Extremely Loudand Incredibly

Close

The title of the 2011 Stephen Daldry film depictsour contemporary culture quite well. Sights,sounds, whirling colors, and pungent smells

punctuate our presence on this planet on a dailybasis. With our exponentially increasing globalpopulation, it seems this commotion is unlikelyto stop, and rather will increase as time wearson. As a result, or rather, as a possible result,anxiety disorders have emerged in full force,

afflicting both mature adults and lessexperienced, more vulnerable children. In fact,more than one in four adolescents between the

ages of 13 and 18 are diagnosed with such amental disorder.

Recognizing this issue, our well-intentioned doctors and pharmacistsprescribe and refill various antidepressant medications to help theseanxious children to cope, but the effects of such medicines are oftennot entirely understood, and at times can even have negative side

effects. With this in mind, a team of researchers at The University ofCincinnati set out to discover new options for treatment. What rose tothe top of the list? Mindfulness. Exercises like meditation techniques,

yoga, and implementing a nonjudgemental outlook on life are allproving to reduce stress in afflicted children to an unprecedented

extent.

This is fantastic for a number of reasons.First and foremost, it is speculated that asmany as 80% of children diagnosed with ananxiety disorder and 60% of adolescents

diagnosed with depression do not receive thetreatment they need. However, although theabove evidence and research is in its earlystages, it does appear that mindfulness can goa long way in alleviating the stress associatedwith said disorders. Without having to pay formedication, and instead teaching children to

practice some form of meditation, adults may beable to solve their children’s problems without

any expensive prescriptions.

In order to come to the above conclusion, the team of researchers

in question recruited nine participants, each of whom was

between nine and sixteen years of age and had been previously

diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. The conditions were not the

exact same; some had a bipolar disorder while others had a social

disorder while others had separation anxiety. Over the course of 12

weeks, each subject experienced functional magnetic resonance

imaging (aka fMRI) while partaking in traditional mindfulness

exercises like meditation or something of the sort.

Afterwards, each adolescent reporteddecreased levels of stress. Although thisis not entirely conclusive, it is certainlyindicative of the potential benefits

mindfulness has to offer children as wellas adults. Additionally, the researchersfound that there was increased neural

activity in the cingulate (the section of thebrain that is known to help process

cognitive and emotion information). Just aswell, there was a surge of activity in theinsula, which helps to monitor how the

body feels from a psychological standpoint.

It would seem that while mindfulness may notoutright cure such disorders, it could potentiallygo a long way in helping children and strugglingadolescents to cope with the overwhelming

world around them. Finally, science is catchingup with the practice.