Objectives

Several studies have investigated the relationship between contemplative approaches and psychobiological stress response; however, this area of research is still new, the mechanisms of the relationship between the stress response attenuation and contemplative training have not been fully delineated, and little is known about the effects of contemplative practice on the ways psychological stress is experienced. This study aimed to explore the first-person experience of psychological stress in meditation practitioners.

Methods

We conducted short semi-structured interviews with twenty-five meditation practitioners and twenty meditation-naïve controls immediately after they had undergone a laboratory task (the Trier Social Stress Test). A mixed-method approach was used to analyze the interviews. Thematic analysis was combined with descriptive statistics of the qualitative information that had been converted to quantitative data.

Results

Experiences instantiating main themes were identified as follows: (1) primary experiences encountered, describing the most salient experiences associated with the task; (2) reasons for stress, delineating the analyses of why the task was stressful; (3) affect, dealing with emotional experiences during the task; (4) emotion regulation; and (5) attention allocation describing regulatory strategies employed by the participants. Responses to subjective stress experience in meditation practitioners included use of humor, presence of positive affect, combinations of different types of emotion regulation strategies, and adaptive attention allocation.

Conclusions

This study elucidates particularities of meditators’ subjective experience of psychological stress, provides new insights on the mechanisms of meditation effect on the stress response, and proposes new directions for research.

中文翻译：

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沉思训练与心理压力：第一人称叙述分析

目标

几项研究调查了沉思方法与心理生物学压力反应之间的关系；然而，这个研究领域仍然是新的，压力反应衰减与冥想训练之间的关系机制尚未完全阐明，并且对冥想练习对心理压力体验方式的影响知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨冥想练习者心理压力的第一人称体验。

方法

我们对 25 位冥想练习者和 20 位未进行过冥想训练的对照组进行了简短的半结构化访谈，他们在完成实验室任务（特里尔社会压力测试）后立即进行了采访。使用混合方法来分析访谈。专题分析与已转化为定量数据的定性信息的描述性统计相结合。

结果

实例化主要主题的经验确定如下：（1）遇到的主要经验，描述与任务相关的最显着的经验；(2) 压力的原因，描述任务压力的原因分析；(3)影响、处理任务中的情绪体验；(4)情绪调节；(5) 注意力分配描述参与者采用的监管策略。冥想练习者对主观压力体验的反应包括幽默的使用、积极情绪的存在、不同类型情绪调节策略的组合以及适应性注意力分配。

结论

本研究阐明了冥想者对心理压力的主观体验的特殊性，为冥想对压力反应的作用机制提供了新的见解，并提出了新的研究方向。