Blogging on Good Therapy

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Daniel Brezenoff, LCSW

Several studies demonstrate the profound benefit of meditation on emotions, the brain, and mental health. The use of sophisticated technologies has made it possible to prove empirically what many therapists have believed for years – and what Buddhists, Hindus, and other religious and spiritual schools have taught for millennia.

Regular meditation in particular has a measurable effect on a several brain structures related to attention, and can actually change the physical structure of the brain.

In September, a team of Emory University researchers reported that people using Zen Buddhist techniques were much better than control subjects at refocusing their attention on their breath. The study, “‘Thinking about Not-Thinking:’ Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing During Zen Meditation,” was published in the Internet journal PLoS ONE. Its conclusion that “meditative training may foster the ability to control the automatic cascade of semantic associations triggered by a stimulus and, by extension, to voluntarily regulate the flow of spontaneous mentation,” added force to similar findings at Emory last year. (more…)

By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Arthur and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

This article describes the effects of chronic maltreatment, such as can occur in an orphanage, on a child’s psychological development, brain development, and later relationships. There are clear links between maltreatment and later psychological, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal disorders. The basis for this linkage is the impact that maltreatment has on brain development. Daniel Siegel, medical director of the Infant and Preschool Service at the University of California, L.A., has found important links between interpersonal experiences and neurobiological development

Neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse have profound immediate and long-term effects on a child’s development. The long-term effects of abuse and neglect of a child can be seen in higher rates of psychiatric disorders, increased rates of substance abuse, and a variety of severe relationship difficulties. Child abuse and neglect is an inter-generational problem. Most frequently the perpetrators of abuse and neglect are profoundly damaged people who have been abused and neglected themselves. (more…)