), effects upon positive emotions were significant but small, and contrary to major assumptions of Buddhist psychology, there were no treatment benefits upon reduction of negative emotions.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fredrickson et al., 2008 source

In the paper

“This may suggest that CM and LKM techniques require integration with mindfulness practices, and future research in this area is clearly needed.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fredrickson et al., 2008 source

In the paper

“Likewise, Gilbert and Procter (2006) and Mayhew and Gilbert (2008) developed an intervention that combines techniques from many other treatment approaches and encourages patients to cultivate self-compassion, which only vaguely resembles the initial stage of LKM.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gilbert & Procter, 2006 source
• Not checked yetcites Mayhew & Gilbert, 2008 source