Congratulations to Clinical Psychology doctoral candidate, Mengran Xu, for the wide attention he has received for the importance of his research into mindful meditation.
The research found that mindfulness training may have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals and that meditation practice appears to help them shift attention from their own internal worries to the present-moment external world, enabling them to better focus on a task at hand. “In short, meditation is beneficial in both improving mood and helping people stay focused in their thoughts and also behaviours” according to Mengran.
While not only having significant clinical utility, this research has been discussed in several national and international media outlets including:
CBC: Just 10 minutes of meditation can help anxious people focus, study finds
Forbes Magazine: Mindfulness Meditation May Help Reduce Mind-Wandering In People With Anxiety
Time Magazine: Why Anxious People Should Try Meditation
Mengran’s research is published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition and co-authored with Waterloo Psychology professors Christine Purdon and Daniel Smilek and Harvard University’s Paul Seli.