Mindfulness Interventions

2016/09/30 by J. David Creswell · 5 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions #Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes #Sleep and related disorders #Mindfulness #Psychological intervention #Psychology #Psychotherapist #Intervention (counseling) #Clinical psychology #Randomized controlled trial #Psychiatry #Medicine

paper · pdf · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-042716-051139

openalex publication_date 2016/09/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Mindfulness interventions aim to foster greater attention to and awareness of present moment experience. There has been a dramatic increase in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness interventions over the past two decades. This article evaluates the growing evidence of mindfulness intervention RCTs by reviewing and discussing (a) the effects of mindfulness interventions on health, cognitive, affective, and interpersonal outcomes; (b) evidence-based applications of mindfulness interventions to new settings and populations (e.g., the workplace, military, schools); (c) psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness interventions; (d) mindfulness intervention dosing considerations; and (e) potential risks of mindfulness interventions. Methodologically rigorous RCTs have demonstrated that mindfulness interventions improve outcomes in multiple domains (e.g., chronic pain, depression relapse, addiction). Discussion focuses on opportunities and challenges for mindfulness intervention research and on community applications.

Citations

• Brief mindfulness induction reduces inattentional blindness
• An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results
• Mindfulness in Medicine
• Defining mindfulness by how poorly I think I pay attention during everyday awareness and other intractable problems for psychology's (re)invention of mindfulness: Comment on Brown et al. (2011).
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects.
• Enhancing cognitive and social–emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: A randomized controlled trial.
• Mindfulness-Based Interventions for People Diagnosed with a Current Episode of an Anxiety or Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials
• Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being
• Mindfulness-based relationship enhancement
• Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review.
• Modifying Resilience Mechanisms in At-Risk Individuals: A Controlled Study of Mindfulness Training in Marines Preparing for Deployment
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Massachusetts Correctional Facilities
• Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.
• Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density
• The benefits of simply observing: Mindful attention modulates the link between motivation and behavior.
• Promoting prosocial behavior and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based kindness curriculum.
• Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for preventing relapse in recurrent depression: A randomized dismantling trial.
• Open, Aware, and Active: Contextual Approaches as an Emerging Trend in the Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
• Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future.
• The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being.
• The unbearable automaticity of being.
• Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training
• Differential effects of mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and loving-kindness meditation on decentering and negative reactions to repetitive thoughts
• Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials
• Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation.

Cited by

• Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on employees’ mental health: A systematic review
• The effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions among cancer patients and survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World
• From Ancient Contemplative Practice to the App Store
• Mindfulness [wikipedia]

Related

• Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review.
• Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review
• Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future.
• Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes
• Target mechanisms of mindfulness-based programmes and practices: a scoping review