Savoring meditation, a positive emotion intervention, produces a distinct autonomic pattern compared to breathing relaxation in people with probable generalized anxiety disorder. In a pilot randomized trial, 44 participants with moderate or higher anxiety severity were assigned to either savoring meditation or breathing relaxation. Heart rate variability indicators showed that savoring meditation increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic activity, while breathing relaxation showed the opposite pattern. Despite these different autonomic signatures, both interventions led to similar and significant reductions in anxiety after worrying. The findings suggest that savoring meditation may reduce anxiety through unique autonomic mechanisms, offering new possibilities for anxiety treatment.
A savoring meditation intervention reduced depression and positive emotion contrast-seeking (PEC-seeking), a maladaptive strategy of sustaining negative affect to enhance later positive emotions, in Chinese college students with elevated anxiety and depression. In a randomized trial, 59 participants were assigned to two weeks of group savoring meditation or a waitlist. Depression declined significantly at mid-test, post-test, and one-month follow-up, with large effect sizes. Savoring beliefs increased, and PEC-seeking decreased, with reductions in PEC-seeking mediating depression improvement. Negative affect also decreased during sessions. Anxiety symptoms declined within the intervention group but did not differ significantly from the waitlist group. The findings suggest that targeting PEC-seeking through savoring meditation may reduce emotional disorder symptoms.