Challenge or Threat? The Effects of the Standard and a Second-Generation Mindfulness Intervention with Buddhist Practices on Cognitive Appraisals of Stress: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Experiment Performed in Switzerland.

Contemplative approaches rooted in Buddhist traditions have been linked to the attenuation of response to social stress. Anticipatory cognitive appraisals of social situations potentially represent a mechanism explaining the stress-reducing effects of contemplative practices. The cognitive appraisal of threat is associated with an anticipated loss of social self-esteem. In contrast, the cognitive appraisal of challenge involves recognizing the potential for gain or growth in stressful situations and is associated with a more adaptive cardiovascular response. In this secondary analysis of a randomized controlled experiment performed in Switzerland, we evaluated the effects of two contemplative interventions on cognitive appraisals of challenge and threat and associated physiological profiles. The interventions were a standard Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program and a new program (MBSR-B), which included several elements from Buddhist practices. After an eight-week intervention, participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and underwent the assessment of primary cognitive appraisals and cardiovascular response to stress. The results demonstrated greater challenge appraisal in the MBSR (n = 20) and MBSR-B (n = 21) groups compared to Control (n = 24), and MBSR-B participants scored higher on the challenge than threat appraisal. At the physiological level, the groups did not differ on changes in cardiac output and total peripheral resistance. Still, an exploratory analysis demonstrated that the MBSR-B group's cardiovascular profile best resembled challenge appraisal. The results suggest that contemplative approaches foster challenge appraisal, contributing to a more adaptive response to stress.

Effects of two mindfulness based interventions on the distinct phases of the stress response across different physiological systems.

When evaluating the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on the stress response, several aspects should be considered, such as (1) effects on various response systems, (2) temporal dynamics of the stress response, and (3) differences between programs. This study assesses the stress-attenuating effects of a standard mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and a second-generation MBI: MBSR with elements of other Buddhist practices (MBSR-B). Ninety-nine healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to the MBSR, MBSR-B, or waitlist control groups and their stress response was evaluated with the Trier Social Stress Test. Changes in the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, sympathoadrenomedullary system, the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and affect were measured during distinct phases of the task. Compared to waitlist control, the stress-attenuated effects of MBIs were detected across almost all systems and both negative and positive affect. In the parasympathetic branch of the ANS, the effect of MBIs was present in all stress phases (however, in the recovery phase, only MBSR-B has shown a statistically significant effect in comparison with the waitlist control). The stress-attenuating effects of MBIs were observed already in the anticipatory phase for cortisol, ANS, and negative affect (for negative affect, only the modified MBSR-B program has shown statistically significant effect in comparison with the waitlist control).

Exploration of psychological mechanisms of the reduced stress response in long-term meditation practitioners.

Previous research links contemplative practices, such as meditation, with stress reduction. However, little is known about the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study compares the physiological stress response (reactivity and recovery) measured by changes in salivary cortisol, heart rate, heart rate variability, and the associated stress-related ratings in long-term meditation practitioners (N = 29) and age- and sex- matched meditation naïve controls (N = 26). The participants were administered the Trier Social Stress Test in its active and placebo versions. The results demonstrated that long-term meditation practitioners had faster cortisol recovery from stress, and experienced less shame and higher self-esteem after the exposure to social-evaluative threat. In addition, long-term meditation practitioners scored higher on adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, such as acceptance and positive reappraisal, and lower on maladaptive ones, such as catastrophizing. The cognitive emotion regulation strategy of acceptance mediated the relationship between meditation practice and cortisol recovery. These results suggest that meditation practice is associated with faster recovery from stress due to the employment of adaptive emotion regulation strategy of acceptance, delineating a pathway underlying the positive effects of meditation on stress.