BMC Psychology
January 21, 2026
Christina Chwyl, Angelica Spata, Will Lucas et al.
Psychological context, or 'set,' is more strongly linked to the outcomes of psychedelic experiences than the specific substance used, suggesting a 'mindset-over-molecule' pattern. The findings indicate that the mental state and expectations of the user play a more influential role than the chemical properties of the drug alone.
BMC Psychology
September 26, 2025
Mahir Akbudak, Hasan Belli, Hasan Gökçay
Patients diagnosed with jinn-possession psychosis (JPP) in southeastern Turkey report higher levels of childhood trauma and dissociation than patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The study compared 42 people with JPP and 42 with schizophrenia. Those with JPP scored higher on physical abuse, emotional neglect, sexual abuse, and physical neglect. Schizophrenia patients had more negative symptoms, but positive symptoms did not differ between groups. Dissociation and total childhood trauma scores were significant predictors of JPP group membership, though only dissociation and total PANSS scores remained independent predictors in a multivariate model. The findings suggest that therapies addressing childhood trauma and culturally specific beliefs, alongside medication, may benefit JPP treatment.
BMC Psychology
July 17, 2025
Igor Bartolen, Petra Soláriková
A single three-hour session of Chamber REST (restricted environmental stimulation therapy) reduced perceived stress and information overload, and increased mindfulness, in university students. Among 237 students, 176 completed the session while 61 served as controls; after matching, 120 experimental and 60 control participants were analyzed. At one-week follow-up, the experimental group showed significant reductions in perceived stress (d = 0.384) and information overload (d = 0.464), and a significant increase in mindfulness (d = 0.274), with no significant changes in sleep quality or rumination. The therapy was more effective for those with higher intermittent stress and lower sleep quality.
BMC Psychology
July 1, 2025
Yitong Jia, Bojun Xu, Lijuan Wang et al.
During the early COVID-19 pandemic, expectant fathers in China reported moderate levels of applied mindfulness, with the highest scores for positive emotion regulation and the lowest for decentering. Urban residence, higher education, and higher income were associated with greater mindfulness. Fathers' mindfulness scores were positively correlated with those of their pregnant partners, suggesting a dyadic pattern. The findings highlight the role of both individual and couple-level factors in coping with pandemic stress among expectant fathers.
BMC Psychology
June 11, 2025
Asaka Kawamura, Mina Fukuda, Shuntaro Aoki et al.
A training program for therapists, designed to strengthen therapeutic alliances and prevent ruptures, showed promise in a pilot study with graduate students. The program included self-observation, mindfulness, and reflection on reinforcement patterns. After training, the percentage of respondents who felt "hooked" dropped from 65% and 50% at two pre-tests to 17% post-training, while those who felt "engaged well" rose from 22% and 36% to 84%. Positive feedback highlighted "noticing captivity objectively" (24%), "relating with intention" (21%), and "not being upset" (14%). The first two components were effective, but the third component requires refinement. Limitations include lack of objective awareness measures and potential social desirability bias.
BMC Psychology
April 27, 2025
Chia-Heng Lin, Yang-Lin Lin, Chia-Hsiang Chan
Among 233 adults diagnosed with ketamine use disorder and referred for court-ordered addiction treatment, those at risk for problematic smartphone use spent significantly more time on their phones daily, had higher scores on an adult ADHD self-report scale, and were more than twice as likely to use their smartphones for online gaming. The findings suggest that excessive smartphone use in this population is closely tied to gaming, and that ADHD symptoms may increase the risk of problematic use.
BMC Psychology
October 18, 2024
Huaqiang Liu, Zhensong Lan, Qi Zhao et al.
Attention to catastrophic events is linked to increased psychological trauma through two pathways: negative emotions and empathy. A survey of 526 adults in Guangxi Province, China, found that both negative emotions and empathy mediated the relationship between attention and trauma. Mindfulness unexpectedly amplified the effect of negative emotions on trauma rather than buffering it. The findings suggest that when people pay attention to catastrophic events, they should remain sensible and restrained and avoid excessive emotional involvement to reduce psychological trauma.
BMC Psychology
June 4, 2026
Weeranan Yaemrattanakul, Kanokwan Manachamni, Jutharat Ruangrattanapong et al.
Both sitting meditation and body scan, practiced for 10 minutes daily over four weeks, were associated with improvements in working memory and mindfulness among undergraduate healthcare students aged 18-25. However, no statistically significant differences were found between the two mindfulness exercises on any outcome, including stress, which showed only slight changes over time. The study suggests that brief, audio-guided mindfulness practices may benefit cognitive function and mindfulness in this population, but neither technique proved superior to the other.
BMC Psychology
April 27, 2026
Ziyun Yuan, Yong Fang
Among 447 full-time undergraduate nursing students in Wuhan, China, self-transcendence—a sense of expanding personal boundaries and finding meaning—positively influenced professional identity. Part of this effect was explained by learning engagement, which acted as a mediator. However, higher career self-efficacy weakened the link between self-transcendence and learning engagement, suggesting that students who already feel confident about their career abilities rely less on self-transcendence to stay engaged. The findings clarify how these factors interact and point to ways to support professional identity development in nursing education.
BMC Psychology
December 26, 2025
Seyed Mohammadreza Hosseini, Fatemeh Mohammadi, Zahra Hosseinkhani et al.
Among older adults who have had a myocardial infarction, higher perceived stress is linked to greater death anxiety, and this relationship is partly explained by lower self-transcendence. In a sample of 252 older patients, those with more perceived stress reported more death anxiety, and self-transcendence mediated that connection. The findings suggest that fostering self-transcendence—through practices such as meaning-centered therapy or mindfulness—could help reduce death anxiety in cardiac rehabilitation.
BMC Psychology
October 14, 2025
YunNan Zhao
School-delivered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) reduced perceived stress and psychosomatic symptoms among 14-16-year-old female students in China, with improvements sustained at two-month follow-up. In a quasi-experimental study with 60 eligible students randomly allocated to MBCT or school-as-usual control, the MBCT group showed greater reductions in stress and symptoms, with mean reductions exceeding a conventional 0.5 standard deviation benchmark. Qualitative interviews with parents and teachers revealed six themes: reduced stress reactivity, improved emotion regulation and self-awareness, strengthened coping, enhanced communication, better classroom engagement, and conditions for maintenance such as practice dose and supports. Interpretation remains cautious due to the passive control and short follow-up.
BMC Psychology
September 29, 2025
Azam Khoshbin, Naiersadat Tahery, Pouran Nekoueian et al.
A mindfulness-based group counseling intervention reduced anxiety among pregnant women exposed to domestic violence. Forty pregnant women with mild to moderate anxiety attended eight weekly 120-minute mindfulness sessions. Their mean anxiety score fell from 13.63 before the intervention to 8.08 immediately after and 7.42 four weeks later. The authors suggest that integrating such programs into prenatal care may offer a non-pharmacological mental health support option, though they call for larger randomized controlled trials to confirm the findings.
BMC Psychology
August 26, 2025
Siyi Wei, Weiqi Qin, Zengyan Yu et al.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials with 2,535 participants evaluated Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for rumination. MBCT significantly reduced rumination, with effects sustained at follow-up. It also improved mindfulness, self-compassion, and decentering, and reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms. No significant publication bias was detected. The findings confirm MBCT's feasibility for diminishing rumination and enhancing related psychological indicators.
BMC Psychology
August 22, 2025
Nurgul Karakurt, Hatice Durmaz
An eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program significantly improved subjective well-being in nursing students compared to a control group that received no intervention. The experimental group showed a statistically significant increase in well-being scores after the program, while the control group's scores declined. The program consisted of two 30-40-minute sessions per week, adapted from Kabat-Zinn's model. These results suggest that integrating such mindfulness programs into nursing education could help support mental health and prevent emotional exhaustion in this vulnerable population.
BMC Psychology
January 24, 2025
Ting Li, Jiaqiong Xie, Yanjie Shan et al.
Problematic social media use (PSMU), self-transcendence values, and school adaptation mutually influence each other over time among college students. In a two-wave longitudinal study of 2,668 students, each factor predicted changes in the other two six months later: PSMU predicted lower self-transcendence values and poorer school adaptation; self-transcendence values predicted less PSMU and better school adaptation; and school adaptation predicted greater self-transcendence values and less PSMU. Each variable also served as a mediator in the relationships between the other two. These bidirectional links support and extend Self-worth Theory and Self-determination Theory, suggesting that fostering self-transcendence values and school adaptation may help reduce problematic social media use.
BMC Psychology
May 29, 2022
Chao Liu, Hao Chen, Yu-Chao Liang et al.
An 8-week loving-kindness meditation (LKM) training program for 100 employees at a Chinese knowledge-based enterprise increased altruism and reduced negative affect, playing dumb, and evasive hiding, but did not significantly improve mindfulness, positive affect, or rationalized hiding. The control group received no training. The findings suggest LKM may help reduce knowledge-hiding behaviors in workplace settings.
BMC Psychology
May 15, 2022
Fatemeh Aghamohammadi, Omid Saed, Reza Ahmadi et al.
An adapted mindfulness-based stress management program reduced perceived stress and improved emotion regulation among midwives in Zanjan, Iran. In a randomized trial, 42 midwives with high baseline stress (Perceived Stress Scale score ≥28) were assigned to an 8-week program adapted from Kabat-Zinn's MBSR for Iranian culture or to a control group. The intervention significantly reduced perceived stress and difficulty in emotion regulation immediately afterward. At a 3-month follow-up, emotion regulation remained improved, but the effect on perceived stress was no longer significant, suggesting the program's long-term benefits require further study.
BMC Psychology
April 29, 2022
Franziska Anna Schroter, Petra Jansen
A brief loving-kindness meditation or an imagery task both reduced negative and positive mood in 69 students. For implicit and explicit evaluations of oneself and a disliked public figure, only a significant effect of the picture shown and a trend toward a time-by-group interaction with medium effect sizes were observed. The authors caution that a short intervention's possible influence on emotional evaluations should be treated with caution, and the claim that brief loving-kindness meditation enhances social connectedness might awaken false hopes. They recommend studying longer meditation training and the sustainability of its effects.
BMC Psychology
June 7, 2020
Elisabeth Schanche, Jon Vøllestad, Endre Visted et al.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) reduced risk factors and strengthened protective factors for depressive relapse in people with recurrent depression. Completers of MBCT showed significant improvements in rumination, emotion regulation, emotional reactivity to stress, self-compassion, mindfulness, and depression compared to a wait-list control group. The largest changes occurred in self-relatedness: participants became less self-judgmental and more self-compassionate. In the intention-to-treat analysis, significant effects remained for rumination, self-compassion, and depression.