Neurobiological and Psychological Aspects of Brain Recovery by Laura Petrosini

Author:Laura Petrosini
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

7.4 Conclusions

We discussed data obtained from neuroscience and psychology studies about the complex issue of the health effects of mind-body interventions based on meditation in healthy aging and in the neurological conditions of AD, MS, and PD. The implications of these clinical interventions were discussed in terms of their potential contribution in improving patients’ reserve. The research on the effects of mind-body approaches on neurodegenerative disorders is still in its infancy, with most knowledge coming from either cross-sectional studies or longitudinal studies carried out on small samples of patients with no active control groups. Despite these limitations, the reviewed literature on meditation, MM and, to a lesser extent, Yoga and Tai chi interventions suggests that these techniques may represent mental enriching activities that may help AD, MS, and PD patients cultivating a cognitive reserve to protect as much as possible against cognitive (and psychosocial) decline.

The reviewed evidence may thus suggest that there is adequate justification to encourage more systematical examination of the effects of mind-body medicine on cognitive decline in AD, MS, and PD. Randomized longitudinal controlled trials focusing on research methods adopted in MM research (e.g., MBSR and behavioral and MRI functional/morphometric testing) should continue to be designed for exploring the beneficial effects on improving cognitive function in these neurological conditions, either directly or indirectly through the effects on other psychosocial symptoms (e.g., anxiety, fatigue, depression).

Mind-body interventions in individuals with neurodegenerative disorders could be conceptualized as forms of intensive training aimed at complementing disease-modifying effects of medical therapies by increasing patients’ reserve. Indeed, rather than protecting from the progression of disease pathology, the interventions could attenuate the relationship between the disease progression and cognitive decline, allowing the patients to withstand better brain pathology while disease progresses and coping more effectively with the disease burden at the cognitive and psychosocial levels.

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