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Savoring meditation for emotional disorders: Targeting positive emotion regulation deficits.

Tomoko Kishimoto, Ximing Hao, Jianwei Qian

Journal of Anxiety Disorders July 22, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103054 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed
Sample size 59
Population Chinese college students with elevated depression and anxiety
Intervention Savoring meditation
Duration Two-week intervention, one-month follow-up
Topics Meditation
Keywords Emotional disorders Positive emotion contrast Savoring
Key findings Savoring meditation significantly reduced depression and PEC-seeking, with increased savoring beliefs, but anxiety reductions did not reach statistical significance between groups.

Abstract

Deficits in positive emotion regulation (PER) contribute to emotional disorders but are less studied than negative emotion regulation (NER). One maladaptive PER strategy, positive emotion contrast-seeking (PEC-seeking), involves sustaining negative affect to enhance later positive emotions, reinforcing anxiety and depression. This study developed and tested a savoring-based, transdiagnostic intervention to reduce PEC-seeking and alleviate emotional disorder symptoms. A single-blind RCT with 59 Chinese college students with elevated depression and anxiety (majority meeting depression criteria) compared a two-week group savoring meditation intervention to waitlist control. Changes in depression, anxiety, savoring beliefs, and PEC-seeking were assessed at Baseline (T0), MidTest (T1), PostTest (T2), and one-month Follow-up (T3). The experimental group also reported positive and negative affect before and after each group session and individual practice. Savoring meditation significantly reduced depression (T1, d = -1.11, p = .005; T2, d = -1.60, p < .001) with effects maintained at follow-up (T3, p < .001). Negative affect also declined significantly (Session 5, p < .001), though changes in positive affect were not statistically significant. The intervention increased savoring beliefs (T1, d = 1.42, T2, d = 1.41, ps =.003) and reduced PEC-seeking (T1, d = -0.92, p = .027), which in turn mediated reductions in depression. Although anxiety symptoms declined within the experimental group over time, between-group differences did not reach statistical significance. Nonetheless, the effect size was larger for the experimental group (T2, d = 0.34) than for the waitlist group (d = 0.01), suggesting a potential anxiolytic effect of the intervention. These findings suggest that targeting maladaptive PER strategies, especially PEC-seeking, via savoring meditation may effectively reduce emotional disorder symptoms. This study highlights PER's role in transdiagnostic interventions and provides novel insights into PER-focused therapies.

Comparable studies

Other randomized controlled trials on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Healthy employees in a work environment 2003 Randomized controlled trial n = 41
Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Recovered recurrently depressed patients 2000 Randomized controlled trial n = 145
Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Working adults 2008 Randomized controlled trial n = 139
Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Undergraduate Chinese students 2007 Randomized controlled trial n = 40
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Recovered recurrently depressed patients 2004 Randomized controlled trial n = 73

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Meditation Anxiety Depression