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This article was the subject of an educational assignment in Spring 2015. Further details were available on the "Education Program:Duquesne University/UCOR 143 Global and Cultural Perspectives (Spring 2015)" page, which is now unavailable on the wiki.

The section, "Elevation_of_positive_emotions_and_outcomes", misrepresents the work of Shao (2009). Current text reads, "He found that a stronger positive association for women than for men."

However, the Shao's article says, "Our findings show that mindfulness was not associated with performance either as a bivariate correlation or when controlling for other predictors. We found, however, that mindfulness and gender interacted to predict performance. Specifically, mindfulness was positively related to performance for women but not men." Source: Shao, R.P. & Skarlicki, D.P. 2009 "The role of mindfulness in predicting individual performance" Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, volume 41, number 4, page 198.

45 women participated in this study.

I suggest we change the text to, "He found mindfulness was positively related to performance for women."

Martinangel ( talk) 18:03, 25 August 2010 (UTC) reply

This piece,

Although Buddhist meditation techniques originated as spiritual practices, they have a long history of secular applications. For instance, the Tang Dynasty Chan (Japanese Zen) and Huayan scholar-monk Zongmi (780-841) listed "Five Types of Meditation", the first of which is for fanfu (Japanese bompu) 凡夫 "ordinary people". Philip Kapleau explains:

Bompu Zen, being free from any philosophic or religious content, is for anybody and everybody. It is a Zen practiced purely in the belief that it can improve both physical and mental health. Since it can almost certainly have no ill effects, anyone can undertake it, whatever religious beliefs they happen to hold or if they hold none at all. Bompu Zen is bound to eliminate sickness of a psychosomatic nature and to improve the health generally. (1989:49)

is about the five types of Zen, not about mindfulness in psychology. I have removed this section from the page. A more appropriate place for this information would be (and is) Guifeng Zongmi or Buddhist meditation.

Also, after a recent edit, the first sentence of the blockquoted section above is now redundant. makeswell ( talk) 15:31, 15 November 2010 (UTC) reply

Are there no critiques of the concept of mindfulness that could be included? Alnpete ( talk) 07:59, 16 December 2011 (UTC) reply

Hi, I found the criticism quote by Wallace difficult to understand. The use of ellipses in the quotation takes what may be a coherent argument, and make it seem like that of an uneducated person. I suggest removing the quote, as it already has too much space for what is, namely a disputed, and not necessarily relevant (that is Mindfulness is as much what is taught now, as what was taught a few hundred years after Buddha died) opinion. Any objections, suggestions? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.177.18.92 ( talk) 08:25, 4 April 2012 (UTC) reply

there looks to be an overlap with psychological mindedness-- Penbat ( talk) 18:23, 24 February 2013 (UTC) reply

Says on page 770: "Our meta-analysis only included mindfulness meditation protocols, limiting the scope of the results to this particular practice." TimidGuy ( talk) 11:09, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Says on page 764: "Studies were excluded if they (1) did not include a mindfulness meditation based intervention." And "The meta-analysis excluded studies that examined mindfulness as part of another treatment, such as cognitive behavior protocol, because it was dif!cult to dissociate the effect of mindfulness fromother components." TimidGuy ( talk) 11:14, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Sure. But since the authors chose to characterize their overall analysis as being relevant to MBT ("our results showed that MBT is moderately to largely effective", and in the very article title), it's best not to reinterpret this here based on their protocol selection. Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 11:16, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Oh - you reverted without discussion. Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 11:19, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

I don't see how it's an interpretation. They explicitly only included studies on mindfulness meditation and explicitly excluded mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. It just seems like it's clearer to refer to it as a meta-analysis on mindfulness meditation rather than on mindfulness-based therapy. TimidGuy ( talk) 11:24, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

It's not what the paper concluded. (Add) Specifically you've made it look like the "it" here refers to meditation, when the authors state their conclusion in respect of MBT. Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 11:31, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

(Add) I've expanded this with some content from the article body and added a DARE commentary. Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 12:20, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

TimidGuy you keep inserting that this study is specific to meditation. Whatever the paper means by the stuff you've quoted, it does not mean it was confined to meditation studies only. Look at Appendix B, or read the DARE summary: "In the included studies, a variety of mindfulness therapies were used, including mindfulness-based awareness processes, stress reduction, cognitive therapy, relapse prevention and yoga." Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 14:17, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

I sure don't know how else to interpret this: "Our meta-analysis only included mindfulness meditation protocols, limiting the scope of the results to this particular practice." Can you give me the bibliographic citation for Appendix B, please? Thanks. TimidGuy ( talk) 16:01, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Since the appendix wasn't part of the published study, I emailed Khoury and requested it. I received a very kind and interesting reply. Will share tomorrow. TimidGuy ( talk) 19:13, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

It's published online as supplemental material (via Sciencedirect). Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 19:35, 7 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Thanks. I told Dr. Khoury we were discussing how to characterize it and that I had referred to it as a meta-analysis of studies on mindfulness meditation. He said my characterization was "exact." Nevertheless, now that I'm more familiar with the studies, I do think we'd want to alter the wording of my most recent edit (which was deleted). All 209 studies include mindfulness meditation as a central component, including those studies for which it's not obvious from the title, such as the ones on mindfulness-based awareness processes, stress reduction, cognitive therapy, relapse prevention and yoga. It seems important to clarify this, since "mindfulness-based therapies" is a more general term that could include therapies that don't entail mindfulness meditation. One reason I mention this clarification is that ultimately I think we should move all of the research on specific techniques out of this article and into the articles for particular techniques or therapies. My understanding is that mindfulness is a state of awareness, and I feel it's separate from the techniques that are used to cultivate mindfulness. In fact, I saw one study which found a correlation between mindfulness and positive benefits in which the subjects didn't use any mindfulness therapy at all. They were simply assessed as naturally having a more mindful awareness. We would retain in this article the research on defining and characterizing and assessing the mindful state. So far these reasons, I propose we restore a modified version of the phrase that specifies the inclusion criterion for this meta-analysis. TimidGuy ( talk) 10:56, 8 April 2014 (UTC) reply

It's not mentioned as a conclusion and the DARE summary didn't pick up on it, so why should Wikipedia? - there are lots of incidental things that could be picked up on. I am concerned about the "meditation" word being unduly shoehorned in because of editor interest, rather than due support in the source. Maybe ask at WT:MED? Alexbrn ^{talk| contribs| COI} 11:12, 8 April 2014 (UTC) reply

I have removed the interwikis and have transferred them to my workpage (they are also in the page history of this page). They will be installed on Wikidata as soon as possible. –  Paine Ellsworth  ^CLIMAX! 23:41, 12 April 2014 (UTC) reply

• Update: reported link-addition conflicts at d:Wikidata:Interwiki conflicts/Unresolved/2014#Mindfulness (psychology) (Q15009109)/Mindfulness (Q341045) –  Paine Ellsworth  ^CLIMAX! 16:59, 15 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Here's what I've proposed before:

• Mindfulness
• Mindfulness (Buddhism)
• Mindfulness meditation
• Mindfulness-based stress release
• Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
• Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (this would be a new article on a major area of research)

The current Mindfulness article would become "Mindfulness (Buddhism)", the current "Mindfulness (psychology)" and "Mindfulness (positive psychology) articles would become "Mindfulness." The "Mindfulness meditation" article should comprise content that's now a bit haphazardly spread among other articles and should focus on the secular practice, including the burgeoning body of research and popular interest. All of these secular mindfulness therapies have separate bodies of research. TimidGuy ( talk) 10:51, 25 April 2014 (UTC) reply

@ TimidGuy: Hi5! But you tell the Buddhists what you plan to do. I may be crazy-bold, but I ain't goin up against The Buddha dude! (PS: I suggest you move these brilliant suggestions of yours to this Talk section that Joshua Jonathan set up, to keep all relevant comments in one place, but that's totly up to you). LeoRomero ( talk) 12:38, 25 April 2014 (UTC) reply

"The Buddha dude"... - that's a great name! Put's it all back into the right perspective. But seriously, as far as I can see there's no base (= WP:RS or WP:COMMONNAME) for this differentiation between "mindfulness" and "mindfulness (meditation)". What's more, what's being described in m(m) is the same as m(p). Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 13:01, 25 April 2014 (UTC) reply

@ Joshua Jonathan: lolz! I shoulda put a comma between "The Buddha" and "dude" (punctuation is SO important), but thank God you're a Buddhist and saw humor in my mistake. I think I should focus on improving this article, and leave it up to you all what you want to merge, rename, or not. Have fun though! (Seriously) - Thanks; LeoRomero ( talk) 13:28, 25 April 2014 (UTC) reply

I generally agree with this proposal, though I would break it down slightly differently. Generally, I agree that the current "Mindfulness" article should be moved to "Mindfulness (Buddhism)"; and the article "Mindfulness" should be a general overview of the topic. But I would suggest also breaking out "Mindfulness (Psychology)" as a separate topic. I would leave the main article to provide and overview of all of the different usages of the term mindfulness. So I would suggest the following outline (though the previous outline is also acceptable to me):

• Mindfulness
  • Mindfulness (Psychology)
  • Mindfulness (Buddhism)
  • Mindfulness meditation
  • Mindfulness-based stress release
  • Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
  • Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (this would be a new article on a major area of research)

Best regards, Dorje108 ( talk) 16:17, 11 May 2014 (UTC) reply

@ Alexbrn: Re your revert and my undo (diff). On my User Talk page you wrote: "Your treatment of the source is undue and gives weight to dubious aspects of it." Could you please explain what you mean by that? For your ready reference:

Here's the text that you had, and to which you reverted:

A 2013 meta-analysis of mindfulness-based therapies concluded that they are useful in treating a variety of psychological problems – for example in helping to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress – and that mindfulness was a "central component" of the therapies' effectiveness. ^[1] Given the low quality of the underlying data, it is however possible that this conclusion was overstated. ^[2]

and here's my edit:

A 2013 meta-analysis of mindfulness-based therapies (MBT), involving 209 studies and 12,145 participants, showed that MBT is moderately effective in pre-post studies, superior to some treatments ( psychoeducation, supportive therapy, relaxation, imagery, and art-therapy), but not more effective than traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. ^[1] The analysis indicated that MBT was more effective in treating psychological disorders than it was in treating physical or medical conditions. MBT showed "large and clinically significant effects in treating anxiety and depression", with gains maintained at follow-up. These findings were similar to those obtained in previous meta-analyses. ^[3] The authors acknowledged, however, the wide variation between the studies in their design, interventions, participants, outcomes, and quality; it it thus possible that their conclusions may be overstated. ^[4]

Clinical Psychology Review, which published the Khoury study, is a peer-reviewed Academic journal. The study was assessed by at least five reviewers. The limitations of the study were identified by the authors themselves, but I left your citation of the CRD review in the Article anyway.

Thanks; LeoRomero ( talk) 01:10, 28 April 2014 (UTC) reply

Notes

@ Alexbrn: So I don't waste your time responding to the above, I wanna tell you right now that I think I see what you're saying. Am reading that huge AHRQ study, and will edit my edits accordingly. - Thanks; LeoRomero ( talk) 06:42, 28 April 2014 (UTC) reply

@ Alexbrn: Here's what I did (diff), I'd appreciate your feedback. - Thanks again; LeoRomero ( talk) 08:02, 28 April 2014 (UTC) reply

"Random Scribble Outside Context" is almost equivalent to "Wikipedia" (d*rn!). More concretely:

• Section Definitions contains a history, f.ex.

Ellen Langer defines mindfulness as an active search for novel distinctions in the present moment,

appears like verbal nonsense (or a marketing slogan), see definition, a definition must describe what it is and how it differs from other related concepts, while not strictly belonging to "definition" a definition section could also elaborate on how it is used ... but not too much,

• Section Nature of the practice contains a definition starters that could be elaborated,
• Section Historical development contains too little but could take over most of the paragraphs from Definitions.

Etc.. Rursus dixit. ( ^mbork³!) 07:13, 28 June 2014 (UTC) reply

I've been thinking further over TimidGuy's point of mindfulness as a "state", which may also arise spontaneously. It reminds me of the first jhana, which the Buddha is said to have experienced spontaneously when he was a youth. According to the Nikaya's, Gautama remembered this when he'd decided to quit his ascetic practices. The memory lead him to another approach, culminating in his awakening (according to the Nikaya's). Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 09:02, 6 July 2014 (UTC) reply

Sources

Three sources have been given so far for mindfulness as as state:

• Ira Israel, What's the Difference Between Mindfulness, Mindfulness Meditation and Basic Meditation?. In this blog, Israel makes a distinction between "basic meditation" and "mindfulness meditation". "Basic meditation" is likened to Hindu meditation, aiming at transcending the ordinary mind, whereas "mindfulness meditation", as Israel describes it, is likened to Buddhist meditation, aiming at training the mind in being aware of what's going on.

I must confess I can't follow his distinction. The basic distinction in buddhism is between samatha and vipassana, concentration and insight. What he describes as "mindfulness meditation" is vipassana, mindfulness aiming at gaining insight into dukkha, anatta and anicca, transcending the personal self - exactly the goal of what he calls "basic meditation"! By the way, Israel calls the Buddha a Hindu; soemone who says so has no knowledge of Indian history.

For Israel, mindfulness is "is a way of being, a way of living day-to-day consciously and mindfully." This is akin to the current popularization of mindfulness, lighter than vipassana, and also lighter than its use in MBSR etc. So, mindfulness not as a state, but as way of being, as in positive psychology.

Conclusion: personal opinion, unreliable classification, poor understanding of Indian religions. Not WP:RS.

• Toni Bernhard, 6 Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness Outside of Meditation, Psychology Today: "Mindfulness can be practiced inside or outside of formal meditation." Bernhard makes a distinction between mindfulness practice within formal meditation parctice, and mindfulness practice in daily life. So, he does not distinguish mindfulness as a state, but makes a difference between formal practice and practice in daily life.
• New York Times, More mindfulness, less meditation: "There is a difference between mindfulness meditation and simple mindfulness." - Unfortunately I'm unable to access this one, but I've found it elsewhere [6] and [7]:

"The simplest definition of meditation is learning to do one thing at a time. Building the capacity to quiet the mind has undeniable value at a time when our attention is under siege, and distraction has become our steady state. Meditation – in the right doses — is also valuable as a means to relax the body, quiet the emotions and refresh one’s energy. There is growing evidence that meditation has some health benefits. What I haven’t seen is much evidence that meditating leads people to behave better, improves their relationships or makes them happier.
Consider what Jack Kornfield has to say about meditation. In the 1970s, after spending a number of years as a monk in Southeast Asia, Mr. Kornfield was one of the first Americans to bring the practice of mindfulness to the West. He remains one of the best-known mindfulness teachers, while also practicing as a psychologist.“ While I benefited enormously from the training in the Thai and Burmese monasteries where I practiced,” he wrote, “I noticed two striking things. First, there were major areas of difficulty in my life, such as loneliness, intimate relationships, work, childhood wounds, and patterns of fear that even very deep meditation didn’t touch.
Second, among the several dozen Western monks (and lots of Asian meditators) I met during my time in Asia, with a few notable exceptions, most were not helped by meditation in big areas of their lives. Meditation and spiritual practice can easily be used to suppress and avoid feeling or to escape from difficult areas of our lives.»
There is a difference between mindfulness meditation and simple mindfulness. The latter isn’t a practice separate from everyday life. Mindfulness just means becoming more conscious of what you’re feeling, more intentional about your behaviors and more attentive to your impact on others. It’s about presence — what Ms. Ingram calls “keeping quiet and simple inside, rather than having any mental task whatsoever.
The real challenge isn’t what we’re able to do with our eyes closed. It’s to be more self-aware in the crucible of our everyday lives, and to behave better as a result. That’s mindfulness in action"

This too is not about mindfulness as a state apart from practice, but about the difference between Buddhist insight meditation practice and mindfulness practice in daily life.

It's clear that three different meanings of "mindfulness" are being confused here: mindfulness in daily life, mindfulness practice in a "formal" setting, and Buddhist insight or Vipassana meditation. The issue at stake here is not mindfulness as a "state", but the growing popularisation of mindfulness outside a buddhist and clinical context (aptly called the "Mindfulness movement" [8]; see also Google and Mindfulness Isn't a Trend, It's a Movement). It's perfectly fine to write a section on "Popularisation of mindfulness" in the Mindfulness-article, but it does not warrant the creation of content-forks. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 07:55, 6 July 2014 (UTC) reply

Gosh, it's a great topic! Have a look at this one: How “the Mindfulness Movement Uses Buddhism to Prop Up the White-Supremacist-Capitalist-Cishet Patriarchy”. I also found this book: Jeff Wilson (2014), Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 09:02, 6 July 2014 (UTC) reply

I tend to base my perspective on the scientific literature. There are scientific instruments used to assess the level of mindfulness that individuals are experiencing. And a body of literature surrounding the characterization and assessment of the mindful state. This includes standardized subjective questionnaires as well as the study of neurophysiological correlates of this state. I feel like much of the content in this article could be moved to other articles and the research section expanded. TimidGuy ( talk) 10:52, 7 July 2014 (UTC) reply

You mean, to focus "Mindfulness (psychology)" on the scientific research on mindfulness - both the (western secular) practice, and the "mindfull state"? Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 11:32, 7 July 2014 (UTC) reply

here's the source you needed, Tim: Black, David S. (year unknown), A Brief Definition of Mindfulness (PDF) {{ citation}}: Check date values in: |year= ( help). Trait, state and practice. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 07:44, 8 July 2014 (UTC) reply

Synonyms

If there is to be a separate article on "daily mindfulness", "mindfulness as a state", "mindfulness as a function", etc.: under which name? With regards to WP:COMMONNAME, the term "mindfulness" is overwhelmingly being used for the western, secular mimdfulness-practice; so that's not the name to be used. What are the alternatives?

• synonym.com: "Sorry, I could not find synonyms for 'mindfulness'." - ...
• English Synonym Dictionary: attention, heedfulness
• thesaurus.com: wariness, direction, caution, concentration, watchfulness, particularity, circumspection, management, meticulousness, discrimination, solicitude, nicety, heedfulness, scrupulousness, interest, enthusiasm, exactness, alertness, exertion, fastidiousness, diligence, regard, prudence, carefulness, forethought, conscientiousness, vigilance, consideration, trouble, effort, thought, heed, precaution, gingerliness, pains
• http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mindfulness: "a state of being aware <his mindfulness of his limited education made him ill at ease around academics> Synonyms: advertence, advertency, awareness, cognizance, consciousness, ear, eye, heed, knowledge, mindfulness, note, notice, observance, observation"

So, quite some choices. Mindfulness (state) might be an alternative, supported by Merriam-Webster; the alternative is to make mention of "mindfulness as a state" apart from practice, and to add some links at the Mindfulness (disambiguation) page, which I'll do rigth now.

ADHD

Attempting to correcting add an edit on ADHD. Someone is deleting and I'm not sure why. Please let me know what I am doing wrong. Lifegaurdgirl ( talk) 00:35, 11 February 2015 (UTC) reply