After thousands of years Western medicine is finally recognizing the benefits of meditation to treat diseases including mental illness. Under the disguise of MBCT, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, meditation is being accepted as a way to treat various conditions in the field of mental illnesses.
Meditation has long been used in Eastern philosophy and those who practice it report feeling calmer and happier. Now modern scanning technology has started to reveal why. Meditation helps to reduce activity in the amygdala region of the brain which is responsible for governing feelings of stress. It is also involved in the insula, the part of the brain allows us to feel deep emotions, which is why those who meditate are more likely to be less aggressive. This part of the brain also regulates how we view arguments with loved ones and gives us our sense of regret when we emotionally harm someone, triggering an emotional need to put things right.
In mental illnesses which involve high levels of anxiety, this mechanism becomes overactive and gives feelings that feel out of control. Meditation calms these areas and reduces the links between the emotional and analytical parts of our brain. The MBCT can help people suffering emotional stress or depression either on its own or with the help of drugs.
There have been various types of conditions treated with meditation, such as depression, anxiety, forms of schizophrenia, addictions, bipolar disorder, aggressive behavior, and of course stress. There are also studies that are currently researching into the physical healing properties of meditation.
Meditation versus Medication
Over the last 200 years, Western medical therapies for depression and mental illness have included leeches, bleeding, drilling holes in the head to let out 'demons', imprisonment, ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy) and dangerous psychotropic drugs. On the other hand, some Eastern cultures have simply used herbal remedies and meditation for hundreds of years.
Meditation therapies are a safe, drug free way to resolve issues by returning control to the patient when they feel that they can't control thoughts or emotions. Unlike drugs, it is not a fast-acting therapy, but it does provide long-term relief without side effects. The side effects of some psychotropic drugs include the very symptoms they claim to treat, such as suicidal feelings, depression, sexual health problems, constipation, rapid heartbeat, menstrual problems, restlessness, drowsiness, blurred vision, hallucination, tremors and tardive dyskinesia (muscle movements that the patient can't control). These side effects are enough to make most people feel worse than their original condition made them feel. These symptoms also get worse when the drug is taken for extended periods of time, whereas meditation will in provide greater help the longer the practice is carried out.
In a world where people seem to want instant cures as fast as they can get an instant coffee, meditation may not seem to be the kind of answer that would be popular, as it takes time and effort to work. However now that Western science is finally catching up, we may finally see progress in the field of mental health, a field that has seen little real progress in the last 200 years.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2103095/Once-dismissed-pretentious-brain-scans-prove-Eastern-philosophies-effective-treating-mental-illness.html
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/mental-health-medications/complete-index.shtml
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/depression/treatment/how-electroconvulsive-therapy-works.html
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk
http://www.medigrace.org/methodsmg1.html
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