Anxiety and mindfulness meditation
Insight mindfulness meditation makes perfect sense for treating anxiety.
“People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power,” says Dr. Elizabeth Hoge. She is a psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit.”
Through meditation you can train yourself to experience those thoughts differently. Instead of panicking over everyday issues, you recognize that your mind is out of control. Plus, you have the tools to change the conversation in your mind. You realize it is just a thought. Instead of reacting you learn how to respond when faced with a difficult problem.
How meditation helps
One of Hoge’s recent studies looked at people with generalized anxiety disorder. Those who participated in mindfulness meditation were better able to quell their symptoms, which include hard-to-control worries, poor sleep and irritability.
Who we work with
Our youngest client is 8, our oldest in his 80s. Although the age difference is decades, both share many of the same issues, including trouble sleeping, concentrating and bouts of anger or frustration.
Meditation is teaching both of them – and many others in all ages in between – how to take a deep breath. And gradually, through practice, they are beginning to sleep, which is helping their other symptoms.