Who Benefits Most? Interactions between Personality Traits and Outcomes of Four Incremental Meditation and Yoga Treatments.
Karin Matko, Anne Berghöfer, Michael Jeitler, Peter Sedlmeier, Holger C Bringmann
Journal of Clinical Medicine August 4, 2022 DOI: 10.3390/jcm11154553 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Single-case multiple-baseline study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 57 |
| Population | Healthy participants with no prior experience in mind-body medicine |
| Interventions | mantra meditation meditation plus physical yoga meditation plus ethical education meditation plus yoga and ethical education |
| Duration | Eight-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Cluster analysis Mind–body medicine Moderators Personality traits Yoga |
| Key findings | People with higher anxiety, higher absorption, lower spirituality, lower openness, and younger age benefited more from mind-body interventions, and those with more maladaptive personality traits improved emotion regulation the most. |
Abstract
Mind-Body Medicine (MBM) includes a broad range of interventions with proven preventive and clinical value, such as yoga and meditation. However, people differ in their preferences and response to different MBM treatments and it remains unclear who benefits most from what type of practice. Thus, finding moderators of treatment outcome seems to be a promising approach. This was the aim of the present study. We conducted a single-case multiple-baseline study investigating the outcomes and moderators of four different MBM treatments. Fifty-seven healthy participants with no prior experience were randomly assigned to three baselines (7, 14, and 21 days) and four eight-week treatments: mantra meditation alone, meditation plus physical yoga, meditation plus ethical education and meditation plus yoga and ethical education. We analysed the data using effect size estimation, multiple regression and cluster analyses. High anxiety, high absorption, low spirituality, low openness and younger age were associated with a range of positive outcomes, such as increased wellbeing or decentering and decreased mind wandering. Receiving ethical education consistently improved wellbeing, while engaging in physical yoga reduced mind wandering. In the cluster analysis, we found that participants with a more maladaptive personality structure enhanced their emotion regulation skills more. Consequently, people do differ in their response to MBM interventions and more vulnerable people, or those high in absorption, seem to benefit more. These findings could support the development of custom-tailored MBM interventions and help clinicians to make scientifically sound recommendations for their patients.