Contemplative Studies Initiative, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906, USA.
Psychosom Med. 2011 Nov-Dec;73(9):817-25. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e318234e628. Epub 2011 Nov 2.
Treatments of female sexual dysfunction have been largely unsuccessful because they do not address the psychological factors that underlie female sexuality. Negative self-evaluative processes interfere with the ability to attend and register physiological changes (interoceptive awareness). This study explores the effect of mindfulness meditation training on interoceptive awareness and the three categories of known barriers to healthy sexual functioning: attention, self-judgment, and clinical symptoms.
Forty-four college students (30 women) participated in either a 12-week course containing a "meditation laboratory" or an active control course with similar content or laboratory format. Interoceptive awareness was measured by reaction time in rating physiological response to sexual stimuli. Psychological barriers were assessed with self-reported measures of mindfulness and psychological well-being.
Women who participated in the meditation training became significantly faster at registering their physiological responses (interoceptive awareness) to sexual stimuli compared with active controls (F(1,28) = 5.45, p = .03, η(p)(2) = 0.15). Female meditators also improved their scores on attention (t = 4.42, df = 11, p = .001), self-judgment, (t = 3.1, df = 11, p = .01), and symptoms of anxiety (t = -3.17, df = 11, p = .009) and depression (t = -2.13, df = 11, p < .05). Improvements in interoceptive awareness were correlated with improvements in the psychological barriers to healthy sexual functioning (r = -0.44 for attention, r = -0.42 for self-judgment, and r = 0.49 for anxiety; all p < .05).
Mindfulness-based improvements in interoceptive awareness highlight the potential of mindfulness training as a treatment of female sexual dysfunction.
女性性功能障碍的治疗大多不成功，因为它们没有解决女性性的基础的心理因素。负性自我评估过程干扰了注意和登记生理变化的能力（内脏感知）。本研究探讨了正念冥想训练对内脏感知以及已知的三个健康性功能障碍障碍的影响：注意力、自我评价和临床症状。
44 名大学生（30 名女性）参加了为期 12 周的课程，其中包括“冥想实验室”或具有相似内容或实验室形式的积极对照课程。内脏感知通过对性刺激的生理反应的评分来测量反应时间。心理障碍通过自我报告的正念和心理健康测量来评估。
与积极对照组相比，参加冥想训练的女性在登记性刺激的生理反应（内脏感知）时的速度显著加快（F(1,28) = 5.45，p =.03，η(p)(2) = 0.15）。女性冥想者在注意力（t = 4.42，df = 11，p =.001）、自我评价（t = 3.1，df = 11，p =.01）和焦虑（t = -3.17，df = 11，p =.009）和抑郁（t = -2.13，df = 11，p <.05）症状方面的得分也有所提高。内脏感知的改善与健康性功能障碍的心理障碍的改善相关（注意力为 -0.44，自我评价为 -0.42，焦虑为 0.49；均 p <.05）。
基于正念的内脏感知改善突出了正念训练作为女性性功能障碍治疗的潜力。
