Mohandas E
Chief Consultant Psychiatrist, Elite Mission Hospital, Kerala, India.
Mens Sana Monogr. 2008 Jan;6(1):63-80. doi: 10.4103/0973-1229.33001.
Spiritual practices have been proposed to have many beneficial effects as far as mental health is concerned. The exact neural basis of these effects is slowly coming to light and different imaging techniques have elucidated the neural basis of meditative practices. The evidence though preliminary and based on studies replete with methodological constraints, points toward the involvement of the prefrontal and parietal cortices. The available data on meditation focus on activated frontal attentional network. Neuroimaging studies have shown that meditation results in an activation of the prefrontal cortex, activation of the thalamus and the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus and a resultant functional deafferentation of the parietal lobe. The neurochemical change as a result of meditative practices involves all the major neurotransmitter systems. The neurotransmitter changes contribute to the amelioration of anxiety and depressive symptomatology and in part explain the psychotogenic property of meditation. This overview highlights the involvement of multiple neural structures, the neurophysiological and neurochemical alterations observed in meditative practices.
就心理健康而言，精神修行已被认为具有许多有益效果。这些效果的确切神经基础正逐渐明晰，不同的成像技术已阐明了冥想修行的神经基础。尽管证据初步且基于存在诸多方法学限制的研究，但指向了前额叶和顶叶皮质的参与。关于冥想的现有数据聚焦于激活的额叶注意力网络。神经影像学研究表明，冥想会导致前额叶皮质激活、丘脑和丘脑网状抑制核激活，以及顶叶的功能性传入神经阻滞。冥想修行导致的神经化学变化涉及所有主要神经递质系统。神经递质变化有助于改善焦虑和抑郁症状，部分解释了冥想的心理ogenic特性。本综述强调了多个神经结构的参与，以及在冥想修行中观察到的神经生理和神经化学改变。
