Turbulent minds in turbulent times: Novel approaches to understanding the dynamics of mindfulness, rumination and psychological flexibility in stressful times
Name of applicant
Anne Maj van der Velden
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
Radboud University, The Netherlands
Amount
DKK 1,247,761
Year
2023
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
Rumination (i.e. maladaptive preoccupation and repetitive thinking about the possible causes and consequences of negative feelings and problems) can lead to chronic stress, burnout, and mental health problems. Mindfulness trains adaptive attention and emotion regulation, present-moment awareness and perspective-taking and has the potential to alter brain dynamics in those prone to ruminate.
Why?
The underlying mechanisms by which mindfulness training can impact the ability to get stuck in or switch out of maladaptive rumination mind states is not well understood, and greater insight into the underlying processes is needed. We also need to understand how these processes apply across different types of stressors such as rumination related to distress about the climate crisis.
How?
We will use novel methodologies to elucidate the flexibility or rigidity of neural connectivity patterns for those high in ruminative traits after mindfulness training and collect new experimental data on the processes by which mindfulness training can target rumination, distress and hopelessness amongst young people with eco-distress and promote psychological flexibility, resilience and agency.