Psychospiritual openings of meditating pain patients

Brown, J. (1996). Psychospiritual openings of meditating pain patients: a phenomenological study (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 1996). UMI no. 9907576

This dissertation examines the psychospiritual experience of pain patients who attended and completed an outpatient stress reduction and relaxation program with the primary intent of diminishing their pain. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the psychospiritual transitions in persons meditating without the intended goal of having such experiences. Due to the desire for a systematic investigation of this subjective experience, a phenomenological method was chosen for the study.
Four pain patients were selected who had completed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and who had also alluded in their questionnaire responses to psychospiritual experiences. They were asked to describe in an open-ended interview their experience of attending the clinic for diminishment of their pain. (This clinic's core program was training in mindfulness meditation and stress reduction in both group and individual settings.) They were then asked to speak to the continued changes in their lives as a result of their work in the clinic and on-going meditation. All of those interviewed were beginning meditators before participating in this stressreduction program. Data was analyzed according to the phenomenological method of Giorgi (1971, 1975).
The results reflected the innate psychospiritual power of mindfulness meditation as participants integrated meditation into other change modalities in their lives (e.g., therapy, religious services, physical therapy, etc.). In actual meditation, they reported a deepening of meaning of their own religious practices, a sense of the interrelatedness of life, a vision of the possibilities of new life, and a peace or calmness. This manifested in their lives as shifts in an increased awareness of nature, a deepening of relationships, a broadening concept of God, an increased acceptance and kindness towards self, a more mindful perspective of events and/or an expanded vision of their life-world in which pain claimed a smaller portion. The individual changes differed but seemed to be the needed movement to bring more balance to their lives.
Three of the four continued a light discipline of mindfulness meditation, modified to fit their lives. Following the interview, the fourth also planned to continue, but the lack of group support appeared to be a deterrent.