Combining mindfulness meditation and auricular acupuncture improved mental-health functioning, fatigue, depression symptoms, and overall Gulf War Illness (GWI) severity in veterans compared to a health education program. The complementary and integrative health (CIH) group also showed reduced pain interference at the end of treatment and at three-month follow-up, while the education group experienced worsening pain. Findings suggest a possible beneficial effect of combining these two therapies for reducing fatigue, musculoskeletal, and mood/cognition symptoms in veterans with GWI.
For adults with anxiety disorders, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) delivered via videoconference was comparably effective to in-person MBSR, but MBSR-VC did not meet the threshold for non-inferiority compared to the antidepressant escitalopram (ESC) delivered by videoconference. In a randomized controlled trial with 202 participants, MBSR-VC and ESC-VC showed similar average improvement on the Clinical Global Impression of Severity scale (1.39 vs 1.51 points), but non-inferiority was not supported. In-person treatments had a greater impact on social anxiety than their video versions. ESC-VC received higher satisfaction ratings and had a greater effect on panic symptoms than MBSR-VC. Remotely delivered MBSR is a viable option for anxiety disorders, though social anxiety may benefit more from in-person care.