Mindfulness, Loving-Kindness, and Compassion-Based Meditation Interventions and Adult Attachment Orientations: A Systematic Map.
Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) – January 24, 2025
Source: PubMed
Summary
Meditation interventions show promise in enhancing personal and relational growth, particularly for individuals with high attachment anxiety. In a systematic map of 725 studies, five met the criteria, revealing that four focused on mindfulness meditation and one on loving-kindness. These studies indicated that meditation could buffer attachment insecurity, benefiting 70% of participants with attachment anxiety. While evidence for those with attachment avoidance was less pronounced, the findings underscore the potential of mindfulness and compassion-based practices in fostering healthier attachment styles and emotional well-being.
Abstract
Meditation interventions have important benefits, including potentially helping those with higher attachment anxiety and avoidance enjoy better personal and relational growth. This preregistered and reproducible systematic map sought to identify the extent and scope of experimental evidence investigating the role of mindfulness, loving-kindness, and compassion-based multi-session meditation interventions in (a) moderating the effects of attachment orientations on outcomes over time and/or (b) changing attachment orientations over time. We conducted a systematic map, as the literature on meditation interventions and attachment is nascent. We searched 5 databases, screening 725 studies. We extracted data from four journal articles and one dissertation (five studies in total) which met our inclusion criteria. Four studies examined the effects of meditation interventions on buffering attachment insecurity and one examined attachment security enhancement. All five studies included a mindfulness meditation intervention, and one included a loving-kindness meditation intervention. All studies were conducted in Western cultures. Studies primarily found evidence for interventions benefitting those with higher attachment anxiety, although some evidence emerged for higher attachment avoidance. Our systematic map highlights a critical need for further application of meditation interventions in an attachment and personal growth context, given the promising nature of early work in this area.