Spirituality Matters in Deconstructive Meditation: Comparing Secular and Buddhist-Based Mechanisms of Change in Depressive Vulnerability
Céline Stinus, Sophie Berjot
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Exploratory nonconcurrent comparison with randomized elements |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 152 |
| Population | Adults participating in meditation interventions or a waitlist control |
| Interventions | Secular deconstructive meditation Buddhist-based deconstructive meditation |
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Key points | Both secular and Buddhist-based deconstructive meditation reduced depressive symptoms more than a waitlist, and the Buddhist-based condition produced greater reductions in dysfunctional attitudes and identity threat and larger increases in connectedness to humanity, connectedness to nature, and cognitive decentering. The authors suggest the Buddhist-based condition may engage a broader range of self-related processes associated with depressive vulnerability, but note the exploratory, nonconcurrent design requires confirmation in prospectively randomized comparisons. |
Abstract
This exploratory study extends a previously implemented randomized protocol to examine whether incorporating Buddhist-based spiritual and philosophical components into deconstructive meditation is associated with different patterns of psychological change. We compared secular deconstructive meditation (S-SI; n = 49), Buddhist-based deconstructive meditation (B-SI; n = 53), and a waitlist control condition (WL; n = 50) on depression-related outcomes (dysfunctional attitudes, identity threat, and depressive symptoms) and selflessness-related processes (connectedness to humanity, connectedness to nature, and cognitive decentering). Participants completed pre- and post-intervention assessments, and changes across conditions were examined using repeated-measures MANOVA. Within-subject mediation analyses further explored whether changes in selflessness-related processes were associated with changes in depression-related outcomes. Both active conditions showed greater reductions in depressive symptoms than the waitlist condition. Compared with S-SI, B-SI showed greater reductions in dysfunctional attitudes and identity threat, as well as larger increases in connectedness to humanity, connectedness to nature, and cognitive decentering. Within B-SI, changes in cognitive decentering and connectedness to nature showed significant indirect effects on changes in dysfunctional attitudes, whereas changes in connectedness to humanity showed significant indirect effects on changes in identity threat in both active conditions. None of the examined processes showed significant indirect effects on changes in depressive symptoms in either active condition. These findings suggest that the Buddhist-based condition may engage a broader range of self-related processes associated with depressive vulnerability. Given the exploratory, nonconcurrent design, these findings require confirmation in prospectively randomized comparisons.
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on buddhism, most cited first.