Combining mindfulness meditation and auricular acupuncture improved mental-health functioning, fatigue, depression symptoms, and overall Gulf War Illness (GWI) severity in veterans compared to a health education program. The complementary and integrative health (CIH) group also showed reduced pain interference at the end of treatment and at three-month follow-up, while the education group experienced worsening pain. Findings suggest a possible beneficial effect of combining these two therapies for reducing fatigue, musculoskeletal, and mood/cognition symptoms in veterans with GWI.
For adults with anxiety disorders, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) delivered via videoconference was comparably effective to in-person MBSR, but MBSR-VC did not meet the threshold for non-inferiority compared to the antidepressant escitalopram (ESC) delivered by videoconference. In a randomized controlled trial with 202 participants, MBSR-VC and ESC-VC showed similar average improvement on the Clinical Global Impression of Severity scale (1.39 vs 1.51 points), but non-inferiority was not supported. In-person treatments had a greater impact on social anxiety than their video versions. ESC-VC received higher satisfaction ratings and had a greater effect on panic symptoms than MBSR-VC. Remotely delivered MBSR is a viable option for anxiety disorders, though social anxiety may benefit more from in-person care.
An 8-week course of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and the medication escitalopram both improved self-compassion in 198 adults with anxiety disorders, but MBSR was not generally superior to escitalopram. Two subscales showed differences: MBSR improved Common Humanity over time while escitalopram did not, and MBSR produced greater improvement in Mindfulness from baseline to post-treatment. All domains of self-compassion improved across both groups. The findings suggest that MBSR may offer specific benefits for enhancing mindfulness and common humanity, supporting its use when improving self-relational capacities is a treatment priority.
Mindfulness-based interventions are effective for many psychological conditions, but how they work is not well understood. This study examined whether changes in negative interpretation bias—measured by a homophone task—explain the link between mindfulness and anxiety in adults with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Forty-two participants completed measures before and after Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction. Contrary to expectations, no indirect relationship was found between baseline mindfulness and anxiety through negative interpretation bias. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction did reduce negative interpretation bias from before to after treatment, but changes in mindfulness did not relate to changes in anxiety through changes in interpretation bias. Overall, the results offer minimal support for the proposed pathway.