On anxiety:
A 2013 study published in Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience found that mindful attention reduces self-reported cravings in smokers, as well as reduced neural activity in the craving-related region of the brain.
On smoking cessation:
A study in NeuroImage in 2013 concluded that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may be an effective treatment for reducing anxiety and mood symptoms in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.
On loneliness:
In 2012, a study published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity found that an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program helps decrease loneliness in older adults.
On behavior regulation:
A study published in Psychological Inquiry in 2007 examined the theory and evidence of how mindfulness curtails distress and enhances mental health, physical health, and behavioral regulation.
More mindfulness studies by David Creswell
Creswell, J.D., Pacilio, L.E., Lindsay, E.K., & Brown, K.W. (under review). Brief mindfulness meditation training alters psychological and neuroendocrine responses to social evaluative stress.
Taren, A.A., Creswell, J.D., & Gianaros, P.J. (2013). Dispositional mindfulness co-varies with smaller amygdala and caudate volumes in community adults. PLoS One, 8, e64574.
Holzel, B.K., Hoge, E.A., Greve, D.N., Gard, T., Creswell, J.D., Brown, K.W., Barrett, L.F., Vaitl, D., & Lazar, S. (2013). Neural mechanisms of symptom improvement in generalized anxiety disorder following mindfulness meditation training. NeuroImage: Clinical, 2, 448-458.
Brown, K.W., Weinstein, N., & Creswell, J.D. (2012). Trait mindfulness modulates neuroendocrine and affective responses to social evaluative threat. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 2037-2041.
Kilpatrick, L.A., Suyenobu, B.Y., Smith, S.R., Bueller, J.A., Goodman, T., Creswell, J.D., Mayer, E.A., & Naliboff, B.D. (2011). Impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training on resting state networks. NeuroImage, 56, 290-298.
Way, B., Creswell, J.D., Eisenberger, N.I., & Lieberman, M.D. (2010). Dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology: Correlations with limbic and self-referential neural activity at rest. Emotion, 10, 12-24.
Creswell, J.D., Myers, H.F., Cole, S.W., & Irwin, M.R. (2009). Mindfulness meditation training effects on CD4+ T lymphocytes in HIV-1 infected adults: A small randomized controlled trial. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 23, 184-188.
Creswell, J.D., Way, B.M., Eisenberger, N.I., & Lieberman, M.D. (2007). Neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness during affect labeling. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 560-565.
Brown, K.W., Ryan, R.M., & Creswell, J.D. (2007). Addressing fundamental questions about mindfulness. Psychological Inquiry, 18, 272-281.
This web extra provides additional information related to an article titled, “Dissecting Mindfulness,” which appeared in the December 2013 issue of Mindful magazine.
