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3-Doors Compassion Project: Examining the longitudinal effects of a nine-month Tibetan mind-body meditation program

Michael J. Gawrysiak, Ryan T. Pohlig, Alejandro Chaoul, Michael G. Vaughn, Gennaro Rocco, C. Clark, S. Grassetti, Dan Petrovitch, Tenzin Wangyal

Current Psychology September 28, 2021 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02292-4 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort Longitudinal Peer reviewed
Sample size 27
Population Medical and mental healthcare professionals
Intervention 3 Doors Compassion Project (3DCP)
Duration 9-month intervention
Topics Meditation
Citations 3
Key findings Frequency of meditation practice, but not total time, was significantly associated with improvements in mindfulness, stress, and depression during the 3DCP program.

Abstract

Abstract Abundant research supports the benefits of participating in mindfulness meditation training programs including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. However, these well researched programs include a narrow range of meditation practices and research to date has minimally examined how home practice associates with favorable outcomes. The present study evaluated the 3 Doors Compassion Project (3DCP), a structured 9-months meditation program that teaches Tibetan Mind-Body practices and examined how frequency and duration of home practice associated with favorable outcomes. Twenty-seven medical and mental healthcare professionals completed assessments prior to, during, and following participation in the 3DCP program and recorded daily meditation practices. Study aims were to test general effectiveness of the 3DCP program and to test the hypotheses that frequency and duration of meditation home-practice would associate with improvements on mindfulness, stress, and depression. General linear mixed modeling demonstrated significant improvements throughout the duration of the 3DCP program for mindfulness, depression ( p < .001) and stress ( p < .05), with each variable evidencing incremental monthly improvements. Frequency of meditation (i.e., days practiced per month), but not time (i.e., minutes per month) was significantly associated with improvements throughout the 3DCP program. Results provide support for the benefits of the 3DCP while offering clinically useful information that can inform current guidelines for meditation home practice. As predicted, the 3DCP was associated with significant improvements on all outcomes. Favorable outcomes were linked to frequency, but not total time of meditation practice, which suggests that consistent meditation may be more helpful than extended meditation.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students 2006 Observational cohort
Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia 1992 Observational cohort n = 22
Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls 2005 Observational cohort n = 20
Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls 2011 Observational cohort
Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls 2004 Observational cohort

Citations in the library

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Meditation Depression