Training in both monitoring and acceptance skills—but not monitoring skills alone—reduced stress and increased nonjudgment in daily life. Stressed community adults who completed an 8-week mindfulness program that included acceptance training reported lower stress ratings and fewer stress episodes compared with those who received only monitoring training or no treatment. The findings suggest that acceptance skills may be a necessary active ingredient for stress resilience.
An 8-week warm mindfulness training program for primary care patients with anxiety, depression, or stress-related disorders improved emotion regulation and helped patients initiate health behavior changes more than a low-dose mindfulness comparator. Emotion regulation difficulties decreased significantly at 8 weeks and at 24 weeks. 63% of those in the full program started their action plan within three weeks, compared to 38% in the comparator group.