Clinical Psychology Science and Practice
January 1, 2004
Scott R. Bishop, Mark A. Lau, Shauna L. Shapiro et al.
6,266 citations
Mindfulness has attracted considerable interest as a way to reduce cognitive vulnerability to stress and emotional distress, but it has not been defined operationally. Recent consensus meetings produced a two-component model of mindfulness, specifying each component in terms of specific behaviors, experiential manifestations, and psychological processes. The paper addresses temporal stability and situational specificity, speculates on the conceptual and operational distinctiveness of mindfulness, and discusses implications for instrument development and measurement.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
December 29, 2005
Shauna L. Shapiro, Linda E. Carlson, John A. Astin et al.
3,933 citations
A theoretical model of mindfulness is proposed to explain how it produces positive changes in psychological and physical health. The paper suggests that while mindfulness-based interventions are effective for treating symptoms, the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. The model aims to identify potential processes through which mindfulness operates, offering directions for future empirical research on these mechanisms.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
January 1, 2006
Mark A. Lau, Scott R. Bishop, Zindel V. Segal et al.
1,462 citations
A new self-report questionnaire, the Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS), measures the state of mindfulness. In two studies, the scale showed good internal consistency and two factors: Curiosity and Decentering. TMS scores increased with more mindfulness meditation experience. In a second study, participants in an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program showed increased TMS scores after treatment, and Decentering scores predicted improvements in clinical outcomes. The TMS is a promising measure with good psychometric properties and predictive validity for treatment outcome.
International Journal of Stress Management
May 1, 2005
Shauna L. Shapiro, John A. Astin, Scott R. Bishop et al.
1,328 citations
An eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program may reduce stress and improve quality of life and self-compassion among health care professionals, who often face high levels of stress linked to depression, lower job satisfaction, and psychological distress. These results come from a small randomized controlled pilot study.
Annals of Behavioral Medicine
February 1, 2007
Shamini Jain, Shauna L. Shapiro, Summer Swanick et al.
1,304 citations
A one-month mindfulness meditation program and a somatic relaxation training both reduced psychological distress and improved positive mood in 83 distressed students, compared with a no-treatment control group. The two active interventions produced similarly large reductions in distress, but mindfulness meditation had a larger effect on positive states of mind and was the only intervention that decreased both distractive and ruminative thoughts. Reducing rumination partially explained how mindfulness meditation lowered distress. No changes in spiritual experience were observed.
Training and Education in Professional Psychology
May 1, 2007
Shauna L. Shapiro, Kirk Warren Brown, Gina M. Biegel
1,134 citations
Therapists in training who completed an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program reported significant declines in stress, negative affect, rumination, and both state and trait anxiety, along with significant increases in positive affect and self-compassion. The enhancement of mindfulness was linked to several of these benefits. The findings suggest that MBSR can be a useful complement to professional training for addressing the mental health needs of future therapists.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
May 16, 2008
Shauna L. Shapiro, Doug Oman, Carl E. Thoresen et al.
694 citations
College students who learned either Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or the Eight Point Program showed increased mindfulness eight weeks later, compared with a waitlist group. Greater mindfulness partly explained reductions in perceived stress and rumination. Adherence to the practices predicted positive outcomes. The findings suggest that distinct meditation-based interventions can cultivate at least one aspect of mindfulness, as measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, and that this increase may contribute to well-being.
American Psychologist
January 1, 2006
Roger Walsh, Shauna L. Shapiro
686 citations
Meditation is a widely practiced and researched psychotherapeutic method, but its integration with Western psychology has been hindered by misunderstandings that overlook the richness of meditative traditions and their underlying psychologies and philosophies. These traditions offer valuable insights into cognition, attention, mental training, health, pathology, and human potentials. Approaching meditative traditions with greater cultural and conceptual sensitivity could lead to mutual enrichment, benefiting both meditative practices and Western psychology.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
January 1, 2009
Gina M. Biegel, Kirk Warren Brown, Shauna L. Shapiro et al.
657 citations
A randomized clinical trial tested the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for adolescents aged 14 to 18 years with various mental health diagnoses in an outpatient psychiatric setting. Compared to those receiving treatment as usual, adolescents who completed MBSR reported fewer symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatic distress, along with improved self-esteem and sleep quality. The MBSR group also showed a higher rate of diagnostic improvement over five months and greater increases in global functioning, as rated by clinicians unaware of treatment assignment. These results suggest MBSR may be a useful addition to standard outpatient mental health care for adolescents.
American Psychologist
January 1, 2006
B. Alan Wallace, Shauna L. Shapiro
606 citations
Mental health is not merely the absence of disease but the cultivation of positive well-being, an idea that clinical psychology has only recently begun to explore. The Buddhist tradition, with over 2,500 years of experiential and theoretical inquiry, offers insights into exceptional mental well-being and the treatment of psychological problems. Drawing on both Buddhist thought and Western experimental research, the authors present an innovative model for attaining mental well-being through the cultivation of four types of mental balance: conative, attentional, cognitive, and affective. This framework integrates ancient wisdom with modern science to expand the understanding of positive mental health.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
December 22, 2010
Shauna L. Shapiro, Kirk Warren Brown, Carl E. Thoresen et al.
448 citations
A randomized controlled trial with 30 participants tested whether people who already have higher levels of trait mindfulness benefit more from mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Compared to a control group, MBSR led to increases in trait mindfulness, subjective well-being, and empathy that lasted up to 12 months. Participants who began with higher mindfulness showed larger gains in those areas plus hope, and larger reductions in perceived stress over the same period.
Holistic Nursing Practice
November 1, 2004
Joanne Cohen-Katz, Susan D. Wiley, Terry Capuano et al.
387 citations
A hospital system implemented Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for nurses to help manage stress and reduce burnout. The program emphasizes self-care, compassion, and healing. The article describes this implementation and reports on its effects using both quantitative and qualitative data. MBSR has growing empirical support as a patient-care intervention and is now being applied to support the well-being of healthcare workers.
Journal of American College Health
March 1, 2008
Doug Oman, Shauna L. Shapiro, Carl E. Thoresen et al.
368 citations
College undergraduates who completed eight weeks of meditation-based stress-management training showed reduced stress and increased forgiveness compared with a wait-list control group. Two programs—mindfulness-based stress reduction and Easwaran's Eight-Point Program—produced similar benefits; no differences emerged between them or between the end of training and an eight-week follow-up. Improvements in rumination were marginal. The findings suggest that brief, meditation-based programs can serve as health-promotion tools for college populations.
Sleep
August 29, 2014
Jason C Ong, Rachel Manber, Zindel V. Segal et al.
338 citations
Mindfulness meditation reduces chronic insomnia symptoms. In a three-arm trial, 54 adults with chronic insomnia were randomly assigned to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI), or self-monitoring (SM). Those receiving either meditation intervention showed significantly greater reductions in total wake time (43.75 vs 1.09 minutes), pre-sleep arousal (7.13 vs 0.16 points), and insomnia severity (4.56 vs 0.06 points) from baseline to post-treatment compared to SM. At 6-month follow-up, MBTI produced greater insomnia severity reductions than MBSR, with 50% remission and 78.6% response rates. Mindfulness meditation offers a viable treatment alternative for chronic insomnia.
Holistic Nursing Practice
January 1, 2005
Joanne Cohen-Katz, Susan D. Wiley, Terry Capuano et al.
283 citations
Nurses who completed a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction program showed greater reductions in two of three burnout subscales compared to those on a wait-list, with improvements lasting at least three months after the program ended.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
April 1, 2009
Shauna L. Shapiro
241 citations
Two decades of empirical research have generated considerable evidence supporting the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions across a wide range of clinical and nonclinical populations, and these interventions have been incorporated into a variety of health care settings. Still, there are many unanswered questions and potential horizons to be investigated. This special issue presents a combination of articles concerning aspects of clinical and scientific integration of mindfulness within psychotherapy and psychoeducational settings. The volume supports the importance and viability of the integration of mindfulness into psychology and offers interesting and meaningful directions for future research.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
September 11, 2012
Shauna L. Shapiro, Hooria Jazaieri, Philippe R. Goldin
206 citations
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is associated with improvements in mindful attention, emotion, and well-being, and amount of meditation practice is linked to greater improvement in mindful attention. At a two-month follow-up, MBSR also showed improvements in moral reasoning and ethical decision making. This preliminary evidence suggests MBSR may facilitate moral reasoning and decision making in adults.
Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education
March 1, 2011
Shauna L. Shapiro, Kirk Warren Brown, John A. Astin
206 citations
Meditation may help college students improve attention, information processing, stress resilience, and interpersonal skills, according to a review of published research. The authors argue that integrating meditation into higher education could support both traditional academic goals and education of the 'whole person.' They call for future research to be theory-based, methodologically rigorous, and to examine a wider range of educational outcomes, as well as best practices for teaching meditation in academic settings.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
May 1, 2009
Kevin M. Orzech, Shauna L. Shapiro, Kirk Warren Brown et al.
128 citations
Intensive mindfulness training—10–12 hours of formal practice daily for one month—increases trait mindfulness and decentering (reperceiving) in community adults, compared to wait-list controls. Over the period from pre-training to one-month follow-up, mindfulness, decentering, and acceptance rose, while anxiety declined and subjective well-being and self-compassion improved. Increases in trait mindfulness and acceptance were linked to better psychological symptoms, well-being, and resilience.
PLoS One
November 7, 2018
Cassandra Vieten, Helané Wahbeh, B Rael Cahn et al.
124 citations
A survey of 1120 meditators found that most report having had anomalous and extraordinary experiences during meditation, such as mystical, transpersonal, or difficult phenomena. While meditation research has largely focused on clinical effectiveness and neural correlates, these less-studied experiences may be crucial for psychological and spiritual development, act as mediators of meditation's benefits, or be important outcomes themselves. A task force of researchers and teachers developed recommendations to expand research into these areas, which represent largely uncharted scientific terrain suitable for rigorous investigation.
The Humanistic Psychologist
January 1, 2003
Shauna L. Shapiro, Roger Walsh
111 citations
Meditation research over the past 40 years has shown changes in psychological, physiological, and transpersonal domains. This paper reviews those findings and suggests that future research should move beyond a reductionistic, biomedical model to include subjective, transpersonal, and integral perspectives.
Probation Journal
June 1, 2012
Sam Himelstein, Arthur Hastings, Shauna L. Shapiro et al.
60 citations
A 10-week mindfulness-based intervention was implemented with a group of incarcerated adolescents. After the program, participants reported significantly lower perceived stress and significantly higher healthy self-regulation, but no significant change in self-reported mindfulness. The findings suggest such interventions are feasible for this population.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
November 1, 2012
Samuel Himelstein, Arthur Hastings, Shauna L. Shapiro et al.
Incarcerated male adolescents who completed a 10-week mindfulness-based intervention reported increases in subjective well-being, self-regulation, awareness, and an accepting attitude toward the treatment. The findings suggest that adapted mindfulness programs are feasible for this population and hold promise as a treatment option.