Research provides tools for achieving the 'how' of well-being in daily life
University of Wisconsin-Madison
In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation Tracking poll from July, 53 percent of U.S. adults reported that their mental health had been negatively affected by worry and stress over the pandemic -- up from 32 percent reported in March.
Organizations and communities are looking for practical tools to support mental health amidst this growing crisis, which is taking place alongside ongoing social and racial unrest.
In a recently published paper in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison introduce a new framework for emotional well-being that
focuses on specific skills that can be learned.
The
framework is based on scientific evidence that suggests well-being can be
cultivated through practice in daily life.
"It's really the 'how' of well-being," says Christy Wilson-Mendenhall, a scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds at UW-Madison and co-author on the paper.
"Traditionally, the focus in psychology research has been on
treatment of mental illness. We're hoping to broaden the conversation to
advocate cultivating well-being at any stage, even when you're relatively
healthy. These skills help make us more resilient in moments like we're
experiencing now."
The
framework focuses on four pillars that have been studied in the lab and have
been shown to improve with training: awareness, or attentiveness to one's
environment and internal cues such as bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings;
connection, or appreciation, kindness and compassion; insight, which refers to
fostering curiosity and self-knowledge; and purpose, understanding your values
and motivations.
For
instance, awareness -- and in particular meta-awareness (being aware that
you're aware) -- appears to decrease stress, increase positive emotions, and
can be strengthened through mental training practices like meditation.
Awareness helps curb some of the harmful effects of distraction, which is shown
to impair cognitive function and increase stress-related responses in the body
related to inflammation and aging.
Another
example is a trait like purpose in life, which is a personally meaningful aim
that people can apply to daily life. Purpose is associated with positive
biological and physical health outcomes.
"There are qualities of a healthy mind that many people don't know are even trainable," says Cortland Dahl, a research scientist at the center, who is lead author on the paper.
"We don't think of them as skills. Many of us
have thought we are hardwired to be like this or that, but the reality is these
qualities are much more trainable and malleable than we think. It's a very
empowering view of the human mind -- we can learn to be in the driver's seat of
our own mind."
The
new framework provides evidence that people can weather life's ups and downs
with resilience, and that the brain and body can change and adapt. Rather than
replacing other views of well-being, researchers say the framework complements
other models by focusing specifically on scientific evidence for dimensions of
well-being that are trainable and can be learned so that people flourish.
The
team hopes to make the science as accessible as possible, and they encourage
researchers to incorporate this knowledge into therapy, meditation programs,
and other mental health treatments.
"This work is parallel with what we're learning about human biology. We're just at the beginning of understanding that our biology is also malleable," says Dahl, who is also the chief contemplative officer of Healthy Minds Innovations, the external nonprofit affiliated with the Center for Healthy Minds, which translates science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being.
"We are
not born a certain fixed way. Our brains and nervous systems and biology can be
shaped. That's such a hopeful view to have -- there are many ways we can
influence our minds, brains and bodies for the better."
Wilson-Mendenhall
and Dahl note that there's significant work to be done to understand how the
framework might be applied across cultures and studied in diverse groups of
people. Given that the ideas in the framework have a deep history in
contemplative contexts that predate Western science's ability to study them,
it's fair to assume their importance, but how they are packaged and presented
in mental health interventions moving forward may vary across cultures and
contexts and requires additional focus.
References
to meditation and other well-being interventions is "akin to the word
sports," says study co-author and Center for Healthy Minds director
Richard Davidson, the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and
Psychiatry: "One size does not fit all."
"It
describes a huge range of pursuits," he says. "Different types of
meditation do different things for your brain, just as different sports trigger
different changes in your body. You can train your mind in different pillars
that go beyond mindfulness or even gratitude practices."
For
instance, the insight pillar, Davidson explains, is "just about getting
curious about your own preconceived thoughts and opinions. Your brain is not
set. You can question your own assumptions and biases, and this has tremendous
potential to heal the division and 'othering' that we see in today's
society."
Future
research will explore how the framework can help people build resilience, and
how it might be used to treat mental health disorders like depression. Other
research projects at the Center for Healthy Minds and UW-Madison are now using
the framework, implemented through a mobile app, with promise so far.
This work was supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (grant P01AT004952) in the U.S. National Institutes of Health.