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Abstract
The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based
stress reduction (MBSR) on depression, anxiety and psychological distress across populations
with different chronic somatic diseases.
A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to examine the effects of MBSR
on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. The influence of quality of studies
on the effects of MBSR was analyzed.
Eight published, randomized controlled outcome studies were included. An overall effect
size on depression of 0.26 was found, indicating a small effect of MBSR on depression.
The effect size for anxiety was 0.47. However, quality of the studies was found to
moderate this effect size. When the studies of lower quality were excluded, an effect
size of 0.24 on anxiety was found. A small effect size (0.32) was also found for psychological
distress.
It can be concluded that MBSR has small effects on depression, anxiety and psychological
distress in people with chronic somatic diseases. Integrating MBSR in behavioral therapy
may enhance the efficacy of mindfulness based interventions.
Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.