A scientometric analysis of 16,310 documents from 1973 to 2023 reveals that mindfulness dominates mind–body intervention research, but each practice—Yoga, Qi-gong, Tai-chi, Vipassana, Zen, Loving-kindness, and Transcendental meditation—has distinct research clusters focused on different mental and physical health issues, such as substance abuse, schizophrenia, back pain, and dementia. The findings suggest that future research should recognize the unique contributions of each practice rather than treating them as a single category.
A systematic metareview of 17 meta-analyses found that meditation-based mind-body interventions, particularly mindfulness and yoga, can be effective supplements for mental disorders. Among meta-analyses with good methodological quality and content validity, large effect sizes were observed for mindfulness in schizophrenia and ADHD, a moderate effect size for mindfulness in PTSD, and a small effect size for yoga in schizophrenia. No serious adverse events were reported across 43 randomized controlled trials involving 1,774 participants in the mind-body intervention arms, and attrition rates were comparable to control conditions. The authors conclude that mindfulness and yoga may serve as efficacious supplements to pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, while evidence for qigong and tai chi remains lacking.