A new University of Wisconsin study will test how effectively Mindfulness Meditation — the calm awareness of one’s body and its functions — can be used to treat alcoholism and other addictions.
Professor of family medicine and lead researcher Aleksandra Zgierska said in an email it was her roots in family medicine that drew her to the study. She said she has seen many people whose lives have been altered due to addiction, especially living in Wisconsin.
The need for more treatments is made even clearer, she said, by the fact that 60 percent of people who quit their addictions relapse within a year.
“Clearly, there is a need for development of new therapies to help improve outcomes in alcohol dependence and other addictive disorders,” Zgierska said.
She said meditation seems like a perfect therapy to fill this need, especially because mindfulness treatments are proven to be an effective treatment for many triggers of addiction relapse.
“Conceptually, it seems like a perfect fit as a therapy for addictions,” she said.
Zgierska conducted a pilot study in 2008 in which 15 alcohol-dependent adults were given meditation therapy in addition to their other treatments. She said the subjects reported having new tools for dealing with their alcohol cravings, as well as liking the meditation.
She added levels of Interleukin-6, a chemical indicating chronic stress, were lower.
This is the first published study measuring meditation as a treatment for addiction disorders, Zgierska said, adding many other small and large scale studies have been conducted since.
She said this new study will examine two groups of alcohol-dependent people, one of which will be given meditation therapy and one of which will not. She said results will be measured in alcohol and drug use, levels of stress, anxiety, depression, alcohol cravings, drinking related consequences and the presence of Interleukin-6.
UW Health Gateway Recovery Program Manager Michael Waupoose said these results could mean an effective new tool for treating alcoholism.
Waupoose explained not every treatment will work on every person with alcohol dependency and meditation would simply be broadening the treatments available.
“[If the results are positive] this gives us a better tool kit for how we can treat people,” Waupoose said.
He added some people may choose to use meditation in addition to other therapies and some will choose not to use it at all.
Zgierska said, however, that meditation could be effective enough to be a standalone treatment.
Former wellness educator for Meriter Hospital and avid meditator Marcia Pollock said using meditation as a treatment for illness is nothing new and it is something that can treat many illnesses. She gave the example of a client of hers with high blood pressure who has managed to successfully lower her blood pressure through meditation.
“That to me is mental health,” Pollock said.
