Lola Swanson

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Barton, Michelle

Area of Concentration

Psychology, Neuroscience with Philosophy

Abstract

The present paper examines mindfulness meditation as an accessible (more available and affordable than existing treatment options) intervention for depression and anxiety, and ultimately proposes journaling about purpose as an addition to mindfulness meditation practice that would address the issue of psychological engagement. Psychological engagement with mindfulness meditation is what mediates the neurological benefits, but unfortunately individuals with high levels of rumination and worry (characteristics of depression and anxiety) struggle with psychological engagement. Journaling about purpose is explored as a possible solution to this issue because Burrow et al. (2016) found that journaling about purpose had a relationship to effort perception; those who journaled about purpose predicted that a difficult task would require less effort when compared to a control condition. Over the course of 5 weeks participants completed surveys that included measures of rumination, worry, psychological engagement in mindfulness meditation, and level of purpose felt during journaling, journaled about assigned prompts, and participated in guided mindfulness meditations. The participants in the experimental group were asked to journal about something that gives them a sense of purpose, and those in the control condition journaled about a control prompt. When baseline and post-intervention psychological engagement scores were compared between groups, no significant differences were found. A moderate positive correlation was found between salience of purpose during journaling and psychological engagement score post-intervention. This suggests that although there was not an effect of condition, there may still be a relationship between the salience of purpose and psychological engagement.

Download

Share

COinS