Counselling Psychology Quarterly
April 10, 2017
Simon B. Goldberg
14 citations
Mindfulness has gained prominence in psychology and medicine, and recently in counseling psychology. This article reviews the mindfulness literature and identifies theoretical and practical overlaps with counseling psychology's core values. It discusses how counseling psychology can uniquely contribute to mindfulness research through multiculturalism, social justice, psychotherapy process and outcome, and supervision and training. Mindfulness can also support counseling psychology's mission by offering strengths-based approaches to intervention and prevention. Five recommendations for a collaborative research agenda are provided.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
September 28, 2023
Christian A. Webb, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Oscar González et al.
6 citations
Mechanisms explaining why meditation training works may differ across patient subgroups. Prior research often collapsed heterogeneous groups, obscuring these differences. Using data from 662 participants, researchers developed a Personalized Advantage Index (PAI) to identify individuals likely to benefit more from a meditation app. A moderated mediation analysis showed that mindfulness acquisition mediated better outcomes only for those with higher PAI scores. This suggests that subgroup-specific mediators should be considered to clarify how psychosocial interventions work and to match individuals to the most beneficial treatment.
Cognition & Emotion
January 29, 2021
Simon B. Goldberg, Lisa Flook, Matthew J. Hirshberg et al.
6 citations
Brief mindfulness meditation (breath awareness) may impair cognitive performance after acute stress compared to other contemplative practices. In a randomized trial with 162 participants, those who practiced loving-kindness, gratitude, or an attentional control improved their working memory scores on the Operation Span task after the cold pressor stress test, while the breath awareness group did not. Changes in working memory were unrelated to changes in mood. The findings suggest that brief breath awareness training may not buffer against acute stress in meditation-naïve individuals and could even hinder cognitive performance relative to other practices.
Scientific Reports
November 6, 2025
Isaac N. Treves, Ya‐Yun Chen, Caitlyn L. Wilson et al.
5 citations
A meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials with 2,191 participants found that mindfulness-based interventions produce a small-to-medium improvement in self-reported interoceptive awareness (g = 0.31). Mindfulness-based programs showed the largest effects (g = 0.41). Improvements in interoception were similar in size to improvements in self-reported mindfulness and were linked to reductions in psychological distress. No evidence of publication bias was detected, and no other factors such as practice dosage or clinical sample significantly moderated the results. These findings suggest mindfulness interventions can positively alter how people subjectively experience bodily sensations, which may contribute to better mental health.
March 30, 2021
Matthew J. Hirshberg, Corrina Frye, Cortland J. Dahl et al.
5 citations
preprint
A four-week smartphone-based meditation app (Healthy Minds Program) reduced psychological distress and improved well-being among school system employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a randomized wait-list controlled trial with 662 participants (64% teachers), those assigned to the app showed significantly larger reductions in distress immediately after the intervention and at a three-month follow-up, with similar benefits on secondary outcomes such as perseverative thinking and social connection. The app was equally effective for participants with elevated baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms, and no evidence of elevated adverse events was found. The program may offer a scalable approach to supporting educator mental health.
January 30, 2020
Matthew J. Hirshberg, Simon B. Goldberg, Melissa A. Rosenkranz et al.
5 citations
preprint
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) does not increase harm compared to no treatment, and may instead protect against harm. Analyzing data from over 2,000 community clinic participants and from three randomized controlled trials, the study found no evidence that MBSR leads to higher rates of worsened psychological or physical symptoms, anxiety, depression, interpersonal discomfort, paranoid ideation, or psychoticism. On many measures, community MBSR participants showed significantly lower rates of harm than controls. The findings suggest MBSR is not associated with increased harm, though a small proportion of participants do experience harm, warranting further research.
June 4, 2019
Simon B. Goldberg, Raymond P. Tucker, Preston A. Greene et al.
5 citations
Self-report measures of mindfulness show larger gains in mindfulness-based interventions compared to waitlist controls at post-treatment (effect size = 0.52) and follow-up (effect size = 0.52), though the follow-up effect became non-significant after adjusting for publication bias. Compared to other bona fide treatments, mindfulness measures showed larger gains only at post-treatment (effect size = 0.25), not at follow-up. All three conditions (mindfulness, bona fide, waitlist) showed larger improvements on clinical outcomes than on mindfulness measures, except waitlist at follow-up. These findings partially support that mindfulness self-report measures are uniquely responsive to interventions promoting mindfulness meditation practice.
medRxiv
August 28, 2024
Zishan Jiwani, Simon B. Goldberg, Jack Stroud et al.
3 citations
preprint
Most meditators who use psychedelics perceive them as beneficial for their meditation practice. Among 863 regular meditators (practicing at least three times weekly for the past year) who also used psychedelics, machine learning identified four factors most likely to predict this positive perception: greater frequency of psychedelic use, setting intentions before use, higher agreeableness, and having used N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The model explained about 27% of the variance. The findings suggest that intentional and personality factors may shape how psychedelics influence meditation, but causality remains unestablished.
August 1, 2023
Matthew J. Hirshberg, Cortland J. Dahl, Daniel M. Bolt et al.
3 citations
preprint
A four-week smartphone-based meditation intervention reduced psychological distress during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Among 662 adults, most of whom reported clinical levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms, the intervention improved four proposed mediators—mindful action, loneliness, cognitive defusion, and purpose—measured five times during the program and at three-month follow-up. Each mediator individually accounted for 22.2% to 64.5% of the intervention's effect on later distress. When all mediators were analyzed together, only reduced loneliness remained a significant pathway, explaining 70.0% of the combined indirect effect. Multiple psychological mechanisms likely contribute to the benefits of digital meditation interventions.
Int J Drug Policy
December 13, 2025
Michelle Olofsson, Walter Osika, Simon B. Goldberg et al.
2 citations
A cross-sectional survey of 3,168 U.S. adults with lifetime psychedelic use found that most (87.9%) reported no difficulties. Among those who did, 6.4% experienced post-acute difficulties lasting more than one day, and 1.3% for more than one year. The most common difficulties were general anxiety, negative changes in self-concept, and social disconnection. Childhood adversity was associated with higher odds of psychedelic-related difficulties: individuals with 2, 3, or 4 or more adverse childhood experiences had roughly double to nearly triple the odds of difficulties compared to those with none. Those with 4 or more ACEs also had higher odds of difficulties persisting beyond one day or one week.
J Psychiatr Res
March 17, 2025
Otto Simonsson, Sankalp Chaturvedi, Peter S. Hendricks et al.
2 citations
Psychedelic use is linked to increases in weekly mindfulness and loving-kindness or compassion meditation practice, especially among people new to psychedelics or meditation. In a longitudinal study of 13,012 US adults aged 18–50, with 7,484 completing follow-up and 336 reporting psychedelic use during the two-month study, those who used psychedelics showed greater gains in meditation days. Among psychedelic users, higher baseline trait mindfulness and self-compassion predicted less severe challenging experiences and lower odds of psychedelic-related thoughts or attempts of self- or other-harm. However, for those already meditating, psychedelic use was associated with more meditation-related difficulties and impairments.
February 19, 2023
Kevin M. Riordan, Otto Simonsson, Corrina Frye et al.
2 citations
preprint
A two-week compassion-based meditation intervention delivered via the Healthy Minds Program app led to improvements in psychological distress, experiential avoidance, fear of missing out, loneliness, and self-compassion among undergraduates with clinically elevated depression and/or anxiety. Participants were randomized to either one 20-minute meditation per day (Massed condition) or two 10-minute meditations per day (Distributed condition). Both groups showed similar improvements, with no significant differences between conditions on any outcome. When total daily meditation time is held constant, distributing practice across the day does not appear to influence outcomes for distressed beginners, supporting flexibility in meditation scheduling.
February 10, 2023
Qiang Xie, Kevin M. Riordan, Scott A. Baldwin et al.
2 citations
preprint
Among clinically distressed adults with no meditation experience who used a smartphone-based loving-kindness and compassion training program for two weeks, those who increased their informal meditation practice (using techniques outside formal sessions) showed greater reductions in psychological distress and loneliness from before to after the intervention, though no changes in empathy or prosociality were observed. Daily analyses indicated that more informal practice on a given day predicted lower distress the next day, but not lower loneliness. Distress and loneliness did not predict subsequent informal practice. The findings suggest that informal practice may play a causal role in reducing distress, but further experimental studies are needed.
PLoS ONE
August 28, 2019
Simon B. Goldberg, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Lawrence Y. Tello et al.
2 citations
Long-term meditators are perceived by observers as less neurotic and more conscientious, mindful, and comfortable in their own skin than meditation-naïve individuals, based solely on ratings of still photographs. These differences were not explained by age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, or attractiveness. No such differences were observed after an eight-week mindfulness meditation course, an active control program, or a waitlist period, suggesting that observable facial cues linked to meditation may require extensive training to emerge.
PLoS One
February 12, 2025
Zishan Jiwani, Simon B. Goldberg, Jack Stroud et al.
1 citation
Most meditators who also use psychedelics report that the drugs improve their meditation practice. In a survey of 863 regular meditators who had used psychedelics, 73.5% said psychedelics positively influenced the quality of their meditation. Machine learning analysis of 53 variables identified the strongest predictors of this perceived benefit: greater frequency of psychedelic use, setting intentions before taking psychedelics, having an agreeable personality, and having used N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (N,N-DMT). The results suggest that individual traits and patterns of use shape whether psychedelics are seen as helpful for meditation, but causality cannot be established from this cross-sectional data.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
July 14, 2024
Isaac N. Treves, Aaron Kucyi, Madelynn Park et al.
1 citation
preprint
Trait mindfulness—the tendency to attend to present-moment experience non-judgmentally—is linked to better mental health, but its neural basis remains unclear. In the largest resting-state fMRI study of trait mindfulness to date, involving 367 adults across three samples, researchers used connectome predictive modeling to test whether brain connectivity patterns could predict mindfulness scores. No connections predicted overall trait mindfulness, but models for two subscales—Acting with Awareness and Non-judging—were identified. Positive networks for these subscales involved fronto-parietal and default-mode networks, respectively. Negative networks, which overlapped across subscales, included somatomotor, visual, and default-mode connections. Only negative networks generalized to predict subscale scores in some out-of-sample datasets, and predictions correlated negatively with a mind-wandering model. The incomplete generalization and model overlap highlight the challenge of identifying robust brain markers for mindfulness facets.
November 3, 2023
Qiang Xie, Rachel L. Dyer, Sin U Lam et al.
1 citation
preprint
Brief, informal meditation practices done during daily activities may help make meditation-based interventions more effective and accessible. Interviews with 17 participants after a 4-week smartphone meditation program revealed four themes: reported benefits, how they integrated practice into daily life, barriers to practice, and recommended facilitators. Barriers included lack of reminders and social support; facilitators included personalized app features and repeating intervention content. Addressing these factors could increase engagement with informal practice.
October 17, 2023
Christian A. Webb, Lori M. Hilt, Caroline M. Swords et al.
1 citation
preprint
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) measures of rumination are only modestly correlated with conventional self-report measures, especially for change over time, partly due to lower reliability of EMA. Changes in rumination were larger for conventional self-report than EMA. Both types of measures accounted for unique variance in depressive symptom improvement, showing incremental predictive validity. The findings suggest that EMA and conventional self-report provide distinct, clinically meaningful information. Researchers using EMA should consider psychometric properties and the precise construct they intend to capture.
July 31, 2022
Christian A. Webb, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Richard J. Davidson et al.
1 citation
An algorithm was developed to predict who benefits most from a meditation app. Using data from a randomized controlled trial of a 4-week meditation app versus a control condition in 662 school system employees, a machine learning model created a Personalized Advantage Index (PAI) that estimated each person's expected reduction in distress. The PAI scores significantly predicted which individuals improved more with the app than without. A simpler model using only repetitive negative thinking as a predictor performed similarly well. The algorithm could help individuals make informed decisions about whether a meditation app is right for them.
July 29, 2021
Christian A. Webb, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Richard J. Davidson et al.
1 citation
preprint
A meditation app called the Healthy Minds Program (HMP) can reduce psychological distress, but its benefits vary by individual. Using data from a randomized controlled trial of 662 school system employees who used the app for four weeks or served as controls, researchers built an algorithm that predicts who will benefit most. The algorithm, called a Personalized Advantage Index, was based on baseline clinical and demographic traits and successfully identified individuals who showed greater distress reduction with the app versus no intervention. A simpler model using only repetitive negative thinking worked nearly as well. The approach could help people decide whether to try a meditation app.
Psychedelic Medicine
June 22, 2026
Otto Simonsson, Peter S. Hendricks, Walter Osika et al.
Naturalistic psychedelic use on politically salient dates like the Fourth of July may shift support for partisan violence in directions tied to the event's political meaning. In a longitudinal observational study of 21,990 US adults, 12,345 completed follow-up surveys; 505 reported psychedelic use during the two-month period. Those whose most intense psychedelic experience occurred on the Fourth of July showed decreased support for partisan violence, with a similar pattern for the Trump assassination attempt date. Conversely, experiences on national party convention dates or closer to Election Day were associated with increased support for partisan violence. The broader sociocultural context appears to modulate these outcomes.
JMIR Mental Health
June 12, 2026
Polina Beloborodova, Lillian M. Smith, Kevin M. Riordan et al.
About 28% of distressed college students and 10% of distressed US adults reported at least one adverse experience during a digital meditation program, but rates did not differ between those who completed guided meditations and those who did not, suggesting the experiences were not caused by meditation itself. Higher baseline depression, anxiety, loneliness, experiential avoidance, and perceived barriers to meditation predicted more adverse experiences. Among those reporting adverse experiences, roughly 90% were glad to have learned to meditate. Participants used diverse coping strategies, often drawing on skills taught in the program. The findings indicate that adverse experiences during meditation training may reflect preexisting distress rather than iatrogenic harm.
Mindfulness (N Y)
May 19, 2026
Polina Beloborodova, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Simon B. Goldberg
An invited commentary argues that meditation-based ethical development interventions (MBEDs) may have limited capacity to address unethical behavior shaped by structural factors like academic incentive systems. It highlights a motivational trade-off: voluntary participation risks self-selection and ceiling effects, while mandatory implementation may lead to low engagement, as seen in other universal mindfulness-based interventions. The authors question reliance on meditation as the primary mechanism for ethical cultivation, noting sustained benefits require ongoing engagement that may be unrealistic in mandatory contexts. They propose an integrated model embedding MBEDs within institutional initiatives like holistic career assessment, open science practices, and incentives for replication, supplemented with non-meditative contemplative methods.
Scientific Reports
January 28, 2026
Nicholas A. Carlisle, Otto Simonsson, Sarah Maccarthy et al.
About one in five people who have used psychedelics report at least one major life change they attribute to the experience. Common changes involve relationships (6.9%), diet and exercise (6.2%), quitting alcohol, tobacco, or other substances (5.5%), and religious beliefs (5.5%). In a larger, more diverse sample, higher religiosity, younger age, and greater lifetime psychedelic use were strongly associated with reporting such changes. The findings suggest that major life changes after psychedelic use are not rare and may vary by demographic factors, but more longitudinal research is needed to understand their persistence, valence, and health impact.