Journal of Clinical Psychology
March 6, 2009
David P. Johnson, David L Penn, Barbara L. Fredrickson et al.
158 citations
Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) may help reduce negative symptoms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, such as anhedonia, avolition, and asociality, while enhancing hope and purpose in life. Case studies illustrate how to conduct this group treatment, its potential benefits, and difficulties that may arise. LKM requires further empirical support but promises to be an important intervention given the limited treatments for negative symptoms.
Global advances in integrative medicine and health
January 1, 2025
Keturah R Faurot, Isabel Roth, Elondra Harr et al.
A telephone-delivered mindfulness training program for informal caregivers of African Americans with dementia living in rural North Carolina was feasible and acceptable. Of those screened, 78% enrolled, 86% completed the study, and 88% attended at least six of eight weekly sessions. Caregivers reported reduced perceived burden and increased positive emotions from before to after the intervention. Both inhibitory and prospective intolerance of uncertainty also decreased. Participants valued the program, especially the telephone format. The findings suggest this approach may help reduce caregiver burden in underserved rural populations and warrants testing in a randomized trial.
Mindfulness
May 1, 2022
Taylor N West, Jieni Zhou, Mary Brantley et al.
A 6-week workshop in mindfulness meditation reduced expression of proinflammatory genes linked to early-life low socioeconomic status (SES), while loving-kindness meditation unexpectedly increased that same gene expression profile. In 88 at-risk midlife adults, those who learned mindfulness meditation showed significant declines in the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA), whereas those who learned loving-kindness meditation showed significant increases. Both groups reported more positive and fewer negative emotions over the six weeks, but this emotional change did not explain the gene expression differences. The findings suggest mindfulness meditation may help reverse the biological effects of childhood low SES in midlife.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
October 1, 2019
Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Jue Lin, Sara B Algoe et al.
Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) may buffer the shortening of telomeres, the protective caps of chromosomes, while mindfulness meditation (MM) does not show the same protective effect. In a randomized trial with 142 midlife adults, telomere length decreased significantly in both the MM group and a waitlist control group over the study period, but not in the LKM group. The LKM group also experienced significantly less telomere attrition than the control group. The MM group's telomere changes fell between those of the LKM and control groups and were not significantly different from either. Self-reported emotions and practice duration or frequency did not explain the group differences. This work is the first to separate the effects of LKM and MM on telomere length.
Mindfulness
May 29, 2017
B. Fredrickson, Aaron J. Boulton, A. Firestine et al.
Both mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation increase daily positive emotions without changing negative emotions. The more minutes people meditated on a given day, the more positive emotions they reported that day, and people who meditated more over the 9-week period also experienced greater overall gains in positive emotions. This dose-response relationship was stronger for loving-kindness meditation than for mindfulness meditation. The findings suggest that either practice can improve emotional well-being.
Psychological Science
July 1, 2013
Bethany E Kok, Kimberly A. Coffey, Michael Cohn et al.
A longitudinal field experiment tested whether generating positive emotions through loving-kindness meditation can improve physical health by strengthening perceptions of social connections. Participants randomly assigned to the meditation group showed increased positive emotions compared to a waiting-list control group, an effect that was stronger for those with higher baseline vagal tone, a measure of physical health. Increased positive emotions led to further increases in vagal tone, and this effect was mediated by greater perceptions of social connections. The findings suggest an upward-spiral dynamic in which positive emotions, social connections, and physical health mutually reinforce each other.
Schizophrenia Research
July 1, 2011
David P Johnson, David L Penn, Barbara L. Fredrickson et al.
Loving-kindness meditation was feasible for people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders who had significant negative symptoms. Participation was associated with decreased negative symptoms and increased positive emotions and psychological recovery.