Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Anxiety and Depression

Summary & key facts

This review looked at research on mindfulness-based programs, like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, for people with anxiety and depression. Overall, these programs tend to reduce symptoms by a small-to-moderate amount and can lower the chance that depression comes back for people with repeated past episodes. The benefits are often similar to other therapies in many studies, but research quality varies and we need more long-term, rigorous studies to know who benefits most and how long effects last.

Key facts:

• Mindfulness programs such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy generally produce small-to-moderate drops in anxiety and depression symptoms compared with usual care or being on a waitlist.
• In studies of people who have had several past episodes of major depression, a course of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy lowered the risk that depression would return during follow-up, and in some trials its effect was similar to staying on antidepressant medication.
• When mindfulness programs were compared with other active treatments (for example, group therapy or standard psychological therapies), they often showed similar levels of symptom improvement rather than clear superiority.
• Researchers propose that mindfulness helps by reducing repetitive negative thinking (sometimes called rumination), improving attention, and increasing acceptance of thoughts and feelings, but the exact reasons behind the benefits are still being tested.
• Many trials had limitations: some were small, some followed people only for a short time, and some lacked strong comparison groups; these limits make it harder to be sure how big and lasting the benefits are.
• Reports of harms or difficult experiences from mindfulness training are uncommon in the studies, but the review notes that adverse experiences are not well tracked and some people can have unpleasant reactions to meditation practice.

Topics

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes COVID-19 and Mental Health Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Anxiety Clinical psychology Cognition Cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive restructuring Cognitive therapy Depression (economics) Economics Intervention (counseling) Macroeconomics Meditation Mindfulness Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy Philosophy Psychiatry Psychological intervention Psychology Psychotherapist Relaxation (psychology) Social psychology Theology

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Depression Anxiety or worry Poor sleep Sadness or low mood