Mindfulness最新文献

Objectives: Both mindfulness and humor are inherently connected to well-being. Recent research found evidence for their combined effect in a joint training, the Humor-Enriched Mindfulness-Based Program (HEMBP). This study extends these findings by exploring (1) effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on different forms of humor, (2) differential effects of the HEMBP on outcomes compared to MBSR, and (3) whether the HEMBP and MBSR may alter worldviews.

Method: Ninety participants were randomly allocated to three conditions: the HEMBP, MBSR, and a wait-list control group. Participants' mindfulness, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, perceived stress, comic styles, and primal world beliefs (primals) were assessed before and after the trainings, and at 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-ups. Changes in outcome variables over time were modeled by applying linear mixed-effects models.

Results: The HEMBP enhanced participants' mindfulness, benevolent humor, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction compared to the wait-list control. Similarly, MBSR increased participants' mindfulness and life satisfaction while reducing perceived stress and primal good, but no effects on humor were observed. Comparison between the two trainings revealed trends toward a greater increase in benevolent humor in the HEMBP group and a greater decrease in good in the MBSR group.

Conclusion: The results largely replicate previous research on the efficacy of the HEMBP. Both programs demonstrated similar effects on outcomes, with only the HEMBP increasing benevolent humor and psychological well-being, while MBSR reduced stress. Further research is needed to investigate qualitative aspects of the integration of humor in MBPs and the long-term impact of MBPs on individuals' worldviews.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.

Objectives: Novice meditators often struggle to recognise and intentionally disengage from self-referential thought during meditation. We investigated whether personalised high-precision neurofeedback (NF) training improves volitional disengagement from self-referential thought during meditation and enhances meditation's outcomes.

Method: In a single-blind, controlled study, novices received 2 days of veridical (n = 20) or sham (n = 20) 7-T fMRI NF targeting posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) deactivation during meditation. After NF training, at-home meditation practice was monitored for 1 week, followed by an in-lab behavioural assessment.

Results: Both groups reported similar perceptions of NF contingency, performance, and expectancy (p > 0.05), suggesting effective participant blinding. PCC deactivation during NF-guided meditation was comparable across groups (p > 0.05). Veridical NF group showed significantly stronger negative functional coupling (d = 0.59) between PCC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), significantly greater mindful awareness (d = 0.41) and emotional well-being (d = 0.40) associated with 1-week practice, and significant correlation (r = 0.71, p < 0.01) between emotional well-being and PCC-DLPFC negative coupling.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that high-precision NF can improve novices' ability to volitionally disengage from self-referential thought during meditation, thereby fostering greater mindful awareness in real-world practice and promoting emotional well-being.

Preregistration: This exploratory study was not preregistered.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-025-02671-z.

Objectives: Social connection is crucial for well-being and health. Dyadic meditations-contemplative practices carried out by two people together-have the potential to foster connection. In the dyadic "Just-Like-Me" (JLM) meditation, two participants gaze at each other while contemplating sentences emphasizing their shared humanity. We assessed the psychological impacts of this exercise, as well as the underlying mechanisms, by comparing it to two active control conditions: mutual gazing without contemplation and solitary meditation.

Method: Study 1 was a virtual study with 55 individuals who formed 100 experimental dyads, whereas Study 2 was an in-person study with 98 participants in 238 dyad pairings. Participants engaged in a 2-min JLM, gazing, or solitary meditation exercise (the latter only in Study 2). We recorded self-reported feelings, decisions on a hypothetical dictator game, facial expressions (Study 1), and heart rates (Study 2).

Results: Both JLM and gazing increased closeness with medium-to-large effect sizes both virtually and in person (~ 1 SD increase for JLM). JLM increased closeness more than gazing in person (medium-sized effect). Both exercises had small-to-medium effects on positive partner perceptions. In-person, dictator game allocations were higher following JLM than following solitary meditation. Both JLM and gazing induced synchronous smiling, with JLM producing stronger effects (Study 1). JLM induced synchronous heart rates (Study 2). Smiling synchrony predicted positive relational outcomes with small-to-medium effect sizes.

Conclusions: Dyadic meditations, such as JLM and gazing, are effective in promoting closeness and prosocial behavior. Non-verbal and emotional synchrony between meditation partners is a potential mechanism facilitating these benefits. Dyadic meditation practices may contribute to addressing widespread loneliness and enhancing social dimensions of well-being.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-025-02588-7.

Objectives: Meditation has long been known to promote health. We utilized a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the impact of mind-body interventions on the body in a twin cohort during a week-long meditation retreat.

Method: This study was designed to address individual changes controlling for intersubject trait variation and explore the role of genetic background on multi-omic factors during meditation. Transcriptomic analysis was carried out from whole blood samples, while metabolomic and biochemical studies were carried out in blood plasma. Quantitative electroencephalography studies, coupled with biometric analysis and molecular studies at multiple time points, were carried out in twins meditating together and in twins separated and simultaneously either meditating or listening to a documentary.

Results: Changes in gene expression, metabolites, and cytokines in blood plasma associated with specific meditative states showed patterns of change relative to the time point being assessed. Twin sets were similar in multiple domains before the start of the retreat, showed considerable divergence at the mid-point, and looked more similar by the end of the retreat. Twin pairs showed significant spectral power correlations in separate rooms and when only one twin meditated. These similarities were not observed in mismatched twin pairs. Heart rate dynamics assessments showed alignment among twin pairs, absent between unmatched pairs.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this pilot study is novel within the twin research paradigm and is a first step toward exploring the effects of meditation in twins.

Preregistration: This study was not preregistered and was carried out under IRB protocol MED02#20211477.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-025-02584-x.

Objectives: We aimed to quantify the effects of advanced meditation on brain electrical activity during sleep. This investigation addresses the need for objective neurophysiological measures of meditation's potential impact on brain aging and health.

Method: This study was a single-site, prospective cohort study (conducted August 25, 2021, through September 26, 2021) of meditators attending the "Samyama Sadhana" retreat (September 1-5, 2021). Two healthy comparison groups and four comparison groups with varying degrees of age-related brain pathology are included. Using overnight electroencephalography, physiological measures of brain age were derived and subtracted from chronological age, measuring the deviation of apparent brain age from chronological age.

Results: Thirty-four participants completed the study (average age = 38 years; 36% female). Estimated brain age index after adjustment by matching: meditators (n = 34), - 5.9 years (SE = 0.94 years, t-test p < 0.001); Dreem healthy controls (n = 1077), - 0.24 (0.61, p < 0.001); Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) healthy controls (n = 112), 0.55 (0.92, p < 0.05); MGH "no dementia" (n = 7618), 2.4 (0.094, reference cohort for t-test); MGH "symptomatic" (n = 697), 2.0 (0.33, p > 0.05); MGH "mild cognitive impairment (MCI)"(n = 205), 8.8 (2.8, p < 0.05); and MGH "dementia" (n = 153), 10.5 (2.8, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Long-term meditators exhibit lower brain age relative to matched control groups. This study suggests that advanced meditation enhances brain health.

Preregistration: This study was not preregistered.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-025-02583-y.

Objectives: Nearly one third of adults in the US experience at least one anxiety disorder over the course of their lifetime. Trait mindfulness is associated with fewer symptoms of anxiety. This study examined two such factors from positive psychology that may help to explain this relationship: hope and optimism.

Method: Two-hundred and nine participants completed self-report measures of anxiety symptoms, trait mindfulness, hope, and optimism at two timepoints.

Results: Trait mindfulness was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms at both baseline and follow-up. Bias-corrected bootstrapping mediation indicated that optimism, but not hope, mediated this relationship.

Conclusions: Trait mindfulness may reduce anxiety because it helps to cultivate one's general positive attitude about the future which may challenge the diffuse worry and anticipatory fear that are inherent to anxiety. Future research should seek to further explore how to harness optimism in mindfulness treatments.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.

Objectives: The present study tested the unique contributions of prenatal maternal mindfulness to infant emerging effortful control and negative affect at 6 months postnatal. Exploratory analyses evaluated the role of individual facets of mindfulness in predicting infant outcomes.

Method: The sample consisted of 178 individuals. Participants completed self-report measures of mindfulness during pregnancy (M = 16.91 gestational weeks; SD = 4.37) and postnatally (M = 6.54 months after birth; SD = 2.12). At 6 months postpartum, participants also reported on their infants' (55% female) emerging effortful control and negative affect using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire.

Results: Greater prenatal maternal mindfulness was associated with higher infant emerging effortful control (β = 0.40, p < 0.001) and lower negative affect (β = -0.16, p = 0.04). These relations remained statistically significant when controlling for postnatal mindfulness. The prenatal describing (β = 0.21, p = 0.02) and nonreacting (β = .28, p = 0.01) subscales of mindfulness were statistically significant predictors of emerging effortful control after controlling for postnatal mindfulness subscales. None of the subscales were significant predictors of infant negative affect after controlling for postnatal mindfulness.

Conclusions: Maternal prenatal mindfulness predicted both infant emerging effortful control and negative affect. Individual facets of prenatal mindfulness demonstrated unique patterns of association with infant emerging effortful control, suggesting that aspects of mindfulness may be promotive factors to consider in future interventions. These findings highlight that mindfulness during pregnancy is linked to improved infant self-regulation and reduced emotional reactivity.

While there exists a large body of research on the possibility of measuring certain aspects of human development, what might be called inner development has mostly been neglected, in particular as it pertains to advanced meditation. A central aspect of this kind of development, which we call meditative development, is associated with access to bliss, peace, wisdom, and the reduction of suffering, which have been regarded as highly desirable or even ultimate aims of human life. The potential for such development is currently being scientifically studied and developmentally mapped. While the use of maps to guide meditation during practice has been criticized, the conceptualization of a transformative process involving a metaphorical death and rebirth, or the dissolution of an old identity and the emergence of a new one, is common across various wisdom traditions. In the meditative traditions, some maps, such as the one described by Mahāsī Sayādaw, describe this process in a way that is both highly detailed and grounded in experience. Here, we propose an outline of the process of metaphorical "death and rebirth" in advanced meditation, which may form a foundation for the scientific investigation of meditative development and support a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

Objectives: The present study aimed to identify distinct profiles of mindfulness among a sample of university students in the USA who use alcohol and cannabis. Further, we examined whether these mindfulness profiles were indirectly associated with alcohol and cannabis-related outcomes via alcohol and cannabis use motives.

Method: Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to determine the number of latent classes among 771 US university students (75.7% White, 66.8% female) who consumed alcohol and cannabis in the prior month. Additionally, parallel mediation analyses were conducted to determine whether mindfulness profiles were indirectly associated with alcohol- and cannabis-related outcomes via alcohol and cannabis use motives.

Results: LPA indicated a 4-class solution fit optimally. Further, the high mindfulness group was generally the most adaptive (lower scores) across alcohol and cannabis outcomes, whereas the judgmentally observing group was generally the most maladaptive (higher scores). Indirect effect analyses revealed that compared to the low mindfulness group, the high mindfulness group reported lower scores on alcohol- and cannabis-related outcomes via lower alcohol- and cannabis-related coping motives.

Conclusions: These findings can inform prevention and intervention efforts using mindfulness techniques and interventions among students who engage in problematic alcohol and cannabis use.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-025-02544-5.

The need for improve medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment outcomes can be limited by co-occurring polysubstance use, mental health, and chronic pain conditions. Interoceptive training may facilitate well-being and support medication treatment for MOUD.

Objectives: While effective, medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment outcomes can be limited by co-occurring polysubstance use, mental health, and chronic pain conditions. Interoceptive training may facilitate well-being and support medication treatment for MOUD. This study examined the pre-post effects of the mindfulness-based intervention Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT) as an adjunct to MOUD. MABT teaches interoceptive awareness skills to promote self-care and emotion regulation.

Method: Participants stabilized on medication for opioid use disorder (OUD) (n = 303) from six community clinics in North-western United States were recruited and randomly assigned to MABT plus MOUD or MOUD only. In a mixed-methods study, we used an intent-to-treat approach (analyzing participants based on their assigned group, regardless of adherence) to examine the proportion of days abstinent from non-prescribed opioids, and other substance use (primary outcomes) at baseline and 3 months post-intervention. Secondary outcomes included symptoms of mental health distress, emotional regulation difficulties, pain and physical symptom indicators, interoceptive awareness, and mindfulness skills. Participant experience of MABT was collected through post-intervention surveys. Changes in outcomes were assessed using linear mixed models; content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data.

Results: Levels of overall substance use were low and did not differ between groups. Significant improvements in PTSD symptoms, interoceptive awareness, pain severity, pain activity interference, and physical symptom frequency were found for those who received MABT compared to MOUD only.

Conclusions: In this stable MOUD population, substance use outcomes were not improved; however, MABT demonstrated significant positive changes across multiple health outcomes critical for improving MOUD treatment.

Preregistration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifer: NCT04082637.