Noah Roost

Mindfulness and Narrative: Connecting Experience and Story

Impediments to Presence: Oblivious and Reactive Mindlessness

Mindfulness and mindlessness are often theoretically and psychometrically treated as opposing pol... more Mindfulness and mindlessness are often theoretically and psychometrically treated as opposing poles of a single dimension (e.g. Langer, 1989; Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Brown & Ryan, 2003). The present study examines the possibility of two differing styles of mindlessness, an oblivious form based upon defensive avoidance of experience and a reactive form based upon ruminative reaction to experience. These differing styles of mindless are theoretically similar to adult attachment status. The avoidant attachment style is conceptually related to an oblivious style of mindlessness in that both involve a defensive denial of certain aspects of experience, particularly those aspects that evoke feelings of vulnerability or emotional distress. The preoccupied adult attachment style is similar to the reactive style of mindlessness in that both involve a hyper-focus on emotionally distressing experiences and a subsequent affective destabilization. Given these similarities, the present study explored reactive and oblivious mindlessness by examining the interaction of mindfulness and adult attachment status. Adult attachment status is profoundly related to autobiographical narrative (e.g. Main, 1996; Mikulincer & Orbach, 1995). Accordingly, narrative measures were used to explore the relationship of attachment status and mindfulness. Among participants with a preoccupied attachment status, mindfulness predicted decreased emotional articulacy. Among avoidant participants mindfulness predicted decreased emotional articulacy and increased complexity of representations of self and others. In contrast, among secure participants mindfulness had no relationship to narrative measures. These results suggest that mindfulness functions as a protective factor against the distressing rumination associated with emotional articulacy among iv those with an insecure attachment status. They also provide preliminary support for a theory of reactive and oblivious mindlessness and highlight the value of further research examining the interaction of mindfulness and attachment status. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION Clinical Applications of Mindfulness……………………………… 1 Autobiographical Memory and Narrative………………………….. 5 Development of Mindfulness Theory……………………………… 8 Two States of Mindlessness: Oblivious and Reactive……………... 11 Functions of Autobiographical Narrative………………………….. 14 Analyzing Narrative: Dimensions of Individual Difference……….. 19 Hypothetical Qualities of a Mindful Narrative…………………….. 23 Attachment Style and Mindfulness………………………………… 35 Objectives of the Study…………………………………………….. 36 II. METHOD Participants…………………………………………………………. 38 Procedure…………………………………………………………... 38 Measures…………………………………………………………… 39 III. RESULTS Demographics……………………………………………………… 49 Reliability…………………………………………………………... 49 Descriptive Statistics……………………………………………….. 50 Hypotheses…………………………………………………………. 51 Correlations between Mindfulness and Predicted Criterion……….. 54 Correlations of Narrative Measures and Predicted Criterion………. 55 Group Differences in Attachment Style……………………………. 56 IV. DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………... 58 Reliability and Validity…………………………………………….. 59 Speculations………………………………………………………... 65 Implications for Future Research…………………………………... 70 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………….

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Journal of Rehabil itation Research & Development A pilot study examining effects of group-based

Cognitive Strategy Training treatment on self-reported cognitive problems, psychiatric symptoms, ... more

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A Pilot Study Examining the Effect of a Group-based Cognitive Strategy Training Intervention on Self-reported Psychiatric Symptoms, Functioning, and Compensatory Strategy Utilization in OIF Combat Veterans with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

The Clinical Neuropsychologist

A pilot study examining effects of group-based Cognitive Strategy Training treatment on self-reported cognitive problems, psychiatric symptoms, functioning, and compensatory strategy use in OIF/OEF combat veterans with persistent mild cognitive disorder and history of traumatic brain injury

The Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2010

We aimed to determine whether group-based Cognitive Strategy Training (CST) for combat veterans w... more We aimed to determine whether group-based Cognitive Strategy Training (CST) for combat veterans with mild cognitive disorder and a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has significant posttreatment effects on self-reported compensatory strategy usage, functioning, and psychiatric symptoms. Participants included 21 veterans returning from conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan with a diagnosis of Cognitive Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified and a history of combat-related TBI. Participants attended 6-to 8-week structured CST groups designed to provide them training in and practice with a variety of compensatory cognitive strategies, including day planner usage. Of the participants, 16 completed pre-and posttreatment assessment measures. Following CST, participants reported significantly increased use of compensatory cognitive strategies and day planners; an increased perception that these strategies were useful to them; increased life satisfaction; and decreased depressive, memory, and cognitive symptom severity. Group-based CST is a promising intervention for veterans with mild cognitive disorder, and randomized controlled trials are required to further evaluate its efficacy.

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Mindfulness and Narrative: Connecting Experience and Story

Autobiographical narrative is the verbal summary of an individual's personal history. The qua... more Autobiographical narrative is the verbal summary of an individual's personal history. The quality of autobiographical narrative has been found to correlate with both emotional wellbeing (Oppenheim et al., 1997; Baerger & McAdams, 1999) and quality of social relationships (Van IJzendoorn, 1995; Shields et. al., 2001), and yet little has been done to examine other predictors or causes of narrative quality. Mindfulness training could potentially be a promising method of narrative enhancement. Mindfulness is the nonjudgmental, open awareness of what is currently occurring in the self and in the environment. Mindfulness is likely to promote open, objective awareness of new information and non-biased accommodation of existing schemas and narratives to new information. A similar prediction was recently made by Bishop et al. (2004). In their recent operationalization of mindfulness, they hypothesized that mindfulness practice leads to increased understanding of the subjectivity and limi...

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Impediments to Presence: Oblivious and Reactive Mindlessness

A Pilot Study Examining the Effect of a Group-based Cognitive Strategy Training Intervention on Self-reported Psychiatric Symptoms, Functioning, and Compensatory Strategy Utilization in OIF Combat Veterans with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

by Shital Pavawalla, Michael Kolessar, and Noah Roost

The Clinical Neuropsychologist

A pilot study examining effects of group-based Cognitive Strategy Training treatment on self-reported cognitive problems, psychiatric symptoms, functioning, and compensatory strategy use in OIF/OEF combat veterans with persistent mild cognitive disorder and history of traumatic brain injury

by Shital Pavawalla, Michael Kolessar, and Noah Roost

The Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2010

We aimed to determine whether group-based Cognitive Strategy Training (CST) for combat veterans w... more We aimed to determine whether group-based Cognitive Strategy Training (CST) for combat veterans with mild cognitive disorder and a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has significant posttreatment effects on self-reported compensatory strategy usage, functioning, and psychiatric symptoms. Participants included 21 veterans returning from conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan with a diagnosis of Cognitive Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified and a history of combat-related TBI. Participants attended 6-to 8-week structured CST groups designed to provide them training in and practice with a variety of compensatory cognitive strategies, including day planner usage. Of the participants, 16 completed pre-and posttreatment assessment measures. Following CST, participants reported significantly increased use of compensatory cognitive strategies and day planners; an increased perception that these strategies were useful to them; increased life satisfaction; and decreased depressive, memory, and cognitive symptom severity. Group-based CST is a promising intervention for veterans with mild cognitive disorder, and randomized controlled trials are required to further evaluate its efficacy.

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