Mindfulness, defined as nonjudgmental present-moment awareness, can help initiate and maintain behavior change, which is crucial for preventing and treating chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses. This integrative review synthesizes the neuroscience of mindfulness, integrating motivation and learning mechanisms into a mindful self-regulation model that explains how mindfulness affects behavior change. It also reviews clinical research on mindfulness-based interventions for health behaviors relevant to psychiatric care. The authors highlight current research limitations and propose mechanisms for future study to enhance mindfulness's impact on behavior change.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) shows promise as an adjunctive treatment for bipolar disorder, with preliminary evidence suggesting it may improve anxiety, residual depression, mood regulation, and attentional and frontal-executive control without precipitating mania. A systematic review of 13 studies found wide variation in methodological quality, with most studies underpowered or lacking power calculations. Due to study heterogeneity and quality issues, meta-analysis was not possible, so net effects cannot be estimated. More high-quality research is needed to confirm clinical efficacy.