New statistical method developed and applied for the first time
The review summarized 146 randomized controlled trials with a total of almost 11,000 participants. They were randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based treatment or a comparison group. The comparison group either received another psychotherapeutic treatment or non-psychotherapeutic care or was assigned to a waiting list. In all studies, participants’ mindfulness and mental health were recorded before and after treatment or at the beginning and end of the observation period.
To analyze their results, the review study developed and applied for the first time a novel statistical method that made it possible to systematically compare all the different treatments and comparison groups in these studies.
“Increasing mindfulness seems to be one of the elements that explain the magnitude of the positive effect of meditative and similar treatments on mental health,” Ulrich Tran continues. In fact, however, the review showed that increases in mindfulness, albeit to a lesser extent, also occur in other psychotherapeutic treatments in which meditation and mindfulness do not play a role. The findings further suggested that increases in mindfulness may not only explain the magnitude of the effect of mindfulness-based treatments on mental health, but of other psychotherapeutic treatments as well.
“Mindfulness could thus be a key factor that is responsible for treatment effects,” Ulrich Tran adds. Successful psychotherapies that contribute to improved mental health could be characterized by the fact that they also lead to an increase in mindfulness, whether or not they directly cultivate it. This would be an important finding for psychotherapy research, as the exact mode of action of psychotherapy remains unclear.
Publication in Psychological Bulletin:
Tran, U. S., Birnbaum, L., Burzler, M. A., Hegewisch, U. J. C., Ramazanova, D., & Voracek, M. (in press). 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. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000359
Scientific contact
Ulrich Tran, PD DSc MSc
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna
Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 4277-47119
https://homepage.univie.ac.at/ulrich.tran/