Meditation Benefit ADHD Term Paper

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These have been collected in six volumes of research papers, of which over 150 are reprinted from scientific journals" (Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme: Collected Papers)

Methodology:

This section will describe how the research will actually take place. The description will include justification for the selected methods with reference to literature and will be grounded in primary health care principles. Discussion will also include practical issues such as: how the methods are to be implemented, any limitations of the chosen methodology, potential barriers to implementation and how I can maximize response rates, how the data will be analyzed (i.e. what data analysis technique you will use) and how results/findings will be disseminated (i.e. appropriate audiences and formats).

Research Approach

In research studies, the use of theories can be divided into two main categories; (1) inductive approach and (2) deductive approach. In induction, at first data is collected and then it is analyzed so that a theory/hypothesis can be formed about that situation/phenomenon. In deduction, a theory is used to form hypotheses; thereafter a research strategy is designed to either confirm or refute the hypotheses. Both these approaches involve different methodologies and provide different explanations/results of different situations. Research shows that sometimes meaningful generalizations from data analysis cannot be made. On the other hand, this result is not supported by majority of the research studies (Saunders et al., 2003).

In the context of this research, on one hand the aim of this study will be to make use of deduction: use theories of meditation and ADHD to form hypotheses; thereafter design a research strategy to either confirm or refute the hypotheses related to these concepts. This will be done to ensure that the theories available fit with the facts and reality on ground.

Hypothesis:

If meditation is used to treat patients with ADHD, then they may have increased level of control on their attention span and hypersensitivity breakouts

This study will either confirm (you don't prove a hypothesis, but you can provide evidence that supports or disconfirms) the above hypothesis (i.e. that meditation helped in increasing the level of control patients had on their attention span and hypersensitivity breakouts ) or dis-confirm it (i.e. meditation did not help in increasing the level of control patients had on their attention span and hypersensitivity breakouts .

The data collected to confirm or refute this hypothesis will be done through analyzing two control groups formed particularly for this study; with one group consisting of ADHD people who practice meditation and the other group consisting of ADHD people who do not practice meditation. They will be distributed the questionnaire attached as appendix I. The questions will be formatted to be open-ended where the responses of the chosen patients from both control groups will be recorded. I as the researcher will ask the questions and record the answers this will also help me to record my own thoughts and self-reflections on the responses of the sample. The aim of the questionnaire will be to gather data to confirm the hypothesis as well as serve as information that confirms whether the results of the two studies (discussed above) are relevant to my study. For accuracy of data, all responses will be recorded simultaneously as the questionnaire is filled out in a qualitative format. This will help us analyze the attention deficit differences between those patients who had practiced meditation to control their attention span and those who hadn't.

Data Collection

The tactic involved in this process of collection of relevant data for the thesis will be that concise and yet comprehensive information related to the topic and will be compiled from articles published in various computerized databases of medical journals, (such as JAMA, Medline, Amed, Cinhal, Psycinfo) by individual researchers, as well as, research institutions. The aim of the literature review is to critically review the strengths and weaknesses of both conceptions and implementations of research pertinent to our topic.

Factors affecting low attention are several, but only the most relevant ones, as concluded in the two research studies chosen, will be discussed in this paper so that the relevancy of the argument can be sustained throughout the paper. Therefore, this thesis will include only those studies wherein the main topic (1) was confirmed to be of low attention achievement, (2) was confirmed to be of the positive/neutral/negative impact of meditation on ADHD, and/or (3) was confirmed to be of both low attention achievement and positive/neutral/negative impact of meditation on ADHD.

Discussion

In the past, religious beliefs and psychology had been mutually unique disciplines, both depending on contending theoretical assumptions.

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As mentioned earlier, this scenario is beginning to change, and religious concerns have more lately been considered valuable topics in the field of psychological.

For instance, a complete chapter on "Religious or Spiritual Problem" has been included in the 4th edition of "the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." Furthermore, research studies have related individual's spirituality to his/her psychological well-being (e.g., Wolf and Abell, 2003). When we talk about transcendental meditation, we come to understand that its roots lie in the religious beliefs and structures of Hinduism.

On the other hand, a review of the research studies from the past 2 decades reveals that inclusion of meditation and religion (in the form of prayer as is the case in transcendental meditation) in the practitioner's workplace happens to be rather questionable. Whilst a few psychologists incorporate religious procedures within their therapeutic and neural enhancement sessions, several specialists do not appreciate the significance of spirituality and meditation as an appropriate remedy in neurology (Gubi, 2004); some others respect its significance, yet do not consider that meditation in the form of prayer (which is the basis of transcendental meditation) ought to be involved in neurological therapy settings (Gubi, 2004). Those neurology therapists who seem to acknowledge that spirituality and prayer must be included, requires coaching in order to do so efficiently (Gubi, 2004).

Neurology psychologists have been confronted with moral, multicultural, as well as developmental viewpoints to correct these inconsistencies. Moral requirements now demand respect for subjects' spiritual values. Moreover, transcendental meditation guidelines, which have outlined hurtful interventions, hurtful counter-transference, as well as, hurtful beliefs should benefit therapy sessions that include meditation.

Moreover, transcendental meditation guidelines concerning abilities and knowledge that are used whilst dealing with individuals who have ADHD and are coming from diverse racial or ethnic cultures can also be used on subjects with specific spiritual or religious values. Furthermore, several transcendental meditation guidelines have already been founded to assist psychologists complement their intervention with their subjects' attention or concentration levels.

In the study conducted by Dr. Davidson and colleagues (2009), we see the following results "Three months of intensive meditation training reduced variability in attentional processing of target tones, as indicated by both enhanced theta-band phase consistency of oscillatory neural responses over anterior brain areas and reduced reaction time variability. Furthermore, those individuals who showed the greatest increase in neural response consistency showed the largest decrease in behavioral response variability. Notably, we also observed reduced variability in neural processing, in particular in low-frequency bands, regardless of whether the deviant tone was attended or unattended. Focused attention meditation may thus affect both distracter and target processing, perhaps by enhancing entrainment of neuronal oscillations to sensory input rhythms, a mechanism important for controlling the content of attention. These novel findings highlight the mechanisms underlying focused attention meditation and support the notion that mental training can significantly affect attention and brain function" (Davidson et al., 2009).

In conclusion, when analyzing the results attained in the two studies chosen to conduct analysis for this paper, it can be discerned that meditation helps the ADHD patient to control his/her neurological structure that manages his/her attention and emotional inclinations. Sri asserts that "The experience of Transcendental Consciousness develops the individual's latent creative potential while dissolving accumulated stress and fatigue through the deep rest gained during the practice. This experience enlivens the individual's creativity, dynamism, orderliness, and organizing power, which result in increasing effectiveness and success in daily life" (Sri, 2010).

The results of the two studies as well as the results attained from the questionnaires all confirm that the hypothesis of the study is confirmed: If meditation is used to treat patients with ADHD, then they have increased level of control on their attention span and hypersensitivity breakouts, thus also simultaneously improving their neurological growth in the individual. This assessment stands true for all form of meditation techniques used as well as the methods employed by Dr. Davidson over the years and in the study chosen for this paper......

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