Distress tolerance as a mechanism of mindfulness for depression and anxiety: Cross-sectional and diary evidence
International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology July 5, 2023 Yanjuan Li, Ruilin Ju, Stefan G. Hofmann et al.
Distress tolerance appears to be a mechanism linking mindfulness to lower depression and anxiety. In a cross-sectional sample of 905 adults, distress tolerance mediated the relationship between mindfulness and depression/anxiety at the between-person level. In a daily diary study of 110 participants over 14 days, multilevel analyses showed that daily distress tolerance mediated the effects of daily mindfulness on daily depression and anxiety in both concurrent and time-lagged models, at both within- and between-person levels. The authors suggest that mindfulness training may help individuals with high or fluctuating depression and anxiety by increasing distress tolerance.