Brief Training in Savoring Meditation Enhances Non-dual Awareness in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Brief training in savoring meditation (SAV; a novel positive-affect generative meditation practice) may be a scalable method of augmenting reward system functioning in chronic pain patients, with implications for clinical disease endpoints. Recent data from our group also presented at this conference indicate that SAV augments functioning within the corticostriatal circuits, inhibits experimental pain, and increases positive affect relative to active control (non-mindful breathing; NMB) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The present analysis examined the effects of SAV on trait-like non-dual awareness (NDA-T), or the capacity to experience self-transcendence and the blissful affective sequelae of transcendence, and mindfulness, or the tendency to relate to experiences with non-judgmental acceptance, relative to NMB. We also analyzed between-groups differences in patients’ capacity to evoke state-like NDA (NDA-S) during meditation. Lastly, we correlated treatment-induced changes in NDA-T and mindfulness with change in clinical pain. RA patients were randomly assigned to complete 4 sessions of SAV (n = 21) or NMB (n = 23), followed by a laboratory session where they engaged in their assigned meditation practice. Clinical pain, NDA-T and mindfulness were collected at baseline, and again following the laboratory session along with NDA-S. Changes in NDA-T and mindfulness were assessed with multilevel models allowing for random intercepts. Correlations among change in NDA-T, mindfulness and pain were computed using difference scores. Between-groups differences in NDA-S were evaluated using linear regression. SAV increased NDA-T total scores and self-transcendence subscale scores, as well as NDA-S during meditation, more than NMB (p's < .05). Mindfulness was not different in either group (p > .05). Changes in in NDA-T and pain were uncorrelated (p > .05). Brief training in SAV augmented positive psychological states and traits. Future research directions include testing a longer meditation program to examine SAV-induced increases in NDA on pain outcomes. Grant support from NIH R61AT010134-01 NIH T32NS070201. Brief training in savoring meditation (SAV; a novel positive-affect generative meditation practice) may be a scalable method of augmenting reward system functioning in chronic pain patients, with implications for clinical disease endpoints. Recent data from our group also presented at this conference indicate that SAV augments functioning within the corticostriatal circuits, inhibits experimental pain, and increases positive affect relative to active control (non-mindful breathing; NMB) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The present analysis examined the effects of SAV on trait-like non-dual awareness (NDA-T), or the capacity to experience self-transcendence and the blissful affective sequelae of transcendence, and mindfulness, or the tendency to relate to experiences with non-judgmental acceptance, relative to NMB. We also analyzed between-groups differences in patients’ capacity to evoke state-like NDA (NDA-S) during meditation. Lastly, we correlated treatment-induced changes in NDA-T and mindfulness with change in clinical pain. RA patients were randomly assigned to complete 4 sessions of SAV (n = 21) or NMB (n = 23), followed by a laboratory session where they engaged in their assigned meditation practice. Clinical pain, NDA-T and mindfulness were collected at baseline, and again following the laboratory session along with NDA-S. Changes in NDA-T and mindfulness were assessed with multilevel models allowing for random intercepts. Correlations among change in NDA-T, mindfulness and pain were computed using difference scores. Between-groups differences in NDA-S were evaluated using linear regression. SAV increased NDA-T total scores and self-transcendence subscale scores, as well as NDA-S during meditation, more than NMB (p's < .05). Mindfulness was not different in either group (p > .05). Changes in in NDA-T and pain were uncorrelated (p > .05). Brief training in SAV augmented positive psychological states and traits. Future research directions include testing a longer meditation program to examine SAV-induced increases in NDA on pain outcomes. Grant support from NIH R61AT010134-01 NIH T32NS070201.