In the tradition of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive fusion is a transdiagnostic risk factor and occurs when one becomes overly attached to or "caught up" in their thoughts, leading to a more narrowed behavioral repertoire and difficulty taking effective action in response to life's demands. Cognitive defusion is ACT's curative answer to fusion, and denotes the process of taking a step back, seeing thoughts as "simply thoughts," thereby reducing the negative impact of distressing or anxiety-provoking thoughts. While these components have been widely studied in neurotypical (NT) samples, the purpose of this study was to extend findings to people diagnosed on the autism spectrum (AS). Specifically, this study aimed to examine the impact of cognitive fusion in this population and the effectiveness of a brief defusion technique. Forty-two AS participants and fifty-five neurotypical participants were given a battery of questionnaires measuring psychological distress and dispositional levels of cognitive fusion. Participants were then randomized into either a brief cognitive fusion technique or a brief active distraction technique. In both conditions participants chose a distressing thought and rated it on a visual analogue scale (VAS) in terms of thought discomfort and believability. They were then read a rationale regarding their assigned technique, practiced the technique, and applied the technique to their chosen distressing thought. After the intervention participants immediately re-rated the thought on the same VAS. Throughout the study, participants' heart rate and skin conductance were monitored to determine physiological effects of the conditions. Finally, a follow-up survey was sent at a one-week and two-week follow-up, where participants re-rated the believability and discomfort of their thoughts. Results of this study showed that the AS group had higher overall levels of fusion than the NT group, and that fusion was moderately to strongly related to psychological distress in the AS group and the NT group. In terms of the intervention effects, all interpretation statements must be taken with caution, as there were significant pre-group differences despite randomization. Both defusion and distraction worked equally well in immediately reducing thought believability and thought discomfort for AS and NT groups. Furthermore, treatment effects were maintained at the two-week follow-up period for all groups except for the AS group in the defusion condition. There were no treatment effects for physiology. The current study provides evidence that cognitive fusion may be an important factor in the psychiatric comorbidity that people with AS experience, and a brief technique can be effectively used.

In my art practice, collecting materials from personally significant locations has become a way to subtly reconnect people with places, nature, natural materials and processes. I produce well-made objects, with the end goal of allowing the viewer to feel and interact with traditional forms of beauty through craft, which is increasingly rare in our mechanized world. Raw materials are a direct link to nature and earth, a link which people in general can benefit from in essential ways. The processes of collecting and using naturally occurring materials to form links between objects and places resembles human relationships, and the connections between places, things, and people set the stage for the performance of beauty.

abstract: A child’s death evokes intense and long-lasting grief in parents. However, few interventions exist to address the needs of this population. This mixed methods project used secondary data to evaluate the impact of a four-day, grief-focused mindfulness-based retreat on bereaved parents. A quasi-experimental design with two nonequivalent groups (intervention group n = 25, comparison group n = 41) and three observations (pretest and two posttests) was used. Mixed-model repeated-measures analyses of variance were used to assess change over time for the intervention group and relative to a no-intervention comparison group. Outcome measures were depressive and anxious responses, measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25); trauma responses, measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R); mindfulness, measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ); and self-compassion, measured by the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF). The intervention group was expected to show significant decreases in psychological distress and significant increases in mindfulness and self-compassion over time and relative to the comparison group. The qualitative component consisted of semi-structured interviews with nineteen retreat participants using a constructivist phenomenological approach in order to obtain a richer understanding of the retreat’s impact on participants’ lives. There were significant time by condition interactions with small to medium effect sizes for the IES-R and its subscales, the HSCL-25 and its depression subscale, and three FFMQ scales (describe, act with awareness, and nonjudge), all favoring the intervention group. However, not all benefits were maintained at follow-up. Psychoeducation and relationships emerged as key qualitative themes. Psychoeducation included benefits related to present-moment awareness, fully inhabiting grief, self-compassion, emotional equanimity, and reduced distress or judgment of distress. Relationships included benefits related to giving and receiving social support, emotional expression and sharing, validation and normalization of grief-related experiences, resonance and self-other awareness, self-appraisal, changes in relationships, and connection to a deceased child. Mindfulness seemed to be a key component in reducing trauma responses. Relationship factors, combined with psychoeducation and present-moment awareness, seemed responsible for increasing participants’ capacity for nonjudgmental acceptance of experiences. The retreat may be an effective intervention for helping parents cope with and express their grief and warrants further study. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Work 2019

abstract: Female college veterans face a host of struggles both personally and academically. Research that focuses primarily on female veterans’ wellness needs as they transition into civilian life is limited and this population is woefully understudied in comparison to male veterans. The purpose of this study was to describe and explore some of the wellness needs of female college veterans making the transition from military service to college/civilian life. Twelve hundred and thirty female veterans from a University Veterans Center were sent a recruitment email where 125 successfully completed a life satisfaction (Frisch, 1994), physical activity (Craig et al., 2003), resilience (Connor & Davidson, 2003), and a five-facet mindfulness (Baer et al., 2008) questionnaire. The means for this population were: Quality of life (M= 37.8), Resilience (M= 70.5), Physical Activity MET minutes (M= 4,605), and Five-facet mindfulness (M= Observing 3.50, Describing = 3.38, Acting with Awareness M= 3.02, Non-Judging of Inner Experience M= 2.98, Non-reactivity to Inner Experience M= 3.06). Resilience was significantly (p <0.01) and positively correlated to all five domains of mindfulness (range r = 0.332 – 0.534) and was negatively associated with Quality of Life (QOL) (r= -0.204). Vigorous Activity minutes and Total Met Minutes were both positively associated with QOL (r= 0.300 and r= 0.199 respectively). This population of female veterans self-reported to have very low/low life satisfaction, low resilience, and high physical activity levels. The behaviors and traits reported in these female college veterans provide important information for developing resources and potential interventions in the future. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Exercise and Wellness 2019

Flow, writers block och mindfulness sätts i sammanhang med låtskrivande. Författaren skriver tre låtar och för loggbok över tankar som påverkar processen. Problematiska tankemönster som uppstått i samband med låtskrivandet i studien kategoriseras och analyseras ur ett flow/writers block-perspektiv. Det föreslås att låtskrivare kan nå flow och undvika writers block genom att välja som främsta målsättning att vara medvetet närvarande i låtskrivarprocessen. Några förslag ges på hur en låtskrivare kan sköta manövreringen av sina tankeprocesser under låtskrivarprocessen, samt på hur motiv till låtskrivandet kan rationaliseras. Författaren utvärderar hur han upplever att undersökningen påverkat hans låtskrivarprocess och ger förslag på fortsatt forskning.

In this dissertation, I am in conversation with the following questions: How can individuals and communities teach and learn to engage more peacefully, nonviolently, and compassionately with each other? Further, how can one practice a style of communication that helps at least one person suffer less each day? In asking these questions, my goal has been to imagine as well as attempt to actualize a world where individuals and communities work together to create less suffering in each other's lives by first developing compassionate awareness of our interconnectedness, then "waking up" not only to our own divinity but also to that place in all of us where the entire universe dwells. In this dissertation, communication is situated as both a spiritual practice and as a practice of yoga. To illuminate this notion, I have sequenced this text as a yoga practice in and of itself, employing Shiva Rea's "wave methodology" to introduce and support the peak purpose of this text -communication as yoga - via svadhyaya, or self-study, as a path to expand relational awareness through everyday small acts or micropractices. Communication, thus, becomes an emergent process based in yoga philosophy and practice wherein one learns to acknowledge and take responsibility for one's interactions with others and other realities by recognizing one's shared vulnerability. To heighten this awareness, this text includes 108 asanas or micropractices, which serve to explore my guiding questions as well as exemplify communication as yoga - as an everyday practice.

Postpartum Depression (PPD) affects 15% of women after childbirth. Its etiology includes psychoneuroimmunologic factors with long-lasting postpartum stressors that lead to allostatic overload. Using mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for PPD has not yet been studied. Addressing this literature gap, the potential benefits of including an 8-week MBSR component based on Beck's theory of PPD at support groups were examined in this phenomenological study based on a sample of 10 women and 2 group facilitators. Purposes of the study included describing the experience of PPD and the MBSR program, identifying the stage of behavioral change of the participants, and describing the population of women attending the PPD support groups. These assessments were carried out using coding and constant comparison, guided by the tenets of the transtheoretical model. Data triangulation safeguarded study validity and rigor. Results pointed to the value of utilizing the MBSR program in PPD support groups. Data analysis concluded in the identification of 9 stages and 5 themes of the PPD experience of which 2 constructs, unexpected experience and feeling dismissed, emerged as original contributions of the study. Positive impact on social change was evidenced at the individual level by women's report of high satisfaction with the support groups and the MBSR program; improved problem-solving and coping with anxiety, panic, and intrusive thoughts; and by positive behavioral change at Week 8. The updated knowledge about these women's experiences, along with the availability of a new tool for professionals to treat PPD, contribute to positive social change at a societal level by improving mothers' health and children's development.

Creating is the highest level of intellectual functioning in the cognitive domain. As standardized testing has increased, U.S. K-12 education has shown a decline in creativity for students. Mindfulness meditation (MM) increases creativity and could serve as a solution to this dilemma. This study's purpose was to enrich findings regarding MM's role in enhanced creativity by conducting an exploration regarding lived experiences of creating for individuals who practice MM. A gap in the literature exploring the topics of MM and creativity together using qualitative methods was identified; therefore, research understanding lived experiences of creating within the experiential context of MM was necessary. The main research question, followed by 3 closely related questions, examined the subjective meaning of the experience of creating for MM practitioners. To provide lived experiences regarding creating, 3 participants colored in a mandala and were interviewed. Descriptive transcendental phenomenology was used to explore the act of creating from the perspectives of these 3 individuals. Participants' described experiences supported Sternberg's theory that creativity developed as a habit and suggested that MM actuated Csikszentmihályi's creative flow. Positive societal implications of bringing MM into U.S. K-12 schools as a conduit for creativity cannot be overrated. MM offers an integrated modality to increased creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, or the 4 Cs. Future studies regarding MM and creativity's relationship are recommended to further enrich current literature and address the existing gap.

This proposed study was inspired by the concept in Aristotle’s virtue ethics theory that a good life is necessarily an ethical one. The following work intends to expand previous literature on this topic by exploring an accessible potential method through which ethicality (and thus, well-being) can be increased, and also a possible explanation of how this process might occur. Past research has indicated that mindfulness training can increase both prosociality and well-being, and additionally that higher ethicality is connected to higher well-being. Reduced self-focus has been found to mediate these relationships. The proposed 30 day study makes use of a daily mindfulness training app to explore its effects on participants’ ethicality and well-being, and examines whether reduced self-focus mediates these potential relationships. Results are expected to show that that, first, increased mindfulness leads to increased ethical behavior, mediated by reduction in self-focus; and second, that increased mindfulness leads to an increase in well-being, mediated both by increased ethical behavior and by reduction in self-focus. Ultimately, the intention of this study is to find support for the benefits of cultivating a more loving and interconnected world, as well as the means by which to do so.

Public speaking has been found to be one of the greatest fears people face in their lifetime. Students, in particular, may feel extremely nervous about public speaking or the anticipated event of speaking to an audience. The purpose of this research study is twofold: (1) investigate the contemplative practice of mindfulness meditation, and (2) to understand the experiences of students who practice mindfulness meditation while enrolled (or previously enrolled) in a Public Speaking course at a community college. Data was collected using a Transcendental Phenomenology methodological approach. Moreover, methods used included open-ended, semi-structured interviews as well as descriptive field notes. Qualitative data was transcribed, coded and categorized into salient thematic findings. The findings of this study detail students’ perceptions about the use of mindfulness meditation. This study informs Public Speaking practitioners about how to proactively manage anxiety and uncertainty by employing contemplative practices to increase successful communication outcomes.