PsyArXiv
May 28, 2026
Oliver Andersson Hugemark, Terje Sparby, Andrea Grabovac et al.
preprint
While meditation has been increasingly associated with challenging and adverse experiences, especially in more advanced and high-density practices, little is known about how advanced practitioners experience, make sense of, and integrate non-ordinary experiences that may disrupt their sense of self, reality, embodiment, and meaning. Building on recent advances in the scientific study of...
March 2, 2026
Andrea Grabovac, Nickolas Grabovac, Winson F.z. Yang et al.
preprint
This paper presents the Insight Development Process (IDP), a theoretical framework of propositional insight development to facilitate its scientific investigation. This framework formulates three empirically-testable propositions: transience, self-lessness, and incongruence, each defined as a perceptual mode that individuals report during advanced insight meditation. These propositions parallel...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2025
Kaveh Rayani, Andrea Grabovac, Peter Chan et al.
2 citations
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, negative mood, and avoidant behaviors. Therapies involving mindfulness have been shown to reduce PTSD symptoms and modulate brain function. Pharmacological and brain stimulation interventions are also effective for treating PTSD. Non-invasive repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the...
Journal of Behavioral Medicine
August 1, 2024
Lori A Brotto, Rosemary Basson, Andrea Grabovac et al.
Low desire in women is the most common sexual difficulty, and stress has been identified as a significant predictor of symptoms. We evaluated a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) group treatment versus a sex education comparison group treatment (STEP) on self-reported stress and on the physiological stress response measured via morning-to-evening cortisol slope in 148 women with a...
Mindfulness
May 1, 2024
Malcolm Wright, Julieta Galante, J. S. Corneille et al.
Adoption of potentially consciousness-altering practices may be leading to a rise in emergent phenomena (EP): sudden unusual mental or somatic experiences often interpreted as spiritual, mystical, energetic, or magical in nature. It is unclear how frequently these altered states of consciousness occur and what the clinical implications may be. Anecdotal accounts and prior literature suggest...
Frontiers in Psychology
2024
Sarah E B Francis, Frances Shawyer, Bruno Cayoun et al.
20 citations
It is important to be able to differentiate mindfulness-based programs in terms of their model, therapeutic elements, and supporting evidence. This article compares mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), developed for relapse prevention in depression, and mindfulness-integrated cognitive behavior therapy (MiCBT), developed for transdiagnostic applications, on: (1) origins, context and...
The Journal of Sex Research
May 2023
Lori A Brotto, Bozena Zdaniuk, Meredith L Chivers et al.
Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD) is a common sexual dysfunction in women. Both mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) plus psychoeducation and sex therapy, education, and support (STEP; which contains the same educational information as in the MBCT arm but also integrates supportive-expressive therapy), are effective. We tested mediators and moderators of improvements. Each treatment...
Mindfulness
April 13, 2023
Julieta Galante, Andrea Grabovac, Malcolm Wright et al.
82 citations
Abstract Millions of people globally have learned mindfulness meditation with the goal of improving health and well-being outcomes in both clinical and non-clinical contexts. An estimated half of these practitioners follow mindfulness teachers’ recommendations to continue regular meditation after completion of initial instruction, but it is unclear whether benefits are strengthened by regular...
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
July 2021
Lori A Brotto, Bozena Zdaniuk, Meredith L Chivers et al.
Objective: Sexual interest/arousal disorder (SIAD) is the most prevalent sexual dysfunction in women. Our goal was to compare (a) group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) plus sex education with (b) group supportive sex education and therapy (STEP) for women with SIAD. Method: Eight-session treatments were delivered weekly and participants completed the measures of sexual desire and...
The Journal of Sexual Medicine
June 1, 2019
Lori A Brotto, S. Bergeron, Bozena Zdaniuk et al.
INTRODUCTION Chronic and distressing genito-pelvic pain associated with vaginal penetration is most frequently due to provoked vestibulodynia (PVD). Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) significantly reduces genital pain intensity and improves psychological and sexual well-being. In general chronic pain populations, mindfulness-based approaches may be as effective for improving pain intensity as...