Positive Health Online

Abstract

GOLDBERG and COLLEAGUES, 1 VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA; Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.  sbgoldberg@wisc.edu  2 Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; 3 VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA; 4 Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; 5 Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Modum Bad Psychiatric Center, Vikersund, Norway; 6 VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA; Center for Excellence in Substance Abuse Treatment and Education, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA sought to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for clinical populations on disorder-specific symptoms.

Background

Despite widespread scientific and popular interest in mindfulness-based interventions, questions regarding the empirical status of these treatments remain.

Methodology

The authors sought to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for clinical populations on disorder-specific symptoms. To address the question of relative efficacy, we coded the strength of the comparison group into five categories: no treatment, minimal treatment, non-specific active control, specific active control, and evidence-based treatment.

Results

A total of 142 non-overlapping samples and 12,005 participants were included. At post-treatment, mindfulness-based interventions were superior to no treatment (d=0.55), minimal treatment (d=0.37), non-specific active controls (d=0.35), and specific active controls (d=0.23). Mindfulness conditions did not differ from evidence-based treatments (d=-0.004). At follow-up, mindfulness-based interventions were superior to no treatment conditions (d=0.50), non-specific active controls (d=0.52), and specific active controls (d=0.29). Mindfulness conditions did not differ from minimal treatment conditions (d=0.38) and evidence-based treatments (d=0.09).

Conclusion

Effects on specific disorder subgroups showed the most consistent evidence in support of mindfulness for depression, pain conditions, smoking, and addictive disorders. Results support the notion that mindfulness-based interventions hold promise as evidence-based treatments. Conflict of interest statement: Conflict of Interests RD is the founder, president, and serves on the board of directors for the non-profit organization, Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. In addition, RD serves on the board of directors for the Mind and Life Institute.

References

Simon B Goldberg  1 , Raymond P Tucker  2 , Preston A Greene  3 , Richard J Davidson  4 , Bruce E Wampold  5 , David J Kearney  3 , Tracy L Simpson  6. Mindfulness-based interventions for psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev;59:52-60. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.10.011. Epub Nov 8 2017. Feb 2018.