Adding Anxiety-Specific Practice to a Brief Audio-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Anxiety in Undergraduate Students: A Pilot Study
Inka Papenfuss, Miriam J. J. Lommen, Brian D. Ostafin
Journal of Experimental Psychopathology July 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1177/20438087251347677 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Pre-post intervention study Pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 117 |
| Population | Undergraduate students |
| Interventions | Mindfulness intervention with anxiety-specific practice conventional mindfulness audiobook control |
| Topics | Anxiety Meditation |
| Key points | Compared with an audiobook control, a mindfulness intervention with anxiety-specific practice was associated with lower post-intervention social anxiety, and at high baseline symptom levels with lower agoraphobia and interoceptive fear; conventional mindfulness was also associated with lower agoraphobia at high baseline levels. No differences emerged for worry or trait mindfulness, and the authors found no convincing evidence that anxiety-specific practice outperformed conventional mindfulness. |
Abstract
Mindfulness interventions have gained empirical support for treating anxiety. This study investigated the benefit of adding anxiety-specific practice to a mindfulness intervention for anxiety symptoms in young adults. A pre-post design was used with 117 undergraduate students to compare three interventions: a mindfulness intervention with anxiety-specific practice, a conventional mindfulness control, and an audiobook control intervention. Participants completed self-report scales of social anxiety, agoraphobia, interoceptive fear, worry, and trait mindfulness at baseline and post-intervention. Results indicated that compared to audiobook control, the mindfulness group with anxiety-specific practice reported less post-intervention social anxiety. Furthermore, albeit only at high baseline symptom levels, the mindfulness group with anxiety-specific practice reported less post-intervention agoraphobia and interoceptive fear compared to the audiobook group, and the conventional mindfulness group reported less post-intervention agoraphobia compared to the audiobook group. There were no group differences on worry or mindfulness. No convincing evidence was found that the mindfulness intervention with anxiety-specific practice had an advantage compared to the conventional mindfulness intervention. Possible mechanisms for observed effects include exposure and mindfulness-related processes. Considerations for future research include using samples with elevated anxiety. More research is needed to interpret these results with more confidence.