The Benefits of Loving Kindness Meditation for Helping Professionals: A Systematic Review
Tracy Watson, Lynelle Watts, Rebecca Waters, David Hodgson
Health & Social Care in the Community October 23, 2023 DOI: 10.1155/2023/5579057 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | loving kindness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Loving kindness meditation can reduce stress, ease empathic distress, and increase positive affect. |
Abstract
Helping professionals are at risk of experiencing adverse health and psychological problems when working in roles where they are continually exposed to the emotional distress of others. The term compassion fatigue was coined to describe symptoms of emotional and physical fatigue experienced by workers in these environments. However, empirical research contends that compassion does not cause fatigue, rather compassion is said to foster well-being and is neurologically rejuvenating. The objective of this review was to examine the scientific literature which investigated the compassion-enhancing practice of loving kindness meditation (LKM). This review suggests that LKM can be seen as an alternate strategy to reduce stress, ease empathic distress, and increase positive affect.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- A neuroscience perspective on the plasticity of the social and relational brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences May 1, 2025
- The effects of loving-kindness meditation on doctors' communication anxiety, trust, calling and defensive medicine practice. BioPsychoSocial Medicine May 10, 2024
- Brain Over Mind, Mind Over Brain: Cognitive Strategies for Regulating Brain Activity 2024
- Co-design of an Online Mindfulness Program for Informal Carers of People Living With Dementia: A Qualitative Study of Co-designers' Experience. Dementia 2026
- Evaluating an online four-session loving-kindness and compassion meditation training on improving psychological well-being among healthcare professionals in Hong Kong: a pilot randomised controlled study Cogent Psychology June 6, 2025
and 1 more in the library
Cites 14
- Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology October 27, 2008
- Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise PLoS One March 25, 2008
- Compassion-based emotion regulation up-regulates experienced positive affect and associated neural networks Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience February 19, 2015
- Increased gray matter volume in the right angular and posterior parahippocampal gyri in loving-kindness meditators Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience July 18, 2012
- Loving-kindness meditation: a tool to improve healthcare provider compassion, resilience, and patient care Journal of Compassionate Health Care September 26, 2014
and 9 more in the library