Study: Meditation Can Help Adults and Children with ADHD

By Alvaro Fernandez

Travel back, in your mind's eye, to a time when you felt a healthy exhaustion after hiking, biking, playing sports.., and let you re-live that moment as vividly as you can.

Then, remember, re-experience, a loving exchange that really touched you. Pause. See your partner. See the moment. Smell it. Hear what happened around you.

Next, visualize the most caring gesture you have ever received, as full of details as possible. Who gave you that gift of caring. How you felt.

Now, travel to the most magnificent place you have seen. Enjoy the views. Pause. Listen. Smile. Appreciate.

Congratulations. You have trained your brain. As Newsweek's Sharon Begley explained recently:

"But now neuroscientists have documented how "mere" thoughts can also sculpt the brain. Just thinking about playing a piano piece, over and over, can expand the region of motor cortex that controls those fingers; just thinking about depressive thoughts in new ways can dial down activity in one part of the brain that underlies depression and increase it in another, leading to clinical improvement."

We have talked about the value of meditation before. Only a few days ago, in predicting brain health trends for the next 5 years, I wrote that:

"Noncomputer-based programs will also prove to be effective tools. Research increasingly is affirming the value of such methods as meditation to train attention and regulate emotions, using cognitive therapy to build self-motivation and other abilities, and keeping a gratitude journal to affirm positives in one's life and improve self-reported happiness.

A fascinating new study (Mindfulness meditation training in adults and adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11, 737-746) suggests the benefits of mindfulness for adolescents and adults with attention deficits.

Let's see what Dr. David Rabiner, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, has to say about the topic:

"Mindfulness meditation is described as involving 3 basic steps: 1) bringing attention to an "attentional anchor" such as breathing; 2) noting that distraction occurs and letting go of the distraction; and, 3) refocusing back to the "attentional anchor". This sequence is repeated many times during the course of each meditative session. As the individual becomes better able to maintain focus on the attentional anchor, the notion of "paying attention to attention" is introduced and individuals are encouraged to bring their attention to the present moment frequently during the course of the day."

"By directing one's attention to the process of paying attention, to noticing notice when one becomes distracted, and to refocusing attention when distraction occurs, mindfulness meditation training can be thought of as an "attention training" program. As such, examining the impact of such training on individuals with ADHD becomes a very interesting question to pursue."

The Results of the study?

Seventy-eight percent of participants (25 of 33) completed the study. On average, participants attended 7 of the 8 weekly training sessions. Adults reported an average of 90 minutes and 4.6 sessions per week of at-home meditation practice; adolescents averaged 43 minutes and 4 sessions of weekly at-home practice. Both adolescents and adults who completed the program reported high levels of satisfaction with it - average scores above 9 on a 1 to 10 satisfaction scale.

Seventy-eight percent of participants reported a reduction in total ADHD symptoms, with 30% reporting at least a 30% symptom reduction (a 30% reduction in symptoms is often used to identify clinically significant improvement in ADHD medication trials). Because the majority of participants were receiving medication treatment, for many these declines represent improvement above and beyond what benefits were already being provided by medication.

On neurocognitive test performance, significant improvements were found on the measure of attentional conflict and on several other neuropsychological tests (i.e., Stroop color-word test and Trails A and B) but not for measures of working memory.

For adults, significant reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms were reported. Comparable reductions in these symptoms were not evident in adolescents

In short: in order to fight Attention Deficits...may it not make sense to develop the "mental muscles" to Pay Attention?

Copyright (c) 2008 SharpBrains

Alvaro Fernandez is the CEO and Co-Founder of SharpBrains.com, which covers the brain fitness field including products developed by Posit Science and Dakim. SharpBrains has been recognized by Scientific American Mind, Newsweek, Forbes. Alvaro holds MA in Education and MBA from Stanford University, and teaches The Science of Brain Health at UC-Berkeley Lifelong Learning Institute. You can learn more at http://www.sharpbrains.com/

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A Guided Meditation Script for a Child?

By John M. Allison

While most people don't think of children when they think of meditation, a good guided meditation script can be just what your kid needs in certain situations. Most people think of meditation as some highly experienced spiritual master sitting in the lotus position for hours. While that's not necessarily false, that's far from the whole truth of meditation. Every child loves a story. Giving them guided imagery gives them a story that they can accept and use. Let me tell you my personal experience with this.

When I was little, I had some pretty bad nightmares. When it started really affecting me, my parents wrote up (in large print) a simple guided meditation script for me. Nothing complex, and nothing fancy. Considering that this script was designed to be read by me if a nightmare woke me, they didn't need to worry about putting me in a suggestible state of mind. All they needed to do was focus on imagery. I don't recall the details, but the image of the shining, fiercely protective unicorn banishing the nightmare to a realm of its own terror stays in my mind to this day, decades later. A few uses of this script, and the nightmares stopped bothering me altogether.

When preparing a guided meditation for a child, there are a few things to remember. You want to keep it short, but interesting. You don't need to worry as much about relaxation, as if you can get the kid's fascination, they'll loosen up anyway. Along the same lines, you want to focus on simple, yet powerful images. Use symbols and settings from their favorite stories (I'm sure the authors won't mind) and really make it come alive for them. If you are writing a guided meditation script for the child to read (as my parents did for me) you will want to make it as easy for them to read as possible.

Another important note is not to try to force it down their throat. In order for this or any other form of meditation or guided imagery to be successful, they need to be willing to try it out for themselves. If their heart isn't in it, then let it go and try to find some other way to help them.

If your child likes the simple meditation, you might consider writing an "exploration" guided meditation script, and take them through a more extended meditation session where they can run and play (proverbially speaking) and really get used to the practice. A steady practice of meditation is beneficial to anyone, but a child is a natural. They may come out of the exploration having seen, heard, and experienced lots of things. Encourage them to write it down, or talk it out and write them down together. This is private information for the child's eyes only, but this can actually be a wonderful tool for self-understanding as they grow older.

Kids are people, and they have people's worries. Will that person like me? Am I performing well enough at my "job" (school)? Are Mom and Dad happy with me? Life as a kid is rough. A guided meditation script is far from a cure-all, but used the right way, it can be a wonderful tool to help them through.

If you would like to know more about reading a guided meditation script to yourself, without relying on an audio player or another person, please click the link.

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