Assessment
February 29, 2008
Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith, Emily L. B. Lykins et al.
2,933 citations
Mindfulness as measured by self-report includes five component skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience, assessed with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). The authors examined the construct validity of the FFMQ in experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups. Most mindfulness facets were significantly related to meditation experience and to psychological symptoms and well-being. The relationship between the observing facet and psychological adjustment varied with meditation experience. Several facets independently predicted well-being and mediated the relationship between meditation experience and well-being, supporting the FFMQ's construct validity in these samples.
Psychological Medicine
December 29, 2016
Rebecca S. Crane, Judson A. Brewer, Christina Feldman et al.
861 citations
A framework defines essential characteristics of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) like MBSR and MBCT, distinguishing them from other interventions. MBPs draw from contemplative traditions, science, medicine, psychology, and education; are grounded in a model addressing causes of human distress and pathways to relief; foster present-moment focus, decentering, and an approach orientation; cultivate qualities such as joy, compassion, wisdom, equanimity, and self-regulation; and involve sustained intensive meditation training, experiential inquiry, and exercises. The framework aims to support clarity for systematic research and maintain integrity as MBPs expand into healthcare, education, criminal justice, and workplaces.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
December 3, 2013
J. Mark G. Williams, Catherine Crane, Thorsten Barnhofer et al.
418 citations
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) plus treatment as usual (TAU) did not significantly reduce the risk of relapse to major depressive disorder over 12 months compared with cognitive psychological education (CPE) plus TAU or TAU alone among people with at least three previous episodes. The hazard ratio for MBCT versus CPE was 0.88, and for MBCT versus TAU was 0.69, both with confidence intervals crossing 1.0. However, severity of childhood trauma influenced relapse risk: each one-standard-deviation increase in trauma severity raised the hazard ratio to 1.26. Among participants with above-average childhood trauma, MBCT offered significant protection compared with TAU (hazard ratio 0.43) and a non-significant advantage over CPE. For those with below-average trauma, no differences between treatments appeared.
Behaviour Research and Therapy
February 13, 2009
Thorsten Barnhofer, Catherine Crane, Emily Hargus et al.
398 citations
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy techniques, reduced depressive symptoms from severe to mild in patients with chronic-recurrent depression who had at least three previous episodes and a history of suicidal ideation. In a pilot study, patients randomly assigned to MBCT plus treatment-as-usual showed a significant decrease in self-reported depression and in the number meeting full diagnostic criteria, while those receiving treatment-as-usual alone showed no significant change. The findings, though limited by a small sample size, provide preliminary evidence that MBCT can alleviate current symptoms in this difficult-to-treat population.
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
J. Mark G. Williams, Jon Kabat‐zinn
390 citations
This special issue on Mindfulness integrates mindfulness-based approaches into medicine, psychology, neuroscience, healthcare, and education. The guest editors explain the rationale, aims, and intentions behind the collection, highlighting the growing interest and application of mindfulness across diverse fields. The issue brings together contributions that explore the theory, practice, and empirical evidence of mindfulness, aiming to advance understanding and foster interdisciplinary dialogue. It underscores the potential of mindfulness to enhance well-being, clinical outcomes, and educational practices, while also addressing challenges and future directions for research and implementation.
Emotion
February 1, 2010
J. Mark G. Williams
264 citations
Emotions evolved as signaling systems that must respond to environmental cues. Emotional dysregulation arises when mental representations of past, present, and future become independent of external reality. Mindfulness training helps people distinguish such mental simulations from actual circumstances. Articles in this Special Section demonstrate that even brief laboratory mindfulness training alters processing of affective stimuli; long-term meditators show distinct pain reactions; longer meditation practice correlates with brain structure differences; eight weeks of mindfulness practice changes emotion processing, enabling participants to uncouple the sensory self from the narrative self; and mindfulness training improves working memory capacity and helps people discuss past crises specifically without being overwhelmed.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
December 9, 2005
J. Mark G. Williams, Danielle S. Duggan, Catherine Crane et al.
235 citations
Once suicidal thoughts emerge in depression, they tend to return whenever sad mood reappears, part of a suicidal mode of mind. This article reviews how mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may prevent reactivation of that suicidal mode. MBCT combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy, training participants to observe moment-by-moment experience with nonjudgmental acceptance. This helps people see thoughts as mental events rather than facts, a skill called metacognitive awareness. A case example illustrates how mindfulness skills develop and relate to cognitive processes fueling suicidal crises. Pilot work suggests MBCT is a promising intervention for those with past suicidal ideation; an ongoing controlled trial will provide further evidence.
Mindfulness
September 21, 2011
Rebecca S. Crane, Willem Kuyken, J. Mark G. Williams et al.
232 citations
Interest in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has grown rapidly in the UK, prompting health, education, and social work practitioners to develop competencies as mindfulness-based teachers. This has raised fundamental questions about training processes, standards, and competence assessment. The paper examines how competencies are addressed in secular mainstream contexts, presents a framework for how teaching competencies develop in trainees, and reviews current assessment methodologies. The authors argue for continued international dialogue among mindfulness-based trainers and teachers to build a robust professional context for future teachers.
Emotion
February 1, 2010
Emily Hargus, Catherine Crane, Thorsten Barnhofer et al.
213 citations
Depressed participants who had experienced suicidal crises described warning signs for their last crisis. Those randomly assigned to mindfulness-based cognitive therapy plus treatment as usual, compared with treatment as usual alone, showed significant improvements in meta-awareness and memory specificity after three months. Mindfulness training may help patients reflect on past crises in a detailed and decentered way, which could aid in preventing relapse.
Mindfulness
April 26, 2010
Rebecca S. Crane, Willem Kuyken, Richard P. Hastings et al.
205 citations
Mindfulness-based approaches, supported by several randomized controlled trials, help prevent depressive relapse and recurrence, and are recommended by the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for use in the National Health Service. These approaches also appear helpful for anxiety disorders and chronic physical health problems, with growing interest in applying them to personality disorders, substance abuse, and eating disorders. The authors review the UK context, outline criteria for teacher competence and training steps, and discuss challenges and future directions for ensuring evidence-based mindfulness approaches are available in health care and other settings.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
June 18, 2012
Freda McManus, Christina Surawy, Kate Muse et al.
177 citations
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) added to usual services reduces health anxiety more than usual services alone, with moderate effect sizes immediately after treatment (Cohen's d = 0.48) and at one-year follow-up (d = 0.48). At one year, 36% of MBCT participants still met criteria for hypochondriasis versus 76% of those receiving usual services alone. Improvements in mindfulness mediated the reduction in health anxiety symptoms. The findings suggest MBCT is a useful addition for patients with health anxiety.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
June 1, 2008
J. Mark G. Williams, Ian Russell, Daphne Russell
165 citations
The authors clarify methodological points from a prior review of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). They describe the randomization procedures used in two major MBCT trials, show that participants receiving treatment as usual did not worsen, and argue for experimental designs that isolate the active treatment component. Reanalyses using multilevel modeling to correct for intragroup correlations reinforced original findings: among patients with three or more previous depressive episodes, MBCT significantly reduced the risk of a further episode and significantly decreased mean Beck Depression Inventory scores after treatment.
The British Journal of Psychiatry
May 1, 2012
J. Mark G. Williams, Willem Kuyken
124 citations
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was created to help people at risk for depressive relapse learn long-term strategies for staying well. The article explains the reasoning behind MBCT, describes the treatment method, reviews existing research on its effectiveness, and discusses future challenges.
BMJ Open
January 1, 2012
Adele Krusche, Eva Cyhlarova, Scott King et al.
120 citations
An online mindfulness course lasting about 6 weeks significantly reduced perceived stress in a sample of 100 self-referred adults (average age 48, 74% women). The reduction in stress was seen immediately after the course and remained stable at a 1-month follow-up. The size of the effect was similar to that of in-person mindfulness programs. People who started with higher stress levels reported doing more mindfulness practice, and more practice was linked to greater stress reduction. These results suggest that online mindfulness courses could broaden access to stress-reducing therapies.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
January 21, 2011
Matthew Williams, Freda McManus, Kate Muse et al.
96 citations
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an acceptable and beneficial treatment for severe health anxiety. In interviews three months after completing an MBCT course, most participants reported improvements in both health anxiety and broader functioning. Notably, the practice of focusing attention on bodily sensations did not worsen their health anxiety. Participants described cultivating a new approach to health anxiety and to life in general, though some identified barriers to experiencing change through MBCT.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
March 2, 2009
Silvia R. Hepburn, Catherine Crane, Thorsten Barnhofer et al.
74 citations
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may reduce thought suppression in people with a history of depression and suicidality, but effects depend on how thought suppression is measured. In a randomized controlled trial, 68 participants were assigned to MBCT or a waitlist control. MBCT did not reduce thought suppression on the White Bear Suppression Inventory, but it did significantly reduce self-reported attempts to suppress thoughts in the previous week. The findings provide preliminary evidence that MBCT for suicidality could lessen thought suppression, though different measures yield different results and further research is needed.
Stress and Health
November 22, 2013
Xinghua Liu, Wei Xu, Yuzheng Wang et al.
72 citations
A randomized controlled trial tested whether mindfulness training enhances inner peace in people without mental disorders. Fifty-seven participants were assigned to either mindfulness training or a wait-list control. Inner peace was measured using the experience sampling method, along with attentional focus via the Meditation Breath Attention Score and self-reported mindfulness via the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. Mindfulness training increased scores for inner peace, attentional focus, and self-reported mindfulness compared to the control group. However, changes in inner peace were not explained by changes in self-rated mindfulness or attentional focus. The findings suggest mindfulness training can improve inner peace, though only immediate effects were examined.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
June 12, 2026
Thorsten Barnhofer, Maria Niemi, Johannes Michalak et al.
1 citation
For adults with difficult-to-treat depression—those who have not responded to prior treatments, have treatment-resistant depression, or have a chronic course—mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is likely superior to usual care, reducing depressive symptoms by a standardized mean difference of -0.40 at post-treatment and -0.41 at medium-term follow-up. There was a 92% and 85% probability, respectively, that these benefits exceeded a minimal important difference. However, MBCT did not show clear superiority over other active psychosocial interventions, and no robust moderators of outcome were identified across baseline severity, chronicity, or comorbidity.
FOCUS The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry
January 1, 2010
Maura Kenny, J. Mark G. Williams
1 citation
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), originally designed to prevent relapse of major depression, was tested in a clinical audit with patients who were currently actively depressed and had not fully responded to standard treatments. The therapy was acceptable to these patients and led to an improvement in depression scores, with a pre-post effect size of 1.04. A significant proportion of patients returned to normal or near-normal levels of mood.
Mindfulness
January 21, 2014
C. Surawy, F. Mcmanus, K. Muse et al.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may offer a useful alternative for treating health anxiety by targeting underlying mechanisms such as rumination, avoidance, hypervigilance to body sensations, and misinterpretation of those sensations. The paper describes adaptations made to the standard MBCT protocol for recurrent depression, illustrating implementation through a case example from a trial where a participant completed an 8-week MBCT course. It also discusses general participant experiences, advantages, limitations, and future research directions.