PLoS One
September 5, 2017
Ausiàs Cebolla, Marcelo Demarzo, Patricia Silveira Martins et al.
186 citations
About a quarter (25.4%) of meditation practitioners report unwanted effects (UEs), which are usually temporary and do not lead to stopping practice or seeking medical help. UEs are more common during focused attention meditation, when practicing alone for more than 20 minutes, and during individual practice; body awareness practices are associated with fewer UEs. The findings come from an online survey of 342 experienced meditators (at least two months of practice), mostly women from Spain with university education. The authors recommend using standardized questionnaires to better assess these effects in future research.
Mindfulness
February 22, 2016
Marta Alda, Marta Puebla-Guedea, Baltasar Rodero et al.
87 citations
Meditation experts had longer telomeres and fewer short telomeres than matched non-meditators. The psychological factor most strongly linked to telomere maintenance was the absence of experiential avoidance—the tendency to suppress or avoid negative emotions and thoughts—along with a sense of common humanity, as measured by the Self-Compassion Scale. These findings suggest that how meditators relate to their inner experience, rather than meditation itself, may be key to cellular aging.
PLoS One
September 7, 2022
Geissy Lainny de Lima-Araújo, Geovan Menezes de Sousa, Thatiane Aparecida Mendes et al.
64 citations
A brief three-day mindfulness training increased interoceptive sensibility—the self-reported tendency to notice and attend to body signals—in 40 healthy young adults naive to meditation, compared with an active control group. Five of eight subdomains of interoceptive sensibility improved after the training, but interoceptive accuracy (objective performance on a heartbeat-detection task) did not change. The increase in interoceptive sensibility statistically mediated reductions in state anxiety, suggesting a plausible mechanism for the anxiolytic effects of brief mindfulness practices.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 9, 2021
Marcelo Trombka, Timothy B. Creedon, Marcelo Demarzo et al.
14 citations
Portuguese-speaking immigrants in the Boston area who completed an 8-week mindfulness program adapted for their language and culture attended an average of 6.1 sessions and practiced 213.7 minutes per week. Nearly all participants rated the program as very good or excellent, would recommend it, and would participate again. Depression symptoms decreased substantially and anxiety symptoms decreased moderately, while emotional regulation improved. Half of those who completed surveys initiated a health behavior change. The program appears feasible, acceptable, and culturally appropriate for this underserved population, though larger controlled studies are needed.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2023
Jaime Navarrete, Marta Fontana-Mcnally, Ariadna Colomer-Carbonell et al.
9 citations
The Spanish versions of the Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) and the State Mindfulness Scale (SMS) show adequate reliability and validity for measuring state mindfulness, though the SMS specific factors have poor reliability when controlling for the general factor. Data from six non-clinical Spanish samples (TMS n=119, SMS n=223) were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The best-fitting model for the TMS was a correlated two-factor structure (curiosity and decentering). For the SMS, a bifactor structure (general factor, mindfulness of body, and mindfulness of mind) fit best. Both scales detected changes in state mindfulness after meditation practices. The patterns of correlations with measures of trait mindfulness, decentering, non-attachment, depression, anxiety, stress, affect, self-criticism, and self-reassurance were mostly as expected.
Frontiers in Medicine
January 1, 2024
Débora Silva Teixeira, Sandra Fortes, Celia Kestenberg et al.
8 citations
A mindfulness-based health promotion program adapted for Brazil's public health system was tested in nine groups in Rio de Janeiro primary care units. Of 62 mostly low-income women participants, 80% had chronic conditions, including anxiety (42%) and depression (35%). After eight weeks, anxiety and depression improved significantly, and quality of life improved in psychological, physical, and social domains. Participants reported using mindfulness practices for insomnia and emotional distress, and involving family members helped create space for meditation at home. Mindfulness was seen as a complement to medication and therapy. The intervention proved feasible and effective for psychosocial support in low-resource primary care settings.
Aging & Mental Health
April 12, 2025
Marcelo Vasconcelos Mapurunga, Daniela Rodrigues de Oliveira, Solange Andreoni et al.
5 citations
A randomized controlled trial compared a four-month Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion (MBHP) program with computer-based cognitive stimulation in older adults. Quality of life improved significantly only in the cognitive stimulation group. However, the MBHP group showed improvements in stress, anxiety, intrinsic religiosity, and sleep quality. Qualitative interviews with MBHP participants revealed enhanced perceptions of social support, self-awareness, self-care, and sleep quality, creating a discrepancy between quantitative quality-of-life results and subjective reports. The MBHP program did not significantly improve quality of life compared to cognitive stimulation, but it positively impacted several well-being indicators.
SMAD Revista Eletrônica Saúde Mental Álcool e Drogas (Edição em Português)
September 30, 2020
Nazaré de Oliveira Almeida, Marcelo Demarzo, Carmem Beatriz Neufeld
4 citations
An 8-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy protocol adapted for individual clinical sessions reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress while increasing everyday mindfulness in 11 patients with mild to moderate depression. All participants showed significant improvement in depression, anxiety, and stress levels, consistent with existing literature. The findings suggest the therapy's benefits can extend from group to individual clinical settings, though more empirical, controlled, and randomized studies are needed to confirm external validity.
Discover Mental Health
April 8, 2025
Isabel Wießner, Júlia Paula Souza, Marcelo Demarzo et al.
3 citations
Mindfulness training may reduce aberrant salience—the exaggerated significance attributed to perceived elements linked to psychotic experiences—while improving attention and well-being. In a pilot study of 21 adults completing an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion course, mindful attention and decentering increased from before the course to after and at three months post-course. Aberrant salience showed mixed changes: a factor called Heightened Cognition increased immediately after the course, while Heightened Emotionality and total aberrant salience decreased later. Greater increases in mindful attention correlated with greater decreases in Heightened Emotionality. Qualitative reports indicated improved stress management and daily integration of mindfulness practices. The findings suggest mindfulness can modulate attentional processes and reduce aberrant salience, offering a potential pathway for interventions in psychosis.
Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
December 1, 2023
Julia Ribeiro Da Silva Vallim, Gabriela Sant'Ana Lima, Gabriel Natan Pires et al.
Mindfulness-based interventions can reduce anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, but their effect on sleep is not well established. Sleep can be measured subjectively (questionnaires, logs) or objectively (actigraphy, polysomnography). A review of 193 articles found that most studies (78%) used only subjective sleep measures, which show higher variability and uncertainty and moderate to nonexistent agreement with objective measures. This reliance on subjective assessment may create a misperception about mindfulness effects on sleep. Future research should emphasize objective measurements while acknowledging that subjective measures remain useful for some aspects of the sleep-mindfulness relationship.
SSM - Mental Health
June 16, 2026
Caroline Krauser, Eduardo Jardim Simões, Chester Schmaltz et al.
Depression and anxiety symptoms are a major cause of disability worldwide. Mindfulness-based interventions are proven treatments for mild-to-moderate cases, but evidence on their real-world feasibility and effectiveness is limited, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This paper describes a randomized stepped-wedge trial with qualitative analysis that will evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for depression symptoms in primary care patients in Brazil. The study aims to generate context-sensitive evidence to improve public health strategies and inform sustainable depression treatments in low- and middle-income countries.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2020
Jesus Montero-Marin, Marta Puebla-Guedea, Paola Herrera-Mercadal et al.
correction
A correction notice for a previously published article on Vipassana meditation, personality, positive psychology, retreat, and wellbeing. The notice states that the original article's DOI is 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01935 and provides a correction to that work. No findings, methods, or results are presented.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2019
Jesus Montero-Marin, Maria C Perez-Yus, Ausiàs Cebolla et al.
Focused attention (FA) meditation session length was associated with higher happiness and positive affect and lower depression, negative affect, and emotional overproduction. Compassion meditation (CM) session length was linked to greater positive affect, and CM practice frequency to higher happiness. Lifetime FA practice related to happiness, and lifetime open monitoring (OM) practice to lower emotional overproduction. Religious beliefs and prayer were less relevant than these meditation practices in explaining psychological adjustment. The findings suggest distinct meditation practices may differentially influence well-being through specific practice variables.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2016
Jesus Montero-Marin, Marta Puebla-Guedea, Paola Herrera-Mercadal et al.
A one-month Vipassana meditation retreat, involving 8-9 hours of daily practice, a vegetarian diet, and compulsory silence, increased non-attachment, mindfulness (observing), well-being (positive affect, balanced affect), and cooperativeness in experienced meditators compared to matched controls who did not attend the retreat. Decreases occurred in describing, negative views of others, reward dependence, and self-directedness. Non-attachment partly explained changes in decentering, acting with awareness, non-reactivity, negative affect, balanced affect, self-directedness, and life satisfaction, and moderated changes in describing and positive views of others. The retreat appears to improve psychological outcomes even in experienced meditators, with non-attachment potentially enabling further gains beyond non-intensive practice.