
Jeffrey GreesonRowan University · Department of Psychology
Jeffrey Greeson
Ph.D., M.S.
Director of the Mindfulness, Stress & Health (MSH) Lab
About
85
Publications
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Introduction
I am a licensed clinical psychologist and a faculty member in the Dept. of Psychology at Rowan University, College of Science & Math. My research focuses on stress and health, including how mindfulness training impacts biological and behavioral factors implicated in stress-related conditions. Please visit the Mindfulness, Stress & Health Lab website (https://csm.rowan.edu/departments/psychology/research/greeson/) to learn more about our work, including ongoing studies & training opportunities.
Additional affiliations
March 2014 - July 2021
January 1998 - June 2001
August 2006 - February 2014
Publications
Publications (85)
BACKGROUND
Patient perception of physician compassion may be associated with improved health outcomes, yet it is unclear whether it is associated with postoperative pain reduction or improved patient experience metrics in same-day surgery patients. We hypothesized that higher anesthesiologist compassion during the preanesthesia interview, rated by...
Importance
Although psychological distress is common among survivors of critical illness, there are few tailored therapies.
Objective
To determine the optimal method for delivering a mindfulness intervention via a mobile app for critical illness survivors.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This randomized clinical trial used a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial...
BACKGROUND
Psychological distress symptoms are present and persistent among many patients who survive a critical illness like COVID-19.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Could a self-directed mobile app-delivered mindfulness intervention be feasibly and rapidly implemented within a clinical trials network to reduce distress symptoms?
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS
A r...
Objective: Trait mindfulness is associated with well-being in college students, yet it is unclear whether these associations are consistent across demographics. Participants: Undergraduate students (n = 534; 33% nonwhite; Apr2018-Sep2019). Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was performed. Pearson correlations tested the relationship between s...
Background:
Although meditation and yoga have been associated with higher trait mindfulness in general, they may help practitioners cultivate different qualities of mindfulness that manifest in different trait mindfulness profile scores.
Primary study objective:
This study tested the hypothesis that college students who practice both meditation...
The unprecedented global rise in mental anguish is closely linked with the erosion of our social fabric, economic and political systems, and to our natural environments. We are facing multiple new large-scale threats to health, safety, and security, with a growing lack of trust in others and in authorities. Pervasive stress, anxiety, depression, an...
Objectives
The mindfulness stress buffering account posits mindfulness may benefit physical health by reducing stress. Previous research supports this account and suggests the non-judging facet of mindfulness may be most strongly associated with physical symptoms of stress, via lower perceived stress. The current replication study used structural e...
Objectives
The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the current literature on mindfulness-based school interventions (MBSIs) by evaluating evidence across specific outcomes for youth.
Methods
We evaluated 77 studies with a total sample of 12,358 students across five continents, assessing the quality of each study through a robust coding...
Objectives
Mindfulness stress buffering theory (Creswell & Lindsay, 2014) posits that higher dispositional (trait) mindfulness can protect cardiovascular health by buffering physiological stress reactivity — a risk marker for hypertension and cardiac events. Yet, empirical evidence is mixed. This study used baseline data from the Serenity Study — a...
Higher trait mindfulness may be associated with better cognitive functioning and academic achievement in college students. Although mediating mechanisms are unclear, lower stress levels could explain this relationship. Participants: Cross-sectional online survey (n = 534; 33% non-white; Apr 2018 – Sep 2019). Path analysis tested Perceived Stress as...
Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the current literature on mindfulness-based school interventions (MBSIs) by evaluating evidence across specific outcomes for youth.
Methods: We evaluated 77 studies with a total sample of 12,358 students across five continents, assessing the quality of each study through a robust codin...
Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the current literature on mindfulness-based school interventions (MBSIs) by evaluating evidence across specific outcomes for youth.
Methods: We evaluated 77 studies with a total sample of 12,358 students across five continents, assessing the quality of each study through a robust codin...
Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the current literature on mindfulness-based school interventions (MBSIs) by evaluating evidence across specific outcomes for youth.
Methods: We evaluated 77 studies with a total sample of 12,358 students across five continents, assessing the quality of each study through a robust codin...
Introduction
Although as many as 75% of the >2 million annual intensive care unit (ICU) survivors experience symptoms of psychological distress that persist for months to years, few therapies exist that target their symptoms and accommodate their unique needs. In response, we developed LIFT, a mobile app-based mindfulness intervention. LIFT reduced...
Although mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can improve health and well-being, less is known about factors that predict outcomes. This prospective observational study examined gender and baseline anxiety and sleep quality as predictors of change in emotion regulation and stress symptoms following an 8-week MBSR program. Women and men reporte...
Background:
Health coaching promotes healthy lifestyles and may be particularly helpful for employees with chronic disease.
Objective:
Evaluate the effects of a health coaching program that targeted health-system employees with at least one cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor.
Methods:
Fifty-four employees volunteered for a health coachin...
Many of today's most common, chronic, and costly diseases—from high blood pressure, to chronic pain—are related to stress. Mindfulness, considered a state, a trait, and a training, might help treat or prevent stress-related physical symptoms. A concise review of current scientific evidence shows that both higher levels of trait mindfulness as well...
Background
Patients who are sick enough to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) commonly experience symptoms of psychological distress after discharge, yet few effective therapies have been applied to meet their needs.
Methods
Pilot randomised clinical trial with 3-month follow-up conducted at two academic medical centres. Adult (≥18 years)...
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week meditation program known to improve anxiety, depression, and psychological well-being. Other health-related effects, such as sleep quality, are less well established, as are the psychological processes associated with therapeutic change. This prospective, observational study aimed to determine...
Objectives:
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) promotes numerous psychological benefits, but few studies have identified for whom MBSR is most effective. The current study tested the hypothesis that lower baseline mindfulness invites more "room to grow" and, thus, predicts greater improvement during MBSR.
Method:
We examined three facets...
Objective and methods:
Research supports relationships between stress and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and disorders. This pilot study assesses relationships between perceived stress, quality of life (QOL), and self-reported pain ratings as an indicator of symptom management in patients who self-reported gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), i...
Both dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness training may help to uncouple the degree to which distress is experienced in response to aversive internal experience and external events. Because emotional reactivity is a transdiagnostic process implicated in numerous psychological disorders, dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness training could e...
Background:
This study investigated whether the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram downregulates the expression of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) receptor cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) and coreceptors chemokine receptor type 5 and chemokine-related receptor type 4 (CCR5 and CXCR4) on peripheral blood mononuclear...
Objective:
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a secular meditation training program that reduces depressive symptoms. Little is known, however, about the degree to which a participant's spiritual and religious background, or other demographic characteristics associated with risk for depression, may affect the effectiveness of MBSR. There...
Objective:
Despite the well-known stress of medical school, including adverse consequences for mental and behavioral health, there is little consensus about how to best intervene in a way that accommodates students׳ intense training demands, interest in science, and desire to avoid being stigmatized. The objective of this study, therefore, was to...
Chronic pain is a prevalent condition that creates extensive suffering and enormous costs to society. It is widely described as a mind–body experience. Limitations of conventional treatment methods suggest that new approaches are needed. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a popular mind–body intervention that can help patients with chroni...
The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of an adapted 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for elders in a continuing care community. This mixed-methods study used both quantitative and qualitative measures. A randomized waitlist control design was used for the quantitative aspect of the study. Th...
Objectives:
Stress is a well-known predictor of smoking relapse, and cortisol is a primary biomarker of stress. The current pilot study examined changes in levels of cortisol in hair within the context of two time-intensity matched behavioral smoking cessation treatments: mindfulness training for smokers and a cognitive-behavioral comparison group...
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few. Mindfulness as a current topic of academic inquiry derives from two main histor-ical roots: (1) Eastern contemplative psychology embedded in meditation (Germer, 2005; Gunaratana, 2002; Kabat-Zinn, 2011); and (2) Western social psychology (E. J. Langer, 1989). Fr...
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of Koru, a mindfulness training program for college students and other emerging adults.
Participants:
Ninety students (66% female, 62% white, 71% graduate students) participated between Fall 2012 and Spring 2013.
Methods:
Randomized controlled trial. It was hypothesized that Koru, compared with a wait-l...
Distress tolerance (DT) is a proposed transdiagnostic factor in psychopathology, yet sources of individual differences in DT are largely unknown. The present study examined mindfulness and rumination facets as predictors of persistence on a standardized DT task (mirror tracing). Acting with awareness (a facet of mindfulness) and reflection (a poten...
Rationale:
Persistent symptoms of psychological distress represent an unmet need among intensive care unit (ICU) survivors.
Objectives:
We aimed to develop and pilot test a simple telephone-based mindfulness training intervention to address this population's unique needs.
Methods:
Open trial involving survivors of medical and surgical critical...
The Pilates Method is a form of somatic education with the potential to cultivate mindfulness – a mental quality associated with overall well-being. However, controlled studies are needed to determine whether changes in mindfulness are specific to the Pilates Method or also result
from other forms of exercise. This quasi-experimental study compared...
Repeated psychosocial stress in early-life has significant impact on both behavior and neural function which, together, increase vulnerability to depression. However, neural mechanisms related to repeated stress remain unclear. We hypothesize that early-life stress may result in a reduced capacity for cognitive control in response to a repeated str...
This paper reviews the philosophical origins, current scientific evidence, and clinical promise of yoga and mindfulness as complementary therapies for addiction. Historically, there are eight elements of yoga that, together, comprise ethical principles and practices for living a meaningful, purposeful, moral and self-disciplined life. Traditional y...
Mindfulness-based interventions are effective for reducing depressive symptoms. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms are unclear. This study examined which facets of trait mindfulness offer protection against negative bias and rumination, which are key risk factors for depression. Nineteen male volunteers completed a 2-day functional ma...
Meditation practice alters intrinsic resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the default mode network (DMN). However, little is known regarding the effects of meditation on other resting-state networks. The aim of current study was to investigate the effects of meditation experience and meditation-state functional connectivity (msFC) on mul...
Many young adult drivers read and send text messages while driving despite clear safety risks. Understanding predictors of texting-while-driving may help to indentify relevant targets for interventions to reduce this dangerous behavior. The present study examined whether individual differences in mindfulness is associated with texting-while-driving...
This study sought to determine whether participants in taijiquan classes would report increases in mindfulness greater than that of a comparison group, and whether changes in mindfulness were associated with improvements in mood, perceived stress, self-regulatory self-efficacy, and sleep quality.
The study design was quasi-experimental with repeate...
Stroke, diabetes, and coronary heart disease (CHD) remain leading causes of death in the United States and are largely attributable to lifestyle behaviors. Integrative medicine can provide a supportive partnership that focuses on improving health by identifying and implementing lifestyle changes based upon personal values and goals.
This prospectiv...
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is a secular behavioral medicine program that has roots in meditative spiritual practices. Thus, spirituality may partly explain Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction outcomes. Participants (N = 279; M (SD) age = 45(12); 75% women) completed an online survey before and after an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reducti...
Decentering has been proposed as a potential mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions but has received limited empirical examination to date in experimental studies comparing mindfulness meditation to active comparison conditions. In the present study, we compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing (MB) to two alternative stress-managem...
This study examined whether mindfulness increased through participation in movement-based courses and whether changes in self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, and perceived stress mediated the relationship between increased mindfulness and better sleep.
166 college students enrolled in the 2007-2008 academic year in 15 week classes in Pilates, Taiji...
This study compared changes in bodily pain, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and psychological symptoms during an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program among groups of participants with different chronic pain conditions.
From 1997-2003, a longitudinal investigation of chronic pain patients (n=133) was nested within a large...
OBJECTIVE: To briefly review the effects of mindfulness on the mind, the brain, the body, and behavior. METHODS: Selective review of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar databases (2003-2008) using the terms "mindfulness", "meditation", "mental health", "physical health", "quality of life", and "stress reduction." A total of 52 exemplars of empiri...
Perhaps no condition better illustrates the intimate relationship between brain and behavior – mind and body – as the inner
experience of fear. In this chapter, we present an integrative scientific view of anxiety and clinical anxiety disorders,
with an emphasis on awareness and acceptance as a foundation for mind/body health. Whereas anxiety-relat...
Adhesion of circulating monocytes to the vascular endothelium is one of the earliest steps in the development of atherosclerosis. This leukocyte-to-endothelium interaction is mediated in part by beta2-integrins, a group of cell adhesion molecules that bind to endothelial ligands. Given the significance of this interaction to atherogenesis, we exami...
The circadian and neurobehavioral effects of light are primarily mediated by a retinal ganglion cell photoreceptor in the mammalian eye containing the photopigment melanopsin. Nine action spectrum studies using rodents, monkeys, and humans for these responses indicate peak sensitivities in the blue region of the visible spectrum ranging from 459 to...
Immunocellular mechanisms that account for the association between psychosocial risk factors and increased susceptibility to faster progression of HIV/AIDS are largely unknown. This study used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis that enumerative and functional alterations in killer lymphocytes mediate the relationship between higher...
To characterize patients seeking care at a university-based integrative medicine practice, and to assess short-term changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) associated with integrative medical treatment.
Prospective, observational study.
This study was conducted at a large U.S. academic medical center affiliated with the Consortium of Acad...
As interest grows in mindfulness training as a psychosocial intervention, it is increasingly important to quantify this construct
to facilitate empirical investigation. The goal of the present studies was to develop a brief self-report measure of mindfulness
with items that cover the breadth of the construct and that are written in everyday languag...
Despite findings that selenium supplementation may improve immune functioning, definitive evidence of its impact on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease severity is lacking.
High selenium yeast supplementation (200 mug/d) was evaluated in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Intention-to-treat analyses assessed the effect on...
Psychological distress is linked with impaired glycemic control among diabetics.
Estimate changes in glycemic control, weight, blood pressure, and stress-related psychological symptoms in patients with type 2 diabetes participating in a standard Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.
Prospective, observational study.
Academic health cen...
Differences on measures of metabolic syndrome X and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, as well as potential pathophysiological mediators, inflammation, and oxidative stress, were examined as a function of HIV serostatus and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen with and without protease inhibitors (PIs). Data from 164 men and women,...
Medical students confront significant academic, psychosocial, and existential stressors throughout their training. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an educational intervention designed to improve coping skills and reduce emotional distress.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the MBSR intervention in a prospect...
The photopigment in the human eye that transduces light for circadian and neuroendocrine regulation, is unknown. The aim of this study was to establish an action spectrum for light-induced melatonin suppression that could help elucidate the ocular photoreceptor system for regulating the human pineal gland. Subjects (37 females, 35 males, mean age o...
This study examined the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on health-related quality of life and physical and psychological symptomatology in a heterogeneous patient population. Patients (n=136) participated in an 8-week MBSR program and were required to practice 20 min of meditation daily. Pre- and post-intervention data were col...
St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) has recently gained popularity as an alternative treatment for mild to moderate depression. Given the current widespread use of this herbal remedy, it is important for medical professionals to understand the potential pharmacological pathways through which Hypericum may exert an antidepressant effect.
(1) To r...
The aim of this study was to test if the three cone photopic visual system is the primary ocular photoreceptor input for human circadian regulation by determining the effects of different wavelengths on light-induced melatonin suppression. Healthy subjects with stable sleeping patterns (wake-up time 7:30 AM +/- 12 min) and normal color vision were...
Rationale: St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) has recently gained popularity as an alternative treatment for mild to moderate depression. Given the current widespread
use of this herbal remedy, it is important for medical professionals to understand the potential pharmacological pathways
through which Hypericum may exert an antidepressant effec...
The objective of this article is to review the current knowledge of the pharmacology, sites of action, and therapeutic effectiveness of St. John's Wort.
The method used was a review of the available literature, using keywords to search the medline database. Bibliographies of the papers, thus obtained, were searched for further documents not referen...