Guided Meditations
For other meditations by Denise Dempsey, click here.
Applied Mindfulness Course
This course was a wellness seminar for psychiatry residents in 2018. The curriculum was developed and taught by Denise Dempsey, M.Ed.
Since this webpage gets so many views, it has been left up.
Syllabus here (PDF)
Related Books:
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Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness and Humanity by Ronald Epstein, MD
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Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom by Rick Hansen, PhD
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Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse by Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams , John D. Teasdale
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The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine - Eric J. Cassell, MD
Related Articles:
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Research Article: Outcomes of MBSR or MBSR-based interventions in health care providers: A systematic review with a focus on empathy and emotional competencies
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Is Your Doctor Burned Out - Ronald Epstein, MD
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Poem: The Guest House
Eleven Significant Scientific Articles
1. Changes the boundary and configuration of the primary functional brain networks.
Kajimura, Shogo, Naoki Masuda, Johnny King Lau, and Kou Murayama. “Focused Attention Meditation Changes the Boundary and Configuration of Functional Networks in the Brain,” July 2019. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/664573v2.article-info
2. Contributing to healthier sleep behavior.
Black, David S., Gillian A. O’Reilly, Richard Olmstead, Elizabeth C. Breen, and Michael R. Irwin. “Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances.” JAMA Internal Medicine 175, no. 4 (January 2015): 494. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4407465/
3. Decreased loss of grey matter across multiple brain regions (Lazar et al., 2005; Kurth, et al., 2017).
Lazar, S. W. et al. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. NeuroReport 16,1893–1897 (2005). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16272874
Kurth, Florian, Nicolas Cherbuin, and Eileen Luders. “Promising Links between Meditation and Reduced (Brain) Aging: An Attempt to Bridge Some Gaps between the Alleged Fountain of Youth and the Youth of the Field.” Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5447722/
4. Reduces compulsive behavior.
Gasnier M, Pelissolo A, Bondolfi G, et al. Mindfulness-based interventions in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Mechanisms of action and presentation of a pilot study. L'encephale. 2017 Dec;43(6):594-599. https://europepmc.org/article/med/27887679
5. Improves emotion regulation, decreases anxiety, and prevents depression relapse.
Goldin P, Gross J. Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder. Emotion. 2010;10:83–91. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20141305
6. Increases down-regulation of negative emotions occasioned by negative self-beliefs.
Dixon, M. L., Moodie, C., Goldin, P., Farb, N., Heimberg, R., Gross, J.J., (2020) Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder: Reappraisal and Acceptance of Negative Self-beliefs Biological Psychiatry. Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging: Vol. 5(1),119 - 129 https://www.biologicalpsychiatrycnni.org/article/S2451-9022(19)30202-2/fulltext
7. Increases emotional awareness, evidenced by specific brain changes.
Goldin P, McRae K, Ramel W, Gross J. The neural basis of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biological Psychiatry. 2008;63:577–586. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17888411
8. Increases resilience to stress and trauma.
Jha, A. P., Morrison, A. B., Parker, S. C. & Stanley, E. A. Practice Is Protective: Mindfulness Training Promotes Cognitive Resilience in High-Stress Cohorts. Mindfulness 8, 46–58 (2016). https://umindfulness.as.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/mindfulness-2016.pdf
9. Makes people more likely to exercise.
Shangraw, R., & Akhtar, V. L. (2016). Mindfulness and exercise. In A. L. Baltzell (Ed.), Current perspectives in social and behavioral sciences. Mindfulness and performance (p. 300–320). Cambridge University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-06592-012
10. Mindfulness can positively influence all areas of behavioral health with value demonstrated across almost all psychiatric problems.
Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology Joseph Wielgosz, Simon B. Goldberg, Tammi R.A. Kral, John D. Dunne, Richard J. Davidson. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 2019 15:1, 285-316
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093423
11. Mindful self-compassion contemplations reduce negativity toxicity.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007, Vol. 92, No. 5, 887–904 Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association 0022-3514/07/$12.0 https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/LearyJPSP.pdf