Top

Gepubliceerd in:

23-03-2022 | REVIEW

Paying Attention to the Self: a Systematic Review of the Study of the Self in Mindfulness Research

Auteurs: Huma Shireen, Sabrah Khanyari, Amadea Vance, Hanna Johannesson, Christian Preissner, Yair Dor-Ziderman, Bassam Khoury, Bärbel Knäuper

Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness | Uitgave 6/2022

Abstract

Objectives

One of the primary goals of Buddhist-inspired mindfulness practice is to enable practitioners to gain insight into the nature of the self and, as a result, increase their wellbeing. To empirically investigate how mindfulness impacts the self, researchers must effectively explicate the self and hone the methods used to study it. The current study systematically reviews the conceptualization and study of the self within the mindfulness literature.

Methods

Searches were carried out in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases. All empirical and non-empirical studies available in full text that included a conceptualization of the self within a mindfulness-based framework or intervention were included. The outcomes were theories of the self that were examined using a narrative synthesis.

Results

A total of 51 empirical and 63 non-empirical articles were identified as directly investigating the self within the mindfulness literature. Of these, most studies investigated intrapersonal aspects of the self, followed by relational and transcendental aspects. The greatest complexity in the way that the self was studied and the highest integration between theoretical and empirical investigations was seen in the study of intrapersonal aspects, followed by relational and transcendental aspects. With regard to the way in which theories inform empirical investigations, most empirical studies were informed by neuroscience and psychological theories rather than Buddhist-based theories.

Conclusions

The results highlight a need for a more holistic approach in the study of the self by incorporating different aspects of the self and by better integrating theories of the self and their related empirical investigations.

Systematic review registration

PROSPERO 2019; ID: 192,073.

vorige artikel The State of Dispositional Mindfulness Research

volgende artikel A Scoping Review of Mindful Eating Interventions for Obesity Management

Alleen toegankelijk voor geautoriseerde gebruikers

Arat, A. (2017). ‘What it means to be truly human’: The postsecular hack of mindfulness. Social Compass, 64(2), 167–179.CrossRef

Ataria, Y., Dor-Ziderman, Y., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2015). How does it feel to lack a sense of boundaries? A case study of a long-term mindfulness meditator. Consciousness and Cognition, 37, 133–147.PubMedCrossRef

Baer, R. A. (2003). Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 125–143.

Barresi, J., & Martin, R. (2011). History as prologue: Western theories of the self. In S. Gallagher (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the self. Oxford University Press.

Bartlett, L., Martin, A., Neil, A. L., Memish, K., Otahal, P., Kilpatrick, M., & Sanderson, K. (2019). A systematic review and meta-analysis of workplace mindfulness training randomized controlled trials. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24(1), 108–126.PubMedCrossRef

Bazzano, M. (2013). This very body, the Buddha. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 28(1–2), 132–140.CrossRef

Becht, A. I., Nelemans, S. A., Van Dijk, M. P., Branje, S. J., Van Lier, P. A., Denissen, J. J., & Meeus, W. H. (2017). Clear self, better relationships: Adolescents’ self-concept clarity and relationship quality with parents and peers across 5 years. Child Development, 88(6), 1823–1833.PubMedCrossRef

Berkovich-Ohana, A., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Trautwein, F. M., Schweitzer, Y., Nave, O., Fulder, S., & Ataria, Y. (2020). The Hitchhiker’s guide to neurophenomenology–the case of studying self boundaries with meditators. Frontiers in Psychology, 1680

Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Glicksohn, J. (2017). Meditation, absorption, transcendent experience, and affect: Tying it all together via the consciousness state space (CSS) model. Mindfulness, 8(1), 68–77.CrossRef

Bernstein, A., Vago, D., & Barnhofer, T. (2019). Understanding mindfulness, one moment at a time: An introduction to the special issue. Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, vi–x.PubMedCrossRef

Biber, D. D., & Ellis, R. (2017). The effect of self-compassion on the self-regulation of health behaviors: A systematic review. Journal of Health Psychology, 24(14), 2060–2071.PubMedCrossRef

Brewer, J. A., Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y. Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), 20254–20259.CrossRef

Bruni, C. M., & Schultz, P. W. (2010). Implicit beliefs about self and nature: Evidence from an IAT game. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1), 95–102.CrossRef

Caddell, L. S., & Clare, L. (2011). Interventions supporting self and identity in people with dementia: A systematic review. Aging & Mental Health, 15(7), 797–810.CrossRef

Cavanagh, S. (1997). Content analysis: Concepts, methods and applications. Nurse Researcher, 4(3), 5–16.PubMed

Cheng, C., Jose, P. E., Sheldon, K. M., Singelis, T. M., Cheung, M. W., Tiliouine, H., ... & Sims, C. (2011). Sociocultural differences in self-construal and subjective well-being: A test of four cultural models. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42(5), 832-855.

Christoff, K., Cosmelli, D., Legrand, D., & Thompson, E. (2011). Specifying the self for cognitive neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(3), 104–112.PubMedCrossRef

Christopher, M. S., Woodrich, L. E., & Tiernan, K. A. (2014). Using cognitive interviews to assess the cultural validity of state and trait measures of mindfulness among Zen Buddhists. Mindfulness, 5(2), 145–160.PubMedCrossRef

Damasio, A. R. (2012). Self comes to mind: Constructing the conscious brain. Vintage.

Davis, D. E., Ho, M. Y., Griffin, B. J., Bell, C., Hook, J. N., Van Tongeren, D. R., et al. (2015). Forgiving the self and physical and mental health correlates: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(2), 329–335.PubMedCrossRef

Davidson, R. J., & Dahl, C. J. (2018). Outstanding challenges in scientific research on mindfulness and meditation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), 62–65.PubMedCrossRef

Dennett, D. C. (1992). The self as a center of narrative gravity. In F. S. Kessel, P. M. Cole, & D. L. Johnson (Eds.), Self and consciousness: Multiple perspectives (pp. 275–288). Erlbaum.

Dermatis, H., & Egelko, S. (2014). Buddhist mindfulness as an influence in recent empirical CBT approaches to addiction: Convergence with the Alcoholics Anonymous model. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 32(2–3), 194–213.CrossRef

Desbordes, G. (2019). Self-related processing in mindfulness-based interventions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 312–316.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef

Dibert, F. (2009). Mindfulness, compassion, and the nature of self: A study of Vipassana meditation in context. ProQuest.

Dor-Ziderman, Y., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2013). Mindfulness-induced selflessness: A MEG neurophenomenological study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 582.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef

Dorjee, D. (2016). Defining contemplative science: The metacognitive self-regulatory capacity of the mind, context of meditation practice and modes of existential awareness. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1788.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef

Downe-Wamboldt, B. (1992). Content analysis: Method, applications, and issues. Health Care for Women International, 13(3), 313–321.PubMedCrossRef

Ewing, K. (1990). The illusion of wholeness: Culture, self, and the experience of inconsistency. Ethos, 18(3), 251–278.CrossRef

Farb, N. A., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(4), 313–322.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef

Felver, J. C., Celis-de Hoyos, C. E., Tezanos, K., & Singh, N. N. (2016). A systematic review of mindfulnessbased interventions for youth in school settings. Mindfulness, 7(1), 34–45.CrossRef

Feng, X. J., Krägeloh, C. U., Billington, D. R., & Siegert, R. J. (2018). To what extent is mindfulness as presented in commonly used mindfulness questionnaires different from how it is conceptualized by senior ordained Buddhists? Mindfulness, 9(2), 441–460.CrossRef

Gallagher, S. (2000). Philosophical conceptions of the self: Implications for cognitive science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(1), 14–21.PubMedCrossRef

Gao, L., Zheng, X., & Yan, B. B. (2010). The differences of well-being between the East and the West: From the view of self-construal. Advances in Psychological Science, 18(07), 1041–1045.

Germer, C. K., Siegel, R. D., & Fulton, P. R. (2013). Mindfulness and psychotherapy. The Guilford Press.

Giles, J. (1993). The no-self theory: Hume, Buddhism, and personal identity. Philosophy East and West, 43(2), 175–200.CrossRef

Goldberg, S. B., Tucker, R. P., Greene, P. A., Davidson, R. J., Wampold, B. E., Kearney, D. J., & Simpson, T. L. (2018). Mindfulness-based interventions for psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 59, 52–60.PubMedCrossRef

Gregory, B., & Peters, L. (2017). Changes in the self during cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorder: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 52, 1–18.PubMedCrossRef

Hadash, Y., Plonsker, R., Vago, D. R., & Bernstein, A. (2016). Experiential self-referential and selfless processing in mindfulness and mental health: Conceptual model and implicit measurement methodology. Psychological Assessment, 28(7), 856–869.PubMedCrossRef

Hanley, A. W., & Garland, E. L. (2019). Spatial frame of reference as a phenomenological feature of self-transcendence: Measurement and manipulation through mindfulness meditation. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6(4), 329–345.

Haimerl, C. J., & Valentine, E. R. (2001). The effect of contemplative practice on intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal dimensions of the self-concept. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 33(1), 37–52.

Hollis-Walker, L., & Colosimo, K. (2011). Mindfulness, self-compassion, and happiness in non-meditators: A theoretical and empirical examination. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2), 222–227.CrossRef

Hölzel, B. K., Lazar, S. W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Vago, D. R., & Ott, U. (2011). How does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(6), 537–559.PubMedCrossRef

Hood, B. (2012). The self illusion: How the social brain creates identity. Oxford University Press.

Hume, D. (1874). A treatise on human nature: 1 (Vol. 2). Longmans.

Husgafvel, V. (2016). On the Buddhist roots of contemporary non-religious mindfulness practice: Moving beyond sectarian and essentialist approaches. Temenos-Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, 52(1), 87–126.CrossRef

James, W. (1968). The self. In C. Gordon & K. J. Gergen (Eds.), The self in social interaction Classic and contemporary perspectives (Vol. I, pp. 41–50). Wiley.

Josipovic, Z. (2014). Neural correlates of nondual awareness in meditation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1307(1), 9–18.PubMedCrossRef

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4(1), 33–47.PubMedCrossRef

Kang, C., & Whittingham, K. (2010). Mindfulness: A dialogue between Buddhism and clinical psychology. Mindfulness, 1(3), 161–173.CrossRef

Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., ... & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6), 763-771.

Kirmayer, L. J. (2015). Mindfulness in cultural context. Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 447–469.PubMedCrossRef

Kohlenberg, R. J., Tsai, M., Kanter, J. W., & Parker, C. R. (2009). Self and mindfulness. In M. Tsai, R. J. Kohlenberg, J. W. Kanter, B. Kohlenberg, W. C. Follette, & G. M. Callaghan (Eds.), A guide to functional analytic psychotherapy: Awareness, courage, love, and behaviorism (pp. 103–130). Springer.

Leary, M. R., Diebels, K. J., Jongman-Sereno, K. P., & Hawkins, A. (2016). Perspectives on hypo-egoic phenomena from social and personality psychology. In K. W. Brown & M. R. Leary (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena (pp. 47–61). Oxford University Press.

Leary, M. R., & Tangney, J. P. (2003). The self as an organizing construct in the behavioral and social sciences. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 3–14). Guilford Press.

Li, P., & Ramirez, D. R. (2017). Zen and psychotherapy. In A. Masuda & W. T. O’Donohue (Eds.), Handbook of Zen, mindfulness, and behavioral health (pp. 169–194). Springer.CrossRef

Liberati, A., Altman, D. G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P. C., Ioannidis, J. P., Clarke, M., Devereaux, P. J., Kleijnen, J., & Moher, D. (2009). The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: Explanation and elaboration. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 62(10), e1–e34.PubMedCrossRef

Lutz, A. (2007). Neurophenomenology and the study of self-consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 16(3), 765–767.PubMedCrossRef

Lutz, J., Brühl, A. B., Scheerer, H., Jäncke, L., & Herwig, U. (2016). Neural correlates of mindful self-awareness in mindfulness meditators and meditation-naïve subjects revisited. Biological Psychology, 119, 21–30.PubMedCrossRef

Mehling, W. E., Wrubel, J., Daubenmier, J. J., Price, C. J., Kerr, C. E., Silow, T., Gopisetty, V., & Stewart, A. L. (2011). Body awareness: A phenomenological inquiry into the common ground of mind-body therapies. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 6(1), 1–12.CrossRef

Metzinger, T. (2004). Being no one: The self-model theory of subjectivity. MIT Press.

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., PRISMA Group. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Medicine, 6(7), e1000097.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef

Nietzsche, F. W. (1967). The will to power. Vintage.

Northoff, G., Wainio-Theberge, S., & Evers, K. (2020). Spatiotemporal neuroscience - what is it and why we need it. Physics of Life Reviews, 33, 78–87.PubMedCrossRef

Olendzki, A. (2011). The construction of mindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 55–70.CrossRef

Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

Peacock, J. (2008). Suffering in mind: The etiology of suffering in early Buddhism. Contemporary Buddhism, 9(2), 209–226.CrossRef

Popay, J., Roberts, H., Sowden, A., Petticrew, M., Arai, L., Rodgers, M., Britten, N., Roen, K., & Duffy, S. (2006). Guidance on the conduct of narrative synthesis in systematic reviews: A product from the ESRC methods programme (Version 1). ESRC.

Powell, A. (2018). When science meets mindfulness. The Harvard gazette. Retrieved from: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-howmindfulness-may-change-thebrain-in-depressed-patients

Quinn, N. (2006). The self. Anthropological Theory, 6(3), 362–384.CrossRef

Ricard, M., Lutz, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2014). Mind of the meditator. Scientific American, 311(5), 38–45.PubMedCrossRef

Samuel, G. (2015). The contemporary mindfulness movement and the question of nonself. Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 485–500.PubMedCrossRef

Seth, A. K. (2013). Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(11), 565–573.PubMedCrossRef

Schmidt, S. (2011). Mindfulness in east and west–is it the same? In H. Walach, S. Schmidt, & W. B. Jonas (Eds.), Neuroscience, consciousness, and spirituality (pp. 23–38). Springer.CrossRef

Sharf, R. H. (2015). Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters). Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 470–484.PubMedCrossRef

Stewart, L., Moher, D., & Shekelle, P. (2012). Why prospective registration of systematic reviews makes sense. Systematic Reviews, 1(1), 1–4.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef

Strauss, A. L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Struhl, K. J. (2020). What kind of an illusion is the illusion of self? Comparative Philosophy, 11(2), 113–139.

Tang, Y. Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 213–225.PubMedCrossRef

Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2001). The primacy of the interpersonal self. In C. Sedikides & M. B. Brewer (Eds.), Individual self, relational self, collective self (pp. 71–88). Psychology Press.

Trammel, R. C. (2017). Tracing the roots of mindfulness: Transcendence in Buddhism and Christianity. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 36(3), 367–383.CrossRef

Tulving, E. (2001). Origin of autonoesis in episodic memory. In H. L. Roediger III, J. S. Nairne, I. Neath, & A. M. Surprenant (Eds.), The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder (pp. 17–34). American Psychological Association.

Vago, D. R., & David, S. A. (2012). Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): A framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 1–30.CrossRef

Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., Griffiths, M. D., & Singh, N. N. (2015). There is only one mindfulness: Why science and Buddhism need to work together. Mindfulness, 6(1), 49–56.CrossRef

Varela, F. J. (1996). Neurophenomenology: A methodological remedy for the hard problem. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3(4), 330–349.

Watkins, E., & Teasdale, J. D. (2001). Rumination and overgeneral memory indepression: Effects of self-focus and analytic thinking. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110(2), 353–357.PubMedCrossRef

Yaden, D. B., Haidt, J., Hood, R. W., Jr., Vago, D. R., & Newberg, A. B. (2017). The varieties of self-transcendent experience. Review of General Psychology, 21(2), 143–160.CrossRef

Yu, L., Norton, S., Harrison, A., & McCracken, L. M. (2015). In search of the person in pain: A systematic review of conceptualization, assessment methods, and evidence for self and identity in chronic pain. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 4(4), 246–262.CrossRef

Zahavi, D. (2003). Phenomenology of self. In T. Kircher & A. David (Eds.), The self in neuroscience and psychiatry (pp. 56–75). Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Zahavi, D., & Gallagher, S. (2005). Phenomenological approaches to self-consciousness. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (pp. 207–222). Stanford University.

Titel: Paying Attention to the Self: a Systematic Review of the Study of the Self in Mindfulness Research
Auteurs: Huma Shireen
Sabrah Khanyari
Amadea Vance
Hanna Johannesson
Christian Preissner
Yair Dor-Ziderman
Bassam Khoury
Bärbel Knäuper
Publicatiedatum: 23-03-2022
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness / Uitgave 6/2022
Print ISSN: 1868-8527
Elektronisch ISSN: 1868-8535
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01844-4

Bohn Stafleu van Loghum

Deel dit onderdeel of sectie (kopieer de link)

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Systematic review registration

Log in om toegang te krijgen

Andere artikelen Uitgave 6/2022

Transition Needs Compassion: a Thematic Analysis of an Online Compassion-Focused Therapy Group in a Gender Service

The Impacts of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Mindfulness and Well-being for Regular and Novice Meditators

Impact of Social Anxiety and Type of Stressor on Levels of Self-compassion

Mindfulness and Depersonalization: a Nuanced Relationship

Mantram Repetition as a Portable Mindfulness Practice: Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Self-transcendence Predicts Better Pre- and Postoperative Outcomes in Two Randomized Clinical Trials of Brief Mindfulness-Based Interventions