Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions.

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.

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Abstract

Mindfulness-based meditation interventions have become increasingly popular in contemporary psychology. Other closely related meditation practices include loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and compassion meditation (CM), exercises oriented toward enhancing unconditional, positive emotional states of kindness and compassion. This article provides a review of the background, the techniques, and the empirical contemporary literature of LKM and CM. The literature suggests that LKM and CM are associated with an increase in positive affect and a decrease in negative affect. Preliminary findings from neuroendocrine studies indicate that CM may reduce stress-induced subjective distress and immune response. Neuroimaging studies suggest that LKM and CM may enhance activation of brain areas that are involved in emotional processing and empathy. Finally, preliminary intervention studies support application of these strategies in clinical populations. It is concluded that, when combined with empirically supported treatments, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, LKM and CM may provide potentially useful strategies for targeting a variety of different psychological problems that involve interpersonal processes, such as depression, social anxiety, marital conflict, anger, and coping with the strains of long-term caregiving.