McGarrah 1

Griffin McGarrah

Professor Fulford

CO-300

11 July 2021

Annotated Bibliography

Yela, José Ramón, et al. “Self‐compassion, Meaning in Life, and Experiential Avoidance

Explain the Relationship between Meditation and Positive Mental Health Outcomes.”

Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 76, no. 9, Sept. 2020, pp. 1631–1652. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1002/jclp.22932.

This article studies the correlation between mindfulness practices like meditation and

mental health. The results show the people who participated in mindfulness practices

experienced higher levels of self compassion and “presence of meaning of life” (Yela). Although

the consistency and amount of practice per week seemed to play a large role in the results.

This resource will be beneficial because it documents a study done on the effects of

mindful meditation practices. It helps establish ethos by portraying tangible results done in a

study. As well as, establishing logos by portraying a positive correlation between mental health

and mindful meditation that further gives credibility to my argument.

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Larrivee, Denis, and Luis Echarte. “Contemplative Meditation and Neuroscience: Prospects for

Mental Health.” Journal of Religion & Health, vol. 57, no. 3, June 2018, pp. 960–978.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10943-017-0475-0.

Neuroscientific studies of mindfulness and its effects on mental health have been proven

beneficial for stress, anxiety, impulse control and more. This article studies how practicing

mindfulness especially with religious/spirituality tones can help improve your mental health and

produce a variety of health benefits. These practices are also being further researched to treat

certain mental disorders and be a form of therapy for those who apply.

This source is beneficial because it is a scientific study and proposed further study of the

benefits of mindfulness and meditation practices. It further establishes ethos by having scientific

professionals present their findings of how mindfulness practices affect mental health. It also

encourages further study on the subject as the benefits could be far wider ranging then we know

already.

Hudziak, James J. “33.4 Meditation and Mental Health.” Journal of the American Academy of

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 57, Oct. 2018, pp. S48–S49. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.07.206.

Upon studying brain scans from those who participate in meditation and other

mindfulness practices people have found structural changes that improve human behavior. Not

only do these findings indicate that meditation can be used in conjunction with other methods to

get over certain mental diseases. It can also be used to protect against them in the first place.

This source will be useful because it has a slightly different approach to giving my

argument/philosophy credibility. This source has tangible evidence of the changes that occur to
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one's brain who practice mindfulness. Making it impossible to dismiss as some sort of placebo

effect.

Lau, Mark A., and Shelley F. McMain. “Integrating Mindfulness Meditation with Cognitive and

Behavioural Therapies: The Challenge of Combining Acceptance- and Change-Based

Strategies.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 50, no. 13, Nov. 2005, pp.

863–869, doi:10.1177/070674370505001310.

This source explores the benefits of mindfulness practices in a psychological cognitive

therapy setting. Researchers have begun to take notice on how implementing mindfulness

practices in patients therapy that suffer from depression and anxiety are often able to recover and

have a lessened chance of relapsing in their respective mental health issues. The evidence from

the conducted studies thus far have been extremely positive and warrant further research.

This source is useful because it shows the usefulness of mindfulness in medical fields. It

helps the reader understand how mindfulness can be used in therapy to help patients overcome

mental health issues. It also demonstrates how mindfulness can be a useful defence to recurring

mental health issues and can be used as a healthy preventative measure in some cases.

Stapp, Alicia Cooper, and Ashley Berry Lambert. “The Impact of Mindfulness-Based Yoga

Interventions on Fifth-Grade Students’ Perceived Anxiety and Stress.” International

Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, vol. 12, no. 5, June 2020, pp. 471–480.

EBSCOhost,

search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=

cookie,ip,url,cpid&custid=s4640792&db=eric&AN=EJ1262566&site=ehost-live.
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This source studies how mindfulness yoga practices can help lower anxiety and stress

levels in students. A study was done on 5th grader students perceived anxiety and stress levels

and how participating in a mindful yoga practice may affect that. The results showed a fairly

significant decrease in both students' perceived stress and anxiety levels, as well as a decrease in

how the teachers perceived their students' stress and anxiety levels.

This is a useful source as it links a qualitative and quantitative decrease of stress and

anxiety levels in students with practicing mindful yoga. It has measurable data from a study

supporting the benefits of mindfulness practices ability to help mental health issues. It can be

used to demonstrate how mindfulness practices can help a wide range of people ease some of the

mental health struggles they commonly deal with.

Kim, Sue, et al. “Impact of Trauma-Informed Training and Mindfulness-Based Social-Emotional

Learning Program on Teacher Attitudes and Burnout: A Mixed-Methods Study.” School

Mental Health, vol. 13, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 55–68. EBSCOhost,

search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=

cookie,ip,url,cpid&custid=s4640792&db=eric&AN=EJ1287449&site=ehost-live.

In this article a study is done on the benefits of trauma informed training and mindfulness

based social emotional learning programs on teachers. It can be incredibly stressful for those

dealing with people with trauma. In this study they followed a group of teachers who received

special training with mindfulness techniques to reduce stress levels and potential burnout. The

results from the focus group data displayed that the teachers who received the special training

had lower stress levels and were more comfortable in their environments then those who had not

received the training.

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This source is helpful as it establishes again another benefit of mindfulness. It shows

another wide ranging benefit that mindfulness can have not only on an individual, but also a

community. By having those who have high stress jobs, in this case people dealing with trauma

victims, able to not develop serious mental health issues themselves and thus better perform in

their jobs.

Azam, Muhammad Abid, et al. “Mindfulness as an Alternative for Supporting University

Student Mental Health: Cognitive-Emotional and Depressive Self-Criticism Measures.”

International Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 5, no. 2, June 2016, pp. 140–163.

EBSCOhost,

search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=

cookie,ip,url,cpid&custid=s4640792&db=eric&AN=EJ1111711&site=ehost-live.

With increasing mental health disorders among college students it's time to search for less

traditional methods of treatment and prevention. A study conducted on college students with

existing or high risk of depression were put into a mindfulness meditation program. The results

of the study demonstrated a high to very high decrease in depression among the college students.

Furthermore, mindfulness meditation provided preemptive help to those at high risk of

depression, decreasing the likelihood of them becoming depressed in the near future.

This is a useful source as it overwhelmingly showcases a direct correlation between

mindfulness meditation and decreasing depression in college students. Increasing both the logos

and pathos of my philosophy as a whole. It also establishes teros as many people who may be

interested in the topic are students themselves or may know people who are students and

struggling with anxiety or depression.

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“Mindfulness Meditation: A Research-Proven Way to Reduce Stress.” American Psychological

Association, American Psychological Association,

www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation.

This website article synthesizes over 200 studies done on the potential benefits of

mindful meditation practices on mental health. There is an abundance of research that

demonstrates the positive effects mindful meditation has on anxiety, stress, depression, and

addiction. The article also explains why this is, as people who practice mindful meditation were

far less likely to engage in negative thought patterns and were more likely to focus on the present

rather than get anxious about future events.

This is a beneficial source because it is not an academic source yet cites many academic

studies. This is useful because it can clearly and plainly explain the benefits of mindful

meditation to those who may get overwhelmed reading more academic pieces. It allows for a

more inclusive form of understanding the information.

“Mindfulness Meditation & Addiction.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-wise-open-mind/201004/mindfulness-meditation

-addiction.

Ph.D Ronald Alexander sheds light on how mindfulness practices can help addiction. By

understanding the deeper reasons behind your addiction through mindfulness practices one can

begin to free oneself from its hold. By bringing awareness and understanding to one's emotions
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and their perceived need of the addiction, mindfulness practices can be a huge help in therapy

regarding addiction control.

This is yet another example of the wide spreading benefits of mindfulness practices on

mental health. It furthers the ethos of my philosophy as it demonstrates yet another benefit of

mindfulness practices in helping improve mental health. It is also written by someone with a

Ph.D and a lot of experience within this field of practice/study.

Kelly, Brendan D. “Meditation, Mindfulness and Mental Health.” <i>Irish Journal of

Psychological Medicine</i>, vol. 25, no. 1, 2008, pp. 3–4.,

doi:10.1017/S0790966700010752.

This final article showcases how mindfulness can affect your brain in a positive way.

Research shows how even short term mindfulness practices (eight weeks) can make changes in

not only your mood and mental health but your brain. Not only that but these changes can have

lasting effects even when not currently practicing mindfulness.

This source is valuable because it can address some potential questions or concerns that

readers may be having. It shows that one doesn’t have to practice for years and years to see

lasting benefits of mindfulness practices. It also addresses that one does not need to be currently

practicing mindfulness to receive the benefits of it.