Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => Science and Technology => Topic started by: Sriram on November 13, 2015, 06:25:55 AM

Title: Meditation & Placebo
Post by: Sriram on November 13, 2015, 06:25:55 AM

Hi everyone,

Here is a article from Science Daily about Mindfulness meditation being better than placebo.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151110171600.htm

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Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found new evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces pain more effectively than placebo.

This is significant because placebo-controlled trials are the recognized standard for demonstrating the efficacy of clinical and pharmacological treatments.

The research, published in the Nov.11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, showed that study participants who practiced mindfulness meditation reported greater pain relief than placebo. Significantly, brain scans showed that mindfulness meditation produced very different patterns of activity than those produced by placebo to reduce pain.

"We were completely surprised by the findings," said Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest Baptist and lead investigator of the study. "While we thought that there would be some overlap in brain regions between meditation and placebo, the findings from this study provide novel and objective evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces pain in a unique fashion."

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For information.

Cheers.

Sriram

Title: Re: Meditation & Placebo
Post by: Gordon on November 14, 2015, 08:46:07 PM

Moderator:

Unfortunately, and as a couple of members correctly noted in the thread, this topic was derailed to the extent that the subject of the OP wasn't being discussed.

Therefore these posts have been removed and Sriram's OP transferred to the 'Science' Board so that those wanting to discuss meditation and any related medical aspects can do so without distraction.

Title: Re: Meditation & Placebo
Post by: Nearly Sane on November 14, 2015, 09:08:53 PM

I would be interested to see it compared with wider attempts to change mind focus.

Title: Re: Meditation & Placebo
Post by: jeremyp on November 15, 2015, 01:39:37 AM

How was the trial controlled and blinded?

Title: Re: Meditation & Placebo
Post by: Udayana on November 15, 2015, 09:35:53 PM

This seems to be better link:

http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2015/Mindfulness_Meditation_Trumps_Placebo_in_Pain_Reduction.htm

However I couldn't find the paper in the current issue of the journal - maybe it is in the next one.