The Many Roads to Mindfulness: A Review of Nonmindfulness-Based Interventions that Increase Mindfulness

Xia, Tom; Hu, Hiroe; Seritan, Andreea L.; Eisendrath, Stuart J.

doi:10.1089/acm.2019.0137

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Regarding short-term mechanisms, fostering mindful awareness may be viewed as one immediate core function of the MRP's three synergistic practices. Consistent with this possibility, and with other research on mindfulness, mindful awareness has been found in RCTs to mediate MRP benefits that include reduced PTSD symptoms, reduced depression, and increased psychological wellbeing (Bormann et al 2014a;Gu et al 2015;Xia et al 2019). For example, one patient with PTSD reported that after anguishing memories are triggered, "the mantram… brings me back to touch reality… and I say '… I'm here now and I'm okay'" (Bormann et al 2013a, p. 779).…”

Section: How the Mrp Worksupporting

confidence: 74%

“…On the one hand, the MRP does not systematically employ the vocabulary and concepts of mindfulness, nor does it assert a greater inheritance from Buddhism than from psychologies of other spiritual wisdom traditions (e.g., Plante 2010; Rao and Paranjpe 2016). As such, portable mantram repetition might be understood as a prototypical form of implicit mindfulness-a practice that fosters mindfulness without invoking mindfulness vocabulary or Buddhist concepts (Xia et al 2019). But on the other hand, the MRP does possess many commonalities with other approaches that explicitly or implicitly foster mindfulness (Oman and Bormann 2020).…”

Section: Expanded Recognition Of Implicit Mindfulnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mantram Repetition as a Portable Mindfulness Practice: Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020

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Objective Mantram or holy name repetition has long been practiced in every major religious tradition. Repetition of a mantram as a mindfulness practice is helpful for stress management and resilience building. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the key features of mantram and the Mantram Repetition Program (MRP) developed in the US Veterans Healthcare System, the evidence base for the MRP, and its applications. Methods MRP practices are portable and do not require an extended or regularized period of sitting, in contrast to most methods of meditation. Core functions of MRP practices include focus shifting, frame activation, and fostering of mindfulness. We review scientific research, including multiple randomized trials, that has investigated the MRP. Results Research on the MRP has documented reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms, insomnia, hyperarousal, and depression, as well as enhancement of quality of life, self-efficacy, and mindfulness. Mantram repetition may possess comparative advantages for managing symptoms of various mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder, HIV/AIDS, cancer, and chronic diseases. Conclusions MRP practices can be integrated into daily routines to manage stress and improve coping, safety, efficacy, calmness, and resilience. The inclusion of mantram repetition alongside conventional mindfulness-based practices for stress management will improve their cultural and religious inclusiveness, enabling societies and organizations to build greater collective resilience. Mantram repetition can be readily used in the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on healthcare workers, patients, and the public.

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Section: How the Mrp Worksupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Expanded Recognition Of Implicit Mindfulnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mantram Repetition as a Portable Mindfulness Practice: Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020

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“…Accordingly, a recent meta-analysis provided evidence for similar increases of emotion-related constructs in MBSR/MBCT and in nonmindfulness treatments (Hoge et al, 2021). Also, mindfulness increases in nonmindfulness treatments (e.g., Goldberg et al, 2019; Xia et al, 2019) and there is a lack of association between the actual amount of mindfulness practice during treatment and posttreatment mindfulness scores (Manuel et al, 2017).…”

Section: Mindfulness and Mindfulness Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-reported mindfulness accounts for the effects of mindfulness interventions and nonmindfulness controls on self-reported mental health: A preregistered systematic review and three-level meta-analysis of 146 randomized controlled trials.

Tran¹,

Birnbaum²,

Burzler³

et al. 2022

Psychological Bulletin

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Meta-analyses suggest that mindfulness interventions have positive effects on mental health. Yet, how mindfulness interventions exert their effects is still largely unknown. Self-reported mindfulness may partially mediate the association between mindfulness interventions and change in self-reported mental health. We present the results of a novel application of three-level meta-analysis on the pre-post intervention data of 146 RCTs of mindfulness interventions (total N = 10,979), probing the efficacy of a broad range of mindfulness interventions and meditation training against active, treatment-as-usual (TAU), and wait-list control groups. We found that self-reported mindfulness not only increased in mindfulness interventions (d = 0.54, 95% CI [0.47, 0.61]), but also in active (nonmindfulness) controls (d = 0.27 [0.18, 0.36]) and wait-list controls (d = 0.10 [0.04, 0.17]; but not TAU controls: d = 0.04 [−0.03, 0.12]). In addition, change in mindfulness accounted for change in self-reported mental health (mindfulness interventions: d = 0.65 [0.57, 0.73]; active controls: d = 0.49 [0.36, 0.62]; TAU controls: d = 0.20 [0.12, 0.29]; wait-list controls: d = 0.22 [0.14, 0.30]) in all treatment and control groups alike. Thus, self-reported mindfulness apparently is no unique mediator of mindfulness interventions. It may either be more universal, merely a correlate of self-reported mental health, or both. Research should focus on the common denominator of mindfulness interventions and clinically relevant constructs with which self-reported mindfulness shares some of its characteristics. Limitations pertain to the indirect evidence of the three-level meta-analytic approach, the self-report nature of the data, and small-study effects, which suggest the presence of publication bias. The risk of bias may have led to the overestimation of effects and results could further be subjected to effects of shared method variance. Public Significance StatementThis meta-analysis suggests that increases in self-reported mindfulness may explain the treatment efficacy of various mindfulness-based interventions, but also of nonmindfulness-based controls. Selfreported mindfulness thus may be no unique mediator of the effects of mindfulness interventions. The current evidence leaves open whether self-reported mindfulness might be a universal mediator of treatment effects, merely reflects changes of self-reported mental health in general, or both.

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“…Concretely, our results have direct implications for interventions in clinical and non-clinical contexts. In this regard, given that the Mindfulness trait has been reported to be relatively stable ( Rau and Williams, 2016 ), it is relevant to assess dispositional mindfulness as a part of the standard application of MBIs as well as other psychosocial interventions that have shown to increase mindfulness skills ( Xia et al, 2019 ). Thus, group set up criteria should not only consider participants’ diagnosis but mainly their dispositional mindfulness and the severity of their symptomatology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Baseline Mindfulness Scores on Mindfulness-Based Intervention Outcomes: Toward Personalized Mental Health Interventions

et al. 2022

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A growing body of evidence has portrayed mindfulness as a useful tool for dealing with a broad range of psychological problems and disorders. This has created the impression that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can be used to treat nearly all psychological difficulties, in all cases. Nonetheless, little research has been done on how individual differences may contribute to intervention outcomes. The goal of this study was to evaluate the role of baseline mindfulness on participants’ outcomes by examining three prior Randomized Controlled Trials that addressed the impact of MBIs on mental health and mindfulness measures. The participants were 164 people, aged between 12 and 45, from both clinical and non-clinical samples. Our findings indicate that at least two thirds of the change produced by these interventions in terms of mindfulness scores can be predicted by the baseline scores of the same variables. We also found that many trajectories are not only strongly influenced by the initial status of the participants, but also by the intervention performed, as attested to by the significant interactions found. These results stress the need to continue doing research in a way that considers the diversity of participants’ trajectories, increasing the room for intervention improvements aligned with a more personalized health care model.

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The Many Roads to Mindfulness: A Review of Nonmindfulness-Based Interventions that Increase Mindfulness

Cited by 18 publications

References 83 publications

Mantram Repetition as a Portable Mindfulness Practice: Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mantram Repetition as a Portable Mindfulness Practice: Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Self-reported mindfulness accounts for the effects of mindfulness interventions and nonmindfulness controls on self-reported mental health: A preregistered systematic review and three-level meta-analysis of 146 randomized controlled trials.

The Impact of Baseline Mindfulness Scores on Mindfulness-Based Intervention Outcomes: Toward Personalized Mental Health Interventions

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