Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/48724
A bell chimes. In the bright October sunlight, the distinct orange and red carpet of the Monona Terrace glows neon. Only the 100-plus people gathered in the second fl oor community room don't notice; their eyes are closed. During this Monday lunch hour, all is still but the reverberations of the bell wavering through the air one more time. Letting her voice ease into the silence, Dr. Lisa Rambaldo speaks softly into a wireless microphone. For the next 45 minutes, she leads the group in a series of practices aiming to cre- ate a moment of peace in their busy weeks. It's known as mindfulness meditation—a version of the age-old contemplative prac- tice more associated with the Buddha than the modern busy body. Yet in today's go-go-go society, 10 mil- lion Americans reportedly step back to practice some form of meditation. Not only that, mainstream medicine is em- bracing it as well. In fact, a 2011 Harvard Medical School report states that more than six million Americans are recom- mended meditation or other mind-body therapies by conventional health care pro- viders a year. Madison is no different. Locally, mind- fulness meditation can be found not only at the free weekly "Meditation at Monona Terrace" series offered by Rambaldo, but within the various offerings at the area's major medical institutions, where it is wo- ven into treatment programs for illnesses such as recurrent depression, anxiety, in- somnia and more. But where mindfulness may be able to make the most far-reaching difference is back where it started decades ago: helping people fi nd their way out of stress and back into their lives. So why is it gaining such attention now? Maybe because the way we're living isn't working. We're overwhelmed and overstressed— and we know it. So we talk about getting away, fi nding less demanding jobs, tak- ing on more fulfi lling hobbies. But maybe that's not the only solution. Maybe we need to explore what those 10 million Americans, and our local doctors, have already fi gured out: Th at the solution to our stress isn't necessarily to change our lives, but to change the way our minds respond to it. Dr. Andrew Moore is a psychiatrist at UW Health—the couch-in-his-offi ce, Kleen- ex-at-the-ready-in-case-you-cry kind. Th ough he sees patients daily for illnesses such as depression and anxiety, it was the decade he spent in family medicine that gave him a window into the effects our mental states have on our bodies. "I can tell you so many of the people that come in have mental health issues going on—anxiety or depression—that may be presenting in physical ways as well," he says. "High blood pressure, headaches, back pain—even if it's not completely [the cause], [mental] conditions can certainly exacerbate the problems." Moore and other medical professionals know that serious mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety come with very real physical symptoms. Stress alone plays a role in the top 10 most frequent physical symptoms primary care doctors are pre- sented with—and it is also linked to the six leading causes of death. While the physical illness gets attention, the underlying mental causes often remain unnoticed, and it makes a big difference for our nation's bottom line. Th e economic burden of untreated clini- cal depression was $83.1 billion in the year 2000 alone, two-thirds of which were workplace costs resulting from absenteeism or lost productivity due to poor concentra- tion and lower effi ciency. When nearly 66 percent of those experiencing depression don't get the treatment they need, it's no surprise that it remains one of American's most costly illnesses. Of course, that doesn't mean many of us are not trying to treat our mental woes. From classic spill-your-guts therapy to prescription drugs, the options are plen- tiful. Moore offers—and advocates—both. But he also sees his patients relapsing into depression and anxiety despite their hard work. "Many [are] already on medication, al- ready doing psychotherapy, and they're still suffering," he says. While these therapies can be a lifeline to those in need, they don't work in all cases. In fact, to be labeled a "success" in stud- ies, an antidepressant needs to show only a 50 percent improvement in at least half the depressive symptoms a person has. And while these medications serve the very important purpose of working to stabilize chemicals in the brain (to put it simply), they can't change one very important fac- tor: the habits of our minds. Th at's why Moore also leads the Mind- fulness Training Program within the UW Health Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Aiming to teach what he terms "skills" for those with depression and other men- tal illnesses such as anxiety, it's a practice that's been shown to turn around the life of the average overstressed and overwhelmed person as well. "How many thoughts do we have in a day?" Moore asks. "It would be hard to count, but on the order of 100,000 to 1 million." Some fl it by while others stay. Th ey can be focused on the task at hand or they can appear random, such as memories that November 2011 bravamagazine.com 63