Addressing moral distress in clinical practice: A contemplative, neuroscience-based intervention

The experience of acute moral distress has become a pervasive and serious problem among health care clinicians. Clinical care, especially of patients with serious and life threatening illness, requires clinicians on the front lines to discern ethically justifiable courses of action in exceedingly complex circumstances, riddled with conflict and uncertainty. Although complex moral decision-making is …

Neuroscience as a Modern Context for Studying Meditation: How Far Are We, Really?

Meditation practices are increasingly being adapted into secular formats such as “mindfulness.” In these new contexts, the spiritual or soteriolog- ical aspects of meditation have been largely put aside and the putative benefits of meditation in terms of physical and mental health are empha- sized within a scientific (and especially neuroscientific) framework. For instance, invoking …

Interdisciplinary Panel: Translating Neuroscience

The “Translating Neuroscience” panel will explore how to accurately and accessibly convey to the non-scientific public the discoveries of scientific research around contemplative practice while maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the research. Specifically, we will focus on the promises and challenges of communicating complex ideas from neuroscience and cognitive science about the nature of …

Fear, Acceptance, and Compassion: Perspectives from Contemplative Neuroscience

This presentation will highlight what we know about the neuroscience of fear and anxiety and discuss its antidotes in compassion and related qualities. Distinctions will be made between fear as a state and trait. The impact of different forms of contemplative practice on the neuroscientific bases of fear and anxiety will be highlighted. Particular attention …

Emotion Regulation Therapy: A Synthesis of Affective Neuroscience and Contemplative Practices to Target Mechanisms Underlying Anxious Depression

Despite the availability of efficacious treatments for emotional disorders, a sizable subgroup of patients fails to evidence adequate treatment response. This situation is especially true for patients with anxious depression (a combination of apprehensive anxiety and depression symptoms) who often feel their emotions very intensely resulting in trouble resolving the simultaneous motivational cues for avoiding …