Reviews in the NeurosciencesJune 3, 2026Thomas Le François, Charlotte E Hilberdink, Bérengère Guillery-Girard et al.
Mindfulness meditation has received growing interest in research over the past decades. Mindfulness meditation training (MMT) can be employed as a mental practice to improve cognitive skills such as attention and emotion regulation and may promote well-being. Neuroimaging studies have emerged to understand the effects of MMT on brain functioning. However, no review exists on the effects of MMT...
Self-compassion is recognized as important for psychological well-being and has been linked to reduced anxiety levels. Mindfulness-based interventions, such as the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR), have shown promise in treating anxiety disorders, but no studies to date have compared the effects of MBSR to the gold-standard medication treatment (escitalopram) on...
During the pandemic, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) versus the antidepressant, escitalopram (ESC) added a second phase using a synchronous, videoconference (VC) format for both interventions, enabling randomized and naturalistic comparisons. The original in-person RCT demonstrated non-inferiority of MBSR to ESC. In the second phase, we...
This secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial assesses patient-reported anxiety, depression, and quality of life among patients receiving mindfulness-based stress reduction vs escitalopram for the treatment of anxiety disorders.
Anxiety disorders are common, highly distressing, and impairing conditions. Effective treatments exist, but many patients do not access or respond to them. Mindfulness-based interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) are popular and can decrease anxiety, but it is unknown how they compare to standard first-line treatments. To determine whether MBSR is noninferior to...
Anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia) are common, distressing, and impairing. While pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are first-line treatment strategies for anxiety disorders, many patients are reluctant to take psychiatric medication, and many prefer to avoid any kind of mental health treatment due to stigma or distrust of...
Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have garnered empirical support for a wide range of psychological conditions, the psychological processes that mediate the relationship between MBIs and subsequent symptomatic improvement are less well-understood. In the present study we sought to examine, for the first time, the relationship between mindfulness, negative interpretation bias as...
While limited advances have occurred in the past 30 years in the pharmacological management of anxiety and stress-related disorders, novel molecular pathways both within and without the monoamine systems are currently under investigation and offer promising new avenues for more effective future treatments. Enhancing psychotherapy approaches with pharmacological compounds offers the potential to...
To examine the effect of mindfulness meditation on occupational functioning in individuals with Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Fifty-seven individuals with GAD (mean (SD) age=39 (13); 56% women) participated in an 8-week clinical trial in which they were randomized to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) or an attention control class. In this secondary analysis, absenteeism, entire...
Mindfulness-Based interventions have increased in popularity in psychiatry, but the impact of these treatments on disorder-relevant biomarkers would greatly enhance efficacy and mechanistic evidence. If Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is successfully treated, relevant biomarkers should change, supporting the impact of treatment and suggesting improved resilience to stress. Seventy adults...
Objective Mindfulness meditation has met increasing interest as a therapeutic strategy for anxiety disorders, but prior studies have been limited by methodological concerns, including a lack of an active comparison group. This is the first randomized, controlled trial comparing the manualized Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program with an active control for Generalized Anxiety...