Welcome To The Michigan Mindfulness Website

The Michigan Mindfulness Laboratory conducts research to study the nature and health benefits derived from mindfulness meditation and other mental training practices that are increasingly combined within empirically-supported, effective psychotherapies for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Our work is supported by grant funding from federal (NIMH, NCCIH, DoD) and foundation (Mind and Life Institute, 1440 Foundation) source. We investigate potential novel therapeutic mechanisms and targets associated with Mindfulness and Compassion, and actively how brain activity changes in response to Mind-Body Psychotherapeutic treatments (e.g., Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Progressive Muscular Relaxation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Relationship Enhancement, Mindfulness-Based Exposure Therapy, Emotion Regulation Therapy, etc.).

The overarching goal of our lab and larger University of Michigan clinical research group is in research on understanding therapeutic mechanisms of psychotherapy/behavioral health interventions, in particular in populations that have experienced trauma, stress, PTSD, and anxious depression. We use a number of clinical and translational research tools (e.g. functional MRI neuroimaging, psychophysiology, neuroendocrine and psychoneuroimmunology measures, etc.) to investigate these questions. The Michigan Mindfulness Lab was founded by Dr. Anthony King and presently directed by Dr. David M. Fresco and study coordinators Jung Woon Park, Nikki Senapati, MD, Sean Ike, and several UM undergraduate research assistants.