Elsevier

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Volume 95, August 2017, Pages 117-127
Behaviour Research and Therapy

Brief mindfulness training de-couples the anxiogenic effects of distress intolerance on reactivity to and recovery from stress among deprived smokers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2017.05.017Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Brief mindfulness meditation buffers the anxiogenic effects of distress intolerance among deprived smokers exposed to stress.

  • Brief mindfulness meditation improves physiological regulation of anxious arousal elicited by stress.

  • Findings relevant to mindfulness intervention and mechanisms research as well as smoking cessation intervention research.

Abstract

Objective

We tested whether mindfulness de-couples the expected anxiogenic effects of distress intolerance on psychological and physiological reactivity to and recovery from an anxiogenic stressor among participants experimentally sensitized to experience distress.

Method

N = 104 daily smokers underwent 18-hours of biochemically-verified smoking deprivation. Participants were then randomized to a 7-min analogue mindfulness intervention (present moment attention and awareness training; PMAA) or a cope-as-usual control condition; and subsequently exposed to a 2.5-min paced over breathing (hyperventilation) stressor designed to elicit acute anxious arousal. Psychological and physiological indices of anxious arousal (Skin Conductance Levels; SCL) as well as emotion (dys)regulation (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia; RSA) were measured before, during and following the stressor.

Results

We found that PMAA reduced psycho-physiological dysregulation in response to an anxiogenic stressor, as well as moderated the anxiogenic effect of distress intolerance on psychological but not physiological responding to the stressor among smokers pre-disposed to experience distress via deprivation.

Conclusions

The present study findings have a number of theoretical and clinical implications for work on mindfulness mechanisms, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and smoking cessation interventions.

Section snippets

Participants

One-hundred-four adult (M(SD)age = 26.02(5.36)) daily smokers (>10 cigarettes per day) were recruited from the general city of Haifa community (Please see Table 1 for additional demographic information). Participants reported being a daily smoker for a M(SD) = 8.98(5.41) years and initiating smoking at M(SD) = 17.18(2.23) years of age. Potential participants met study inclusion criteria if they: (a) were between 18 and 65 years of age; (b) smoked regularly for at least one year; (c) currently

Effect of mindfulness elicitation

To compare degree of change in state mindfulness from baseline to post-induction between the PMAA and control groups, we conducted a mixed effects ANOVA predicting log-transformed SMS scores by Time (pre-post), Group and their interaction. The Time × Group interaction was significant (F(1,79) = 95.695, p = .000); as expected, the PMAA group (M(SE) = 0.42(0.12)) demonstrated significantly greater elevation of state mindfulness (SMS) than the control group (M(SE) = 0.23(0.11)). Furthermore, on a

Discussion

Findings support the theorized buffering effect of PMAA on the subjective experience of anxiety in response to and in recovery from the anxiogenic stressor (i.e., hyperventilation). The salutary effect of PMAA is particularly noteworthy in light of the smoking deprivation – designed to acutely pre-dispose bio-psycho-behavioral reactivity and delayed recovery in response to the distressing stressor. In contrast, PMAA did not similarly buffer the effect of distress intolerance on physiological

Acknowledgements

We want to thank members of the research team for their help in carrying out the study – Aviv Ben Shabbat, M.A., Danielle Elimelech, B.A., Oded Bryt, B.A., Iftach Amir, M.A., Osnat Harari-Dahan, M.A., and Yaara Nitzan-Assayag, Ph.D.

Dr. Bernstein recognizes the funding support from the Israeli Council for Higher Education Yigal Alon Fellowship, the European Union FP-7 Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant, Psychology Beyond Borders Mission Award, Israel Science Foundation, and the

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