An intervention study examining the effectiveness of loving kindness meditation in reducing depressive symptoms: Compassionate coping as a mediator?
Advances in Health and Behavior January 1, 2022 Mike Silhan, N. Garnefski
A 12-day loving-kindness meditation (LKM) intervention did not significantly increase self-compassion more than a control exercise among 57 university students. Both groups showed decreases in depression and increases in self-compassion over time. LKM was linked to fewer depressive symptoms only when controlling for successfully completed homework. Self-compassionate coping did not mediate these changes. The authors suggest the two conditions may have been too similar and both contained helpful elements, warranting further research into LKM's antidepressant mechanisms.