Thesis:
The benefits of mindfulness/somatic practice, such as meditation, yoga, Qigong/Tai chi, and Dance and Movement Therapy on University of Rochester student population, particularly around Seasonal Affected Disorder syndrome.
Intro:
University of Rochester is one of the R1 schools with high research activity and rigorous curriculum. Most of R1 school students are exposed to pressures of high expectation of achievement from the school. Undergraduate students in the University of Rochester are suffering from not only heavy pressure from the university, but also from the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to Rosenthal (1984), SAD is a type of depression that occurs during the same season each year. The cause of …show more content…
According to Buddhism, mindfulness is “the gentle effort to be aware or awareness of the present reality,” and there are many programs and therapy methods that uses mindfulness as their core treatment. For example, Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a well structured group program that teaches mindfulness meditation to relieve the symptoms of psychological, physical and psychosomatic suffering (Grossmann, 2004). Although MBSR is 8 to10 week program that requires active participations from the clients, the program has a broad benefit: according to Miller (1995), MBSR is effective method of treating anxiety disorder, and Grossmann’s meta analysis study (2004) proved that MBSR may have a positive effect on stress related mental illness, depression, and binge eating disorder. Due to the nature of MBSR, it is able to treat up to 40 people at once, and it would be very cost efficient way of treating students with SAD for UCC. The effect of MBSR may last for a long time, because that mindfulness meditation techniques used by MBSR is self-sustainable practice that doesn’t need reboot sessions for the practice, as well as there are many mobile applications that clients can continue to practice …show more content…
MBCT is based MBSR, and they have a similar format in terms of group intervention. MBCT is proven to be especially effective in preventing relapse and recurrence of Major Depression symptoms. It is particularly important for students who suffer from SAD, because even small negative thoughts can easily add up to severe symptom of depression, anxiety and even suicidal behavior in a place like Rochester, where there is heavy academic pressure and it gets little sunlight in winter. MBCT helps clients to be more aware of their immediate reality and thoughts, so that clients can eventually detach themselves from depressive-related negative thinking patterns (Teasdale,
The benefits of mindfulness/somatic practice, such as meditation, yoga, Qigong/Tai chi, and Dance and Movement Therapy on University of Rochester student population, particularly around Seasonal Affected Disorder syndrome.
Intro:
University of Rochester is one of the R1 schools with high research activity and rigorous curriculum. Most of R1 school students are exposed to pressures of high expectation of achievement from the school. Undergraduate students in the University of Rochester are suffering from not only heavy pressure from the university, but also from the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to Rosenthal (1984), SAD is a type of depression that occurs during the same season each year. The cause of …show more content…
According to Buddhism, mindfulness is “the gentle effort to be aware or awareness of the present reality,” and there are many programs and therapy methods that uses mindfulness as their core treatment. For example, Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a well structured group program that teaches mindfulness meditation to relieve the symptoms of psychological, physical and psychosomatic suffering (Grossmann, 2004). Although MBSR is 8 to10 week program that requires active participations from the clients, the program has a broad benefit: according to Miller (1995), MBSR is effective method of treating anxiety disorder, and Grossmann’s meta analysis study (2004) proved that MBSR may have a positive effect on stress related mental illness, depression, and binge eating disorder. Due to the nature of MBSR, it is able to treat up to 40 people at once, and it would be very cost efficient way of treating students with SAD for UCC. The effect of MBSR may last for a long time, because that mindfulness meditation techniques used by MBSR is self-sustainable practice that doesn’t need reboot sessions for the practice, as well as there are many mobile applications that clients can continue to practice …show more content…
MBCT is based MBSR, and they have a similar format in terms of group intervention. MBCT is proven to be especially effective in preventing relapse and recurrence of Major Depression symptoms. It is particularly important for students who suffer from SAD, because even small negative thoughts can easily add up to severe symptom of depression, anxiety and even suicidal behavior in a place like Rochester, where there is heavy academic pressure and it gets little sunlight in winter. MBCT helps clients to be more aware of their immediate reality and thoughts, so that clients can eventually detach themselves from depressive-related negative thinking patterns (Teasdale,