Mindfulness for meditation haters: appliance of heartrate coherence training in ACT

1
Mindfulness for meditation haters appliance of
heartrate coherence training in ACT

• Marco Kleen MSc
• BrainDynamics Groningen / PsyAdvies.nl
• University of Groningen

2
Mindfulness definitions

• Skill being present, observing ones experiences
  in a non-judgemental way no matter how aversive
  those experiences may be
• Attitude compound factor of four ACT processes
  in the hexaflex (acceptance, being present,
  defusion and self-as-context)

3
Disadvantages of formal mindfulness training

• Resistance against meditation-like techniques
• Religious objections
• Time investment
• Dogmatic appliance

4
Goals

• Pragmatic mindfulness
• Function of the excersize is more important than
  the form
• Increase accesibility of mindfulness for
  meditation haters
• Research biological marker of mindfulness

5
Heartrate variability

• Variance of interval between heartbeats
• Sympathetic and parasympathetic ANS
• Reflects emotional functioning (among other
  variables)

6
Chaos
Coherence
7
Coherence vs chaos

• Coherence ? focussing on breath, acceptance,
  being open minded, focussing on present,
  mindfulness. Technically dominance of 0.1 Hz
  frequency.
• Chaos ? problem solving, non-acceptance,
  experiential avoidance
• Being coherent can be trained ? Heartrate
  Coherence Training (HCT)

8
Applications

• Heartmath Emwave protocol ( HCT
  counterconditioning). Primairy goal symptom
  (stress) reduction
• HCT adapted to the hexaflex (HCT-ACT)mindfulness
  through heartrate coherence training.
  Primairy goal practical mindfulness

9
HCT-ACT

• Heartmath Freeze Framer/Emwave easy to use
  biofeedbackprogram
• Low intensity 3 x 7 minutes per session
• Homework 10 minutes a day

10
Two Phases

• Phase 1. Skilltraining
• Phase 2. Exposure

11
Phase 1 skilltraining

• Teaching basic mindfulness
• Focus on breath
• Focus on bodily experiences
• Focus on thoughts (self as process)

12
Phase 2 exposure

• Graduated exposure
• Teaching clients to be accepting and curious
  towards aversive emotions, thoughts, memories
• Autobiographic material, symbolic letters,
  photographs, imaginary exposure, exposure in
  vivo, hyperventilation provocation

13
Pilotstudy

• Pre-posttest design Mindfull Attention Awareness
  Scale (MAAS)
• Avarage weighted cohrence scores (GGCs) - low
  0- medium 1- high 2
• T0 Baseline
• T1 After skilltraining
• T2 First exposure
• T3 Last exposure

14
Population

• N 7 clients refered to outpatient mental health
  facility for psychotherapy
• Experiential avoidance

15
Primairy results

• Qualitative positive reactions of clients,
  automatic generalization of techniques in daily
  life, no dropouts
• Quantitative paterns of coherence and self
  reported mindfulness in accordance with
  predefined hypotheses

16
Hearrate coherence
Mean weighted coherence scores
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, p lt o.o5
17
Mindfulness
Mean self-reported mindfulness (MAAS)
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, p lt o.o5
18
Conclusions

• Mindfulness throught HCT-ACT seems feasable
• HCT increases mean weighted coherence scores and
  mean selfreported mindfulness
• Heartrate variability may be a biological marker
  for mindfulness

19
Restrictions

• Small non-randomized group
• Control of breath?
• Enthousiasm researcher

20
Publication

• Kleen, M. Reitsma, B. (in press). Mindfulness
  door middel van hartslagcoherentietraining. De
  toepassing van biofeedback in Acceptance and
  Commitment Therapy (ACT). Psychopraxis, summer
  2009.Mindfulness through hearratecoherence
  training appliance of biofeedback in Acceptance
  and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

21
Live demonstration