Meditation, mindfulness, and acceptance methods in psychotherapy: A systematic review
Psychotherapy Research May 8, 2023 Simon B. Goldberg, Christopher Anders, Shannon L. Stuart-Maver et al. 28 citations
Meditation, mindfulness, and acceptance (MMA) methods are popular in psychotherapy, but their impact when integrated into individual therapy sessions is unclear. A systematic review of 4,671 references found only three studies meeting inclusion criteria. In the one experimental study (162 participants), adding mindfulness meditation did not improve outcomes beyond other active treatments like progressive muscle relaxation or treatment-as-usual (effect sizes ranged from 0.00 to 0.12 for general clinical symptoms). Two small qualitative studies (5 therapist-patient dyads; 9 adults) suggested patients may find MMA methods helpful. The authors call for future research on optimal dosage, timing, patient characteristics, cultural adaptations, and measurement of MMA constructs in individual therapy.