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Using Mindfulness Interventions with Problem Gamblers

Using Mindfulness Interventions with Problem Gamblers. Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. RORY C. REID, Ph.D., LCSW Research Psychologist / Neuropsychology Licensed Clinical Social Worker. What is Mindfulness.

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Using Mindfulness Interventions with Problem Gamblers

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  1. Using Mindfulness Interventions with Problem Gamblers Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human BehaviorDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences • RORY C. REID, Ph.D., LCSWResearch Psychologist / NeuropsychologyLicensed Clinical Social Worker

  2. What is Mindfulness • Mindfulness is a philosophy and a practice of cultivating increased awareness of our moment-to-moment experience in a non-judgmental way. • The practice of mindfulness, although based on many principles of Buddhism, was medicalized by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinand has been applied to a variety of psychological and medical issues.

  3. The Spirit of Mindfulness The Movie: A Beautiful Mind

  4. TEXT

  5. Mindfulness Applications • Outcome studies have provided evidence that mindfulness can be helpful for attenuating psychological distress associated with a number of mental health issues including: • Anxiety • Depression • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders • Pathological Gambling • Substance-Related Disorders • Hypersexual Behavior

  6. Goodness of Fit for Mindfulness & Gambling

  7. Healing Gambling Problems through Mindfulness Mindfulness Gambling Problems • Self-Compassion • Gratitude/Humility • Emotionally Present / Aware • Being Present w/h Suffering • Curious/Non-Judgmental • Reflection • Present in the Present • Acceptance of Cravings • A Thought is Just a Thought • Noting, Curiosity, Present • Connecting / Attentive • Shame • Entitled/Ungrateful • Emotionally Reactive • Intolerance for Discomfort • Critical/Judgmental • Rumination • Anticipatory Anxiety • Tug of War with Cravings • Special Status to Thoughts • Thought Suppression • Disconnecting/Inattention

  8. Research Supporting MBSR for Emotion Regulation

  9. Reduction of Food Cravings

  10. Reduction of Food Cravings “…acceptance was found to reduce the extent to which participants experienced loss of control when exposed to food cues. This finding is not only practically relevant, but interesting from a theoretical point of view as well. After all, acceptance requires one not to control cravings, which paradoxically leads to higher levels of perceived control.” Alberts, Mulkens, Smeets, & Thewissen (2010). Coping with food cravings. Investigating the potential of a mindfulness-based intervention. Appetite, 55, 160-163.

  11. Mindfulness Increases Cortical Gray Matter

  12. Mindfulness Increases Cortical Gray Matter

  13. Being Present with the Present Baby Steps to Meditation 3 Minute Mindfulness Exercise

  14. In meditation, nothing happens next. This is it!”

  15. Emotional Avoidance PositiveComfortable AwkwardUncomfortable Pornography Gambling Sex Food Drugs / Alcohol Good Pleasant Bad Unpleasant Bandwidth of Positive Emotions Emotionally avoidant people become numb and detached from both good and bad feelings. True, they’ve avoided pain and negative emotion, but they’ve also diminished or extinguished their ability to feel positive emotions.

  16. Tug of War with Cravings Doesn’t Work

  17. Thoughts on Thought Suppression

  18. Irony of Thought Supression “Trying not to think about ‘it’, in some funny way, is just what makes such thoughts happen…and any attempt at mental control contains the seeds of its own undoing. Under certain conditions, in other words, mental control may not only fail to achieve desired states of mind, but can ironically create precisely the most undesired state of mind. Trying to be happy can make us sad, trying to be relaxed can make us anxious, trying not to think of alcohol can make us obsessed with our next drink. A person innocently engaged in what seems to be a program of self-improvement may unwittingly create the very psychological problem he or she is working so hard to overcome.” Daniel M. Wegner, Ph.D., ProfessorDepartment of PsychologyHarvard University

  19. Boredom and Emotional Dysregulation

  20. Research on Boredom “Boredom, in some form, appears to be a common and perhaps unavoidable part of human experience. Nevertheless, it is important to consider ways in which individuals and society as a whole might alleviate boredom and the distressing psychological conditions with which it has been linked. In this regard, the present results are intriguing because they suggest the common antidote for boredom — getting busy or plunging into stimulating activity — might, in the long run, be counter productive.”

  21. Research on Boredom In his provocative essay ‘In Praise of Boredom’, Brodsky (1995) proposes: “When hit by boredom, go for it. Let yourself be crushed by it; submerge, hit bottom. In general, with things unpleasant, the rule is, the sooner you hit bottom, the faster you surface.” On the contrary, our typical impulse when bored is to fight the experience with frenetic activity and intense, varied stimulation. However, like the trap of quicksand, such thrashing only serves to strengthen the grip of boredom by further alienating us from our desire and passion, which provide compass point for satisfying engagement with life. This is the insidiousness of boredom.

  22. Research on Boredom “In the short run, bombardment by intense stimulation will surely alleviate boredom, but tragically, this leaves us more susceptible to future episodes of boredom and in need of yet more intense experience imposed from without.”

  23. Developing a New Relationship with Cravings and Urges Dr. HedyKober, Assistant Professor Yale University School of Medicine

  24. Hypothesized Mechanisms of Action in MBSR Attention Regulation [3 min exercise] Necessary in Conflict Monitoring Body Awareness Attention to Somatic Experience, “What am I really craving?” Emotion Regulation Being present with uncomfortable / unpleasant emotions Change in Self-Perception Observing mental processes with increased clarity Non-Judgmental Self-Appraisals

  25. 8 week Mindfulness (n=15) Feasibility Study MBSR 8 week Psycho-Education (n=10) 1-3 hrs 3-5 times 15-60 mins 15-60 mins 1-2 times 1-2 times Frequency Time Baseline Frequency Time After 10 Weeks

  26. Being Present with the Present 6 Minute MindfulnessWorking with Difficult Emotions Exercise

  27. Mindfulness: Being Present with the Present Mindfulness Exercises Freely Downloadable at:marc.ucla.edu insightla.org mindfulrp.com

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