Meditation and Mindfulness: Reducing the Immediate and Delayed Defenses against the Thought of Death

Research has shown a negative correlation between mindfulness and defensive reactions to the reminder/thought of death, and the purpose of the present study was to illuminate the effect of meditation and mindfulness on these reactions using an experimental method. The call for participation in the study was sent to ۳۰,۰۰۰ subscribers of Hamrahe Aval and Irancell in Tehran and using the convenience sampling, ۱۲۷ of them (۵۳ males) with a mean age of ۳۷ years were selected to participate in this study and were randomly assign to four groups of Meditation-Death Thought, Meditation-Without Death Thought, Without Meditation-Death Thought, and Without Meditation-Without Death Thought. After teaching Buddhist mindful breathing meditation and measuring mindfulness using Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS), death thought was created in participants using the method of Burke et al. (۲۰۱۰) and then death thought Suppression, as an immediate defense, was measured using the method of Arndt et al. (۱۹۹۷) once after creating death thought and once after a delay, and worldview defense, as a delayed defense, was measured using the method of Greenberg et al. (۱۹۹۰) after a delay. ANOVAs showed that meditation increased mindfulness and was able to prevent the effect of death thought on death thought suppression

کلیدواژه ها:

meditation ، mindfulness ، death thought ، death anxiety ، defensive reactions ، death thought suppression ، worldview defense ، مراقبه ، ذهن آگاهی ، اندیشه مرگ ، اضطراب مرگ ، واکنش های دفاعی ، فرونشانی اندیشه مرگ ، دفاع از جهان بینی خویش