Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions.
Clin Psychol Rev July 26, 2011 Stefan G. Hofmann, Paul Grossman, Devon E. Hinton 945 citations
Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and compassion meditation (CM) are practices that aim to foster unconditional kindness and compassion. A review of the literature indicates that these practices are associated with increased positive affect and decreased negative affect. Neuroendocrine studies suggest that CM may reduce stress-induced subjective distress and immune response. Neuroimaging findings suggest that LKM and CM may enhance activity in brain areas involved in emotional processing and empathy. Preliminary intervention studies support their use in clinical populations. When combined with empirically supported treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy, LKM and CM may help address psychological problems involving interpersonal processes, including depression, social anxiety, marital conflict, anger, and the strains of long-term caregiving.