Adrian Sorin MIHALACHE - The Experience of Compassion – Possible Long-term Changes in Cortex Areas. A Few Recent Findings in the Field of Neurosciences

Adrian Sorin MIHALACHE

Deacon Lect. PhD Faculty of Orthodox Theology Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, ROMANIA

Abstract:

This paper addresses some of the findings of recent neuroscience research regarding the compassion and relevance of the topic to the area of the dialogue between Orthodox theology and behavioral sciences. We began with some considerations regarding neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, results that have changed the medical paradigm of a person’s life, highlighting the transforming potential of everyday practices and cultural experiences, the connection between culture and the brain, intensely explored today, the experiences of conscious efforts, in the spiritual plane, but also in the wider sphere of life. Short distinctions are made between empathy and compassion, based on neuroscientific explorations, while an inventory of cortical and subcortical areas proves to play an important role in compassion. The second part of the study presents several results regarding the effects of compassion in the field of human life, emotionally, cognitively, medically and professionally, as well as in the wider sphere of social life. Finally, we outlined some possibilities for cultivating compassion as well as some aspects regarding the potential of this topic for dialogue with Christian spirituality.

Keywords:

compassion, empathy, the neurosciences of compassion, Christian spirituality

Bibliography:

  • Amen, Daniel. 1998. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness. New York: Three Rivers Press.
  • Amen, Daniel. 2012. Schimbă-ți mintea ca să te vindeci de tulburările emoționale. Bucharest: Curtea Veche.
  • Bauman, Z. and T. May. 2008. Gândirea sociologică. Translated by Mihai C. Udma, Bucharest: Humanitas.
  • Begley, Sharon. 2010. Antrenează-ți mintea, modelează-ți creierul. O nouă știința ne dezvăluie potențialul extraordinar de care dispunem. Translated by Marius Chitoşcă. Bucharest: Curtea Veche.
  • Cameron, C. D. and B. K. Payne. 2012. “The Cost of Callousness: Regulating Compassion Influences the Moral Self-Concept”. In Psychological Science 23 (3): 225-229. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611430334.
  • Cameron, Rachel A.; Benjamin L. Mazer; Jane M. DeLuca; Supriya G. Mohile; Ronald M. Epstein. 2013. “In search of compassion: a new taxonomy of compassionate physician behaviours”. In Health Expectations. DOI:10.1111/hex.12160.
  • Condon, Paul; Gaelle Desbordes; Willa B. Miller; Davis DeSteno. 2011. “Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering”. In Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797613485603.
  • Coras, Roland; Florian A. Siebzehnrubl; Elisabeth Pauli; Hagen B. Huttner; Marleisje Njunting; Katja Kobow; Carmen Villmann; Eric Hahnen; Winfried Neuhuber; Daniel Weigel; Michael Buchfelder; Hermann Stefan; Heinz Beck; Dennis A. Steindler; Ingmar Blumcke. 2010. ”Low proliferation and differentiation capacities of adult hippocampal stem cells correlate with memory dysfunction in humans”. In Brain 133: 3359-3372
  • D’Aquili, Eugene and Andrew B. Newberg. 2001. The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
  • Damasio, Antonio. 2004. Eroarea lui Descartes. Emoţiile, raţiunea şi creierul uman. Bucharest: Humanitas
  • Davidson, Richard and Sharon Begely. 2015. Creierul şi inteligența emoțională. Translated by Valentin Vidu. Bucharest: Litera.
  • Davidson, Richard and Sharon Begley. 2012. The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live and How You Can Change Them. Wisconsin: Hudson Street Press.
  • Davidson, Richard J. and Sharon Begley. 2013. Creierul şi Inteligenţa Emoţională. Bucharest: Litera.
  • De Vaan, Michiel. 2008. “Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages”. In Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series (7). Leiden: Brill. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Compa ssion em&searchmode=none.
  • Desbordes, Gaëlle; Lobsang T. Negi; Thaddeus W. W. Pace; B. Alan Wallace; Charles L. Raison and Eric L. Schwartz. 2012. “Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non – meditative state”. In Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6 (1): 12.
  • Doughty, Steve. 2009. “Proportion of people living alone has doubled since the Seventies”. In Daily Mail, April 15. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ article1170283/Proportion-people-living.
  • Fraley, R.C. and P. R. Shaver. 1997. “Adult attachment and the suppression of unwanted thoughts”. In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73: 1080-1091.
  • Fries, A. B.; Toni E. Ziegler; Joseph R. Kurian; Steve Jacoris and Seth D. Pollak. 2005. “Early experience in humans is associated with changes in neuropeptides critical regulating social behaviour”. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 102 (47): 17.237-17.240
  • Geddes, D. and L. T. Stickney. 2011. “The trouble with sanctions: Organizational responses to deviant anger displays at work”. In Human Relations 64 (2): 201- 230.
  • Goldberg, Ilan I.; Michal Harel and Rafael Malach. 2006. “When the Brain Loses Its Self: Prefrontal Inactivation during Sensorimotor Processing”. In Neuron 50 (2): 337.
  • Hill, Amelia. 2011. “Manipulating morals: scientists target drugs that improve behaviour”. In The Guardian, April 4. http://www.theguardian.com/science/ 2011/apr/04/morality-drugs-improve-ethical-behaviour.
  • Hollinsworth, Andrea. 2008. “Neuroscience and Spirituality”. In Zygon: 843
  • Hölzel, Britta K.; James Carmody; Mark Vangel; Christina Congleton; Sita M. Yerramsetti; Tim Gard; Sara W. Lazar. 2013. “Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density”. In Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 191: 36-43.
  • Jama. 2010. “Study Examines Association Between Urban Living and Psychotic Disorders”. In Science Daily, September 7. http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2010/09/100906203036.html.
  • Jiao, Jian-Wei; David A. Feldheim and Dong Feng Chen. 2008. “Ephrins as negative regulators of adult neurogenesis in diverse region of the central nervous system”. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 105 (25): 8778- 8783.
  • Kaliman, Perla; Maria Jesus Alvarez-Lopez; Marta Cosin-Tomas; Melissa A. Rosenkranz; Antoine Lutz; Richard J. Davinson. 2014. “Rapid changes in histone deacetylases and inflammatory gene expression in expert meditators”. In Psychoneuroendocrinology 40: 96-107.
  • Klinenberg, Eric. 2012 b. “Living alone is the new norm”. In Time 179: 10
  • Klinenberg, Eric. 2012 a. “One’s a Crowd”. In The New York Times, February 4. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/living-alone-meansbeing-social.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=sociological.
  • Klinenberg, Eric. 2012c. Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. New York: Penguin Press HC
  • Kostovich, Carol Toliuszis; Pamela S. Clementi. 2014. “Nursing Presence”. In Journal for Nurses in Professional Development 30 (2): 70-75.
  • Krosnick, Jon A.; Andrew L. Betz; Lee J. Jussim; Ann R. Lynn. 1992. “Subliminal Conditioning of Attitudes”. In Personality Social Psychology Bulletin 18 (2): 152-162
  • Kurina, L.M. 2011. “Loneliness is associated with sleep fragmentation in a communal society”. In Sleep 34(11): 1519-1526
  • Lugert, Sebastian; Basak O.; Knuckles P.; Haussler U.; Fabel K.; Götz M.; Haas C.A.; Kempermann G.; Taylor V.; Giachino C. 2010. “Quiescent and Active Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells with Distinct Morphologies Respond Selectively to Physiological and Pathological Stimuli and Aging”. In Cell Stem Cell 6 (5): 445-456.
  • Lutz, Antoine; Julie Brefczynski-Lewis; Tom Johnstone; Richard J. Davidson. 2008. “Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise”. In PLoS ONE 3 (3): 4-6.
  • Mascaro, J.S.; J.K. Rilling; L. Tenzin Negi; C.L. Raison. 2012. “Compassion meditation enhances empathic accuracy and related neural activity”. In Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 8 (1): 48-55. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nss095.
  • McClelland, David and Carol Kirchnit. 1988. “The Effect of Motivational Arousal through Films on Salivary Immunoglobulin A”. In Psychology and Health (2): 31-52.
  • Meaney, M. 1999. “Nongenomic Transmission across generation in maternal behaviour and stress response in the rat”. In Science 286: 1155-1158.
  • Mikulincer, Mario and Phillip R. Shaver. 2004. “Attachment-Related Strategies during Thought Suppression; Ironic Rebounds and Vulnerable Self-Representations”. In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87: 940-956.
  • Mikulincer, Mario and Omri Gillath. 2001. “Attachment Theory and Reactions to Others Needs: Evidence That Activation of the Sense of Attachment Security Promotes Empathic Responses”. In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81 (6): 1205-1224.
  • Mirasend, Helena; Andreu Z.; Suh H.; Lie D.C.; Jessberger S.; Consiglio A.; San Emeterio J.; Hortigüela R.; Marqués-Torrejón M.A.; Nakashima K.; Colak D.; Götz M.; Fariñas I.; Gage F.H. 2010. “Signaling through BMPR-IA Regulates Quiescence and Long-Term Activity of Neural Stem Cells in the Adult Hippocampus”. In Cell Stem Cell 7 (1): 78-89.
  • Najjar, N.; Davis L.W.; Beck-Coon K.; Carney Doebbeling C. 2009. “Compassion Fatigue: A Review of the Research to Date and Relevance to Cancer-care Providers”. In Journal of Health Psychology 14(2): 267-277.
  • Naylor, Andrew S.; Cecilia Bull; Marie K.L. Nilsson; Changlian Zhu; Thomas BjorkEriksson; Peter S. Eriksson; Klas Blomgren and H. Georg Khun. 2008. “Voluntary running rescues adult hippocampal neurogenesis after irradiation of the young mouse brain”. In PNAS September 2: 1-6.
  • Olds, Jacqueline and Richard Schwartz. 2009. The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century. Hardcover: Beacon Press.
  • Ornish, Dean. 2008. Dragoste şi supravieţuire. Translated by Nicoleta Radu. Bucharest: Curtea Veche
  • Pace, T.W.; Negi L.T.; Adame D.D.; Cole S.P.; Sivilli T.I.; Brown T.D.; Issa M. J.; Raison C.L. 2009. “Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress”. In Psychoneuroendocrinology 34 (1): 87-98
  • Persson, Ingmar and Julian Săvulescu. 2012. Unfit for the Future: The Need for Moral Enhancement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Putnam, Robert D.; Bowling Alone. 2000. The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  • Rakel, D.; Barrett B.; Zhang Z.; Hoeft T.; Chewning B.; Marchand L.; Scheder J. 2011. “Perception of empathy in the therapeutic encounter: effects on the common cold”. In Patient Educ. Couns. 85(3): 390-397.
  • Rakel, D.P.; Hoeft T.J.; Barrett B.P.; Chewning B.A.; Craig B.M.; Niu M. 2009. “Practitioner empathy and the duration of the common cold”. In Fam. Med. 41 (7): 494-501.
  • Sahay, Amar; Scobie K.N.; Hill A.S.; O’Carroll C.M.; Kheirbek M.A.; Burghardt N.S.; Fenton A.A.; Dranovsky A.; Hen R. 2011. “Increasing adult hippocampal neurogenesis is sufficient to improve pattern separation”. In Nature 472: 466- 470
  • Saslow, L.R.; R. Willer; M. Feinberg; P.K. Piff; K. Clark; D. Keltner; S.R. Saturn. 2012. “My Brother’s Keeper? Compassion Predicts Generosity More Among Less Religious Individuals”. In Social Psychological and Personality Science 4 (1): 31-38
  • Schanber, Saul M. 2003. “PKC Mediates Maternal Touch Regulation of Growth-Related Gene Expression in Infant Rats”. In Neuropsychopharmacology 28: 1026– 1030
  • Schmidt M.H.; Bicker F.; Nikolic I.; Meister J.; Babuke T.; Picuric S.; Müller-Esterl W.; Plate K.H.; Dikic I. 2009. “Epidermal growth factor-like domain 7 (EGFL7) modulates Notch signalling and affects neural stem cell renewal”. In Nature Cell Biology 11: 873-880.
  • Stellar, Jennifer E.; Vida M. Manzo; Michael W. Kraus; Dacher Keltner. 2012. “Class and compassion. Socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering”. In Emotion 12 (3): 449-459.
  • Strickland, Bonnie Ruth (ed.). 2001. The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd Ed. Farmington Hills: Gale Group.
  • Strongman, K.T. 2003. The Psychology of Emotion. From Everyday Life to Theory. Fifth Ed. Oxford: Wiley
  • Sundquist, K.; G. Frank and J. Sundquist. 2004. “Urbanisation and incidence of psychosis and depression: follow-up study of 4.4 million women and men in Sweden”. In British Journal of Psychiatry 184: 293-98.
  • Taub, E. 2006. “A Placebo Controlled Trial of Constraint-induced Movement Therapy for Upper Extremity after Stroke”. In Stroke 37: 1045-1049.
  • Taub, E., N.E. and Miller. 1993. “Technique to improve Chronic Motor Deficit after Stroke”. In Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 74: 347-354.
  • Terter, Bruce and J. Wesson Ashford. 2002. “Neuroplasticity in Alzheimer’s Disease”. In Journal of Neuroscience Research 70: 402.
  • Theodosis, Dionysia T.; Montagnese C.; Rodriguez F.; Vincent J.D.; Poulain D.A. 1986. “Oxytocin induces morphological plasticity in the adult hypothalamoneurohypophysial system”. In Nature 322: 738-740
  • Wu, Chih-Wei; Ya-Ting Chang; Lung Yu; Hsiun-ing Chen; Chauying J. Jen; Shih-Ying Wu; Chen-Peng Lo; Yu-Min Kuo. 2008. “Exercise enhances the proliferation of neural stem cells and neurite growth and survival of neuronal progenitor cells in dentate gyrus of middle-aged mice”. In Journal of Applied Physiology 105 (5): 1585-1594.
  • Yoshii, A. and Constantine-Paton M. 2007. “BDNF induces transport of PSD-95 to dendrites through PI3K-AKT signalling after NMDA receptor activation”. In Nature Neuroscience 10 (6): 702-711
  • Zammit, Stanley; Glyn Lewis; Jon Rasbash; Christina Dalman; Jan-Eric Gustafsson; Peter Allebeck. 2010. “Individuals, Schools, and Neighborhood. A Multilevel Longitudinal Study of Variation in Incidence of Psychotic Disorders”. In Arch Gen Psychiatry 67 (9): 914-922.