Researchers at Northeastern University have found that mindfulness meditation can help teens relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety. Research published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
The study involved nine adolescents aged 17-19, and 40% of them reported feeling too sad to do their usual activities for at least two weeks during the year.
Mindfulness meditation taught. To make it more fun, the researchers turned it into a game. If the participant did the meditation correctly, the ball on the screen went up, if he did it wrong, it fell.
The scientists evaluated changes in the participants’ brains using functional MRI. It turns out that meditations make the default mode network less active and the central execution network more active. The effectiveness of the former is associated with the development of depression, anxiety and ADHD, and the latter is associated with goal setting and attention.
Scientists say treatments for depression and anxiety, including medications and psychotherapy, are currently between 30% and 50% effective.