PLoS One
December 6, 2017
Eric L. Garland, Adam W. Hanley, Phillipe R. Goldin et al.
161 citations
A reanalysis of longitudinal data provides evidence for the mindfulness-to-meaning theory, which proposes that mindfulness promotes positive emotion regulation by increasing the ability to notice and savor positive experiences. The findings suggest that mindfulness training enhances positive emotions through this mechanism, supporting the theory's predictions about how mindfulness fosters well-being.
Neuropsychopharmacology
September 12, 2020
Justin Hudak, Adam W. Hanley, William R. Marchand et al.
46 citations
Among people receiving Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for opioid misuse, those who showed higher levels of endogenous theta brainwave activity during meditation subsequently required lower doses of opioids. Theta oscillations, which are linked to relaxation and focused attention, may serve as a neural marker predicting treatment response.
Psychotherapy
April 30, 2020
Simon B. Goldberg, Adam W. Hanley, Scott A. Baldwin et al.
22 citations
Mindfulness practice time and psychological outcomes are linked on the same day, but practicing more on one day does not predict better outcomes the next day. Instead, feeling better or more mindful on a given day predicts more practice the following day. Over 12 weeks, 25 participants in a standardized mindfulness program completed daily diaries. Same-day relationships showed expected patterns: more practice was associated with higher positive affect and mindfulness and lower negative affect. However, lagged analyses found no evidence that practice time drives next-day outcomes. Post hoc analysis indicated that practice time moderated the connection between day-to-day affect, strengthening the positive affect link and weakening the negative affect link. The findings suggest that the causal direction may flow from outcome to practice time, not the reverse.
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
June 12, 2026
Carter Minnick, Adam W. Hanley, Eric L. Garland
A brief, Spanish-language adaptation of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (Spanish B-MORE) was tested in a pilot randomized controlled trial with 20 Spanish-speaking adults experiencing chronic pain. Participants rated the intervention as highly acceptable, averaging 9.4 out of 10, and would recommend it to others. Immediately after sessions, pain intensity, pain unpleasantness, and anxiety all decreased with large effect sizes. At six weeks, those who received B-MORE showed greater improvements across all clinical outcomes compared to a waitlist control group. The intervention appears to be a brief, scalable, and culturally responsive option for chronic pain in Spanish-speaking populations, warranting further study in larger trials.
Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice
May 11, 2026
Kush V. Bhatt, Adam W. Hanley, Chantal Martin-Soelch et al.
Mindfulness-based interventions reduce chronic pain, and a secondary analysis of two randomized controlled trials (480 patients on long-term opioid therapy) suggests that nondual awareness—a state of attenuated self-other distinction—partly explains this effect. Participants in an 8-week mindfulness program (MORE) showed significantly lower pain severity and interference than a supportive therapy control group, along with greater increases in nondual awareness. Path analyses indicated that gains in nondual awareness mediated the reductions in pain severity and interference, and nondual awareness was a stronger mediator than the mindfulness facet of nonreactivity. The findings link mindfulness-induced nondual awareness to chronic pain relief, and future work should explore neurobiological mechanisms and other interventions that foster nondual awareness.