A 9-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for 79 veterans at an urban VA facility led to significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, along with improved mental health functioning. Increases in mindfulness were linked to these improvements. However, pain intensity and physical health functioning did not improve. The findings suggest MBSR can benefit veterans' mental health symptoms that are critical to overall health.
Participants with chronic pain who received mindfulness-based interventions were less likely to report psychological and physical worsening than those receiving usual care. In a randomized trial of 708 patients with chronic pain, 61% of whom had a mental health diagnosis, usual care participants more often reported increases in disturbing memories, sadness, anxiousness, fatigue, isolation, loneliness, and feeling upset by reminders of the past. The mindfulness interventions did not appear to cause harm for this population with high mental health comorbidities.