Frontiers in Psychology
October 23, 2019
Diane Joss, Alaptagin Khan, Sara W. Lazar et al.
63 citations
A mindfulness-based behavioral intervention reduced stress and anxiety and increased mindfulness and self-compassion in young adults with mild-to-moderate childhood maltreatment. The mindfulness group showed reduced stress and anxiety and increased mindfulness and self-compassion, while the waiting list control group showed no significant changes. Changes in mindfulness were linked to changes in self-compassion, which in turn were linked to reduced depression and anxiety. More intervention sessions attended were associated with greater reductions in stress, anxiety, and depression, suggesting a dose-dependent effect. The intervention may help improve self-compassion and psychological health in this population.
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
January 1, 2024
Diane Joss, Junjie Lu, Martin H. Teicher et al.
16 citations
Among young adult survivors of childhood adversity, an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) and a Stress Management Education (SME) program both led to increased mindfulness, reduced stress, and improved depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms, with no significant difference between the two groups. Neither group showed greater changes in amygdala volume. Within the MBI group, the severity of childhood maltreatment mediated the link between mindfulness changes and right amygdala volume changes. Across both groups, childhood maltreatment moderated the effect of trait anxiety changes on left amygdala volume changes. The findings suggest that psychological-change-dependent amygdala volumetric changes are not unique to mindfulness training.
Mindfulness
September 1, 2024
Diane Joss, Martin H. Teicher, Sara W. Lazar
11 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) produce unique therapeutic effects for young adults with adverse childhood experiences, with improvements in trait mindfulness driving reductions in perceived stress, somatization, and hostility. In a clinical trial, 21 participants completed an 8-week MBI and 19 completed a stress management education control. Weekly and follow-up assessments over 18 months showed that mindfulness increases began at the end of the 8-week program, and most symptom reductions lasted 12 months without refresher courses. Only the MBI group showed mindfulness gains predicting later symptom decreases. The findings suggest that at least 8 weeks of MBI and a refresher at 12 months may be needed for lasting benefit.
Journal of Mood and Anxiety Disorders
March 1, 2025
Diane Joss, Michael Datko, Charisma I Washington et al.
5 citations
Self-judgment, a symptom common to many psychological disorders, often follows childhood maltreatment and can make standard treatments less effective. In a pilot study of 24 adults with anxiety or depressive disorders (83% had multiple diagnoses), an eight-week mindful self-compassion program significantly reduced self-judgment and increased self-compassion. Participants who reported more childhood trauma improved more than those with less trauma. Brain scans showed that reduced self-judgment was linked to stronger connections between the posterior cingulate cortex and frontal regions involved in regulation and language, and weaker connections with the amygdala-hippocampal complex, suggesting the training lessens fear-related influences on self-referential thinking while boosting executive control.
Neuroscience Letters
May 23, 2025
Diane Joss, Gunes Sevinc, John W. Denninger et al.
1 citation
Among 94 chronically stressed but otherwise healthy adults randomized to eight weeks of meditation, yoga, or stress education, only the meditation group showed a significant reduction in resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the left hippocampus. Changes in this brain connectivity were correlated with improvements in perceived stress, allostatic load, and anti-inflammatory gene expression, suggesting that meditation's neural effects are closely linked to physical wellness biomarkers. No such changes occurred in the yoga or stress education groups, indicating this neurobiological mechanism may be unique to meditation training.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2025
Diane Joss, Joseph Rosansky, Paula Gardiner et al.
1 citation
Among people with opioid use disorder receiving buprenorphine, those who also took part in a 24-week online mindfulness-based intervention showed a specific chain of symptom improvement linked to their history of adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Higher ACE severity was associated with greater reductions in self-critical rumination by week 8, which then predicted reduced pain catastrophizing by week 16, and less pain interference by week 24. This pathway was not seen in a matched recovery support control group. Both groups experienced significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and other symptoms, but only in the mindfulness group did ACE severity predict changes in self-critical rumination, suggesting this may be a key target for treatment.
Global advances in integrative medicine and health
January 1, 2024
Eunmi Kim, Diane Joss, Frannie Marin et al.
1 citation
This registered clinical trial protocol describes a planned study of Heart-Smile Training (HST), a compassion-based meditation program that cultivates awareness of heart-area bodily signals (interoception), for people with depression. The study aims to test the feasibility of the intervention and research procedures and to investigate neurocardiac mechanisms, specifically changes in the Heartbeat Evoked Potential measured by EEG. Fifty participants will be randomly assigned to a 4-week HST group or a waitlist control. Outcomes include depression severity, EEG gamma activity, heart rate variability, and psychological measures of self-compassion, mindfulness, and social connectedness. Results are not yet available.
Mindfulness
June 4, 2026
Diane Joss
Mindfulness meditation training, specifically Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), was linked to improvements in self-judgment, self-kindness, rumination, and reflection among healthy adults, while an active control program (Stress Management Education) improved only self-judgment and self-kindness. Brain imaging showed that in the MBSR group, increased self-kindness was associated with activity changes in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (involved in executive function), and changes in rumination and reflection were linked to activity in the temporal parietal junction (involved in empathy). No significant group-by-time interaction effects were found, meaning the differences between groups were not statistically robust.
Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.)
October 1, 2025
Diane Joss
Among young adult survivors of adverse childhood experiences who participated in a mindfulness-based intervention, cultivating non-attachment—the mentality of letting go of the desire to control external and internal experiences—directly reduced obsessive-compulsive symptoms. In a pilot analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing a mindfulness-based intervention (21 participants) with an active control (19 participants), path analysis showed that only in the mindfulness group did changes in non-attachment scores directly predict changes in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, even after accounting for changes in depression and anxiety. This suggests non-attachment may be a key psychological mechanism through which mindfulness reduces obsessive-compulsive symptoms, distinct from exposure-based explanations.
Mindfulness
June 1, 2025
Diane Joss
This commentary proposes a multi-level, multi-sectoral framework for using mindfulness-based interventions to prevent childhood maltreatment, build resilience, and restore health in adults with adverse childhood experiences. It reviews emerging research and theoretical foundations explaining why mindfulness-based interventions may be especially beneficial for childhood maltreatment survivors. The authors argue that mindfulness meditation can serve as a public health tool across prevention and recovery efforts, addressing trauma at individual, community, and systemic levels.
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
March 30, 2024
Diane Joss, Martin H. Teicher, Sara W. Lazar
An 8-week mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) led to increases in right hippocampus and right subiculum volumes among adults with adverse childhood experiences, while an active control condition (stress management education) did not. Only the MBI group improved pattern separation, a measure of episodic memory, and this improvement was linked to stress reduction and right subiculum volume changes. The findings indicate that mindfulness training may counteract some negative neural effects of early-life stress, with the subiculum playing a key role in reducing stress reactivity.