4.2 Conclusions
Mounting evidence indicates that meditation is an effective approach for
regulating pediatric pain and emotional distress. Mindfulness- and
meditation-based interventions may be particularly well-suited for
children because they do not engage CEN control systems, which are
underdeveloped in youth, are easily accessible to children, and can be
adapted to developmental age. Indeed, the present findings suggest that
simple forms of meditation, such as focused attention to breath and
mindful acceptance, can reduce activity in the DMN in children with
limited meditation experience. Given alterations in the DMN are linked
to various forms of psychopathology,57 these results
suggest that meditation emotion regulation techniques may be effective
for modulating DMN activity in youth. These results also have
implications for the management of pain and distress in pediatric
healthcare settings (e.g., needle-related procedures), and for
mitigating negative effects of stress and trauma in pediatric population
that face disproportionally high stress (e.g., chronic health
conditions).