From the Counselor's Notebook: What the world needs now

By Martha Tate

“The world needs a counterforce to disturbing thought and emotion.” - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I was one of the fortunate four thousand in attendance at the Mind-Life Institute XV at Emory. We witnessed a respectful, compassionate dialogue when East met West as His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, conferred with western neurobiologists, psychiatrists and researchers about “Mindfulness, Compassion and the Treatment of Depression”. The intent of the dialogue was to understand depression in physiological and cognitive terms and to explore the possibility that mindfulness based therapies, such as compassionate meditation, might be useful in the treatment and prevention of depression.Depression is the # one cause of disability worldwide and can lead to suicide, physical disease, behavioral and relational problems. Rates of depression are similar worldwide. Research indicates that the complex interplay between genetics and early life experience renders some people susceptible to depression.Depression is a condition with physiological, cognitive and emotional features. People with certain personality traits are prone to depression as their habits of mind are conducive to its development.
Researchers assess causality as 1/3 genetic and 2/3 environmental. Experiences such as early childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, poverty, exploitation and insufficient bonding predispose vulnerable people to depression. The age-old nature/nurture debate is best understood as a “both/and” proposition. It is in the interplay between “mind” and “body” that both health and disease are created and sustained.A cursory understanding of the mechanisms by which experience impacts physiology is necessary to grasp how compassionate meditation could impact depression and its devastating consequences. This is found in the early research on the physiology of stress reactions.
Stress, defined as perceived threat, stimulates the increased production of certain chemicals which trigger heightened activity in the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate and respiration increase, while blood is shunted from digestive organs to the major muscle groups fueling the “fight or flight” response. Prolonged, unremitting stress floods the body with these chemicals, which in turn damage the body and prohibit the relaxation phase with its cascade of complementary chemicals normally following the excitation phase. This is a recipe for all sorts of illness, including depression, to incubate.Conversely, positive, nurturing experiences, like healthy maternal/infant bonding, produce other chemicals, such as oxytocin, which actually mitigate against the adverse effects of stress and create a sense of well being.
Via these same mechanisms, healthful activities like meditation and psychotherapy also affect the expression of brain/body chemistry and are helpful in ameliorating depression. These practices are now proven to restructure the brain.In the research on compassionate meditation, participants first relaxed the body through mindful breathing. They then focused attention on the connection between their thought and feeling states. Finally, they focused on thoughts and images of love and equanimity, the desire of all beings for happiness and well being.Interestingly, regions of the brain associated with emotional and physical self -knowledge showed increased activity. Such heightened awareness allows meditators the ability to master, or at least influence, their mental and emotional states. The connection between the thinking and feeling brain was strengthened. Empathy, as measured by emotional reactions to pictures of distressed children, was increased, as was altruism, measured by the increased desire to contribute money to charity. Researchers concluded that compassionate meditation is a prophylactic for stress and emotional disorders, including depression.
As our Western scientific method investigates spiritual practices, we are privileged to understand from a new perspective what Christian seekers have always known. Deep prayer and meditation on the scriptures change us. As changed people, we impact our world differently. Perhaps Christ’s healing miracles operated in accordance with these principles; the power of His healing touch rewiring brains, bodies and beings. Christ is our example of perfect integration of mind/body and Spirit. Living in uninterrupted communion with God, He modeled for us the potential that God ordains. We fall so short, but gain so much in the trying. In Christ there is no East nor West, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.”
Martha M. Tate is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice.