Santa Clara University

Shauna L. Shapiro, Ph. D.

Doctor Shapiro is assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona and served as adjunct faculty for Andrew Weil’s Program of Integrative Medicine. She began her study of psychology and spirituality at Duke University, graduating summa cum laude. She developed a specific interest in meditation, and traveled to Thailand and Nepal to deepen her understanding and practice of meditation. She further trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) with Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues. Her research has focused primarily in examining the effects of meditation and MBSR across a wide range of clinical populations including breast cancer, insomnia, and substance abuse. She also has examined the effects of MBSR on health care professionals including physicians, nurses, psychologists, medical students, and counseling psychology students. Dr. Shapiro has published over two dozen articles and book chapters in the area of meditation and has presented her research findings nationally and internationally.

Doctor Shapiro on her current interests:

My research over the past decade has focused on mindfulness, an ancient Buddhist practice, which has been integrated into western psychology as a universally and culturally applicable intervention. Mindfulness is defined as intentionally paying attention in a non-judgmental way. Hundreds of empirical studies demonstrate the beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation in treating depression, anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia, substance abuse, heart disease, eating disorders and cancer. However, my current research interests focus not simply on reducing negative symptoms, but exploring the positive effects of mindfulness, which include enhancing psychological qualities such as compassion, empathy, and spirituality. I would like to see the paradigm for research in meditation, and psychology in general, expanded to include a vision of optimal health, encompassing a more holistic, systemic approach to health. My intention is to conduct rigorous empirical research that moves toward this paradigm shift by exploring the positive effects of mindfulness across diverse populations. I also hope to begin to explore the mechanisms by which these positive changes occur.

A related area of interest is to bring contemplative practice and meditation into education. To this end I received a fellowship from the Contemplative Mind and Society, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Fetzer Institute to develop a counseling psychology course that integrates contemplative practice into the curriculum. The course is titled “Mindfulness Meditation and Psychology: Theory, Research and Practice” and will be offered in the SCU Counseling Psychology graduate program. For more information on the exciting projects of Contemplative Mind and Society check our their website: www.contemplativemind.org.