A mixed methods evaluation of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course for people with Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR) on people with Parkinson's disease who experienced depression, anxiety, stress or difficulty coping with Parkinson's. METHODS: Thirteen participants were recruited and six completed the full MBSR course. Data were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance and thematic analysis. RESULTS: There were significant improvements in levels of depression, anxiety and stress at weeks eight and sixteen, as measured by the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, short version (DASS-21). Themes of 'mindfulness as challenging' and 'mindfulness as life-enhancing' were identified from follow-up questionnaire responses. All participants reported they would recommend MBSR to other people with Parkinson's. CONCLUSION: This study supports previous preliminary findings that mindfulness-based interventions could benefit people with Parkinson's experiencing non-motor symptoms. Further research using larger sample sizes, a control group, and a longer follow-up period is required.

An aura of confusion Part 2: the aided eye--"imaging the aura?".

The second of three papers considers claims made for the perception or detection of vital energy. Many systems of complementary and alternative medicine assume the existence of a vital force that mediates therapeutic efficacy, for example chi or qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Vital energy directly perceived or imaged that surrounds living organisms is frequently termed the aura. A range of devices or techniques are claimed to image the aura. These include Kirlian photography, gas discharge visualisation (GDV) and polychromatic interference photography (PIP). This paper explores such claims and argues that the images produced can be explained using concepts from the physical sciences. It is suggested that techniques such as KP, GDV or PIP currently offer insufficient reliable research evidence concerning their use as diagnostic or imaging alternatives. Consequently their clinical use is debatable. Kirlian photography and its derivatives may however be useful as a research tool by providing visual records of complex bodily responses to experimental situations. For example, responses to physiological or psychological stressors.

An aura of confusion: 'seeing auras-vital energy or human physiology?' Part 1 of a three part series.

The first of three papers that considers claims made for the perception or detection of vital energy. Many systems of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) assume the existence of a vital force that mediates therapeutic efficacy, for example chi or qi in Traditional Chinese medicine. Vital energy directly perceived or imaged that surrounds living organisms is frequently termed the aura. This paper aims to show how phenomena that arise as a consequence of the normal functioning of the human visual system can be inappropriately offered as support of claims for the direct perception of vital energy or the aura. Specifically, contrast and complementary colour phenomena, entoptic phenomena and the deformation phosphene, the 'flying corpuscle effect', the blind spot and the 'reverse telescope effect' are explained and discussed.