title: Mindfulness-oriented meditation improves self-related character scales in healthy individuals.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that mindfulness meditation may improve well-being in healthy individuals and be effective in the treatment of mental and neurological disorders. Here, we investigated the effects of an 8-week mindfulness-mediation program on the personality profiles of three groups of healthy individuals with no previous experience with meditation as compared to a control group not enrolled in any training. Personality profiles were obtained through the Temperament and Character Inventory (Cloninger et al., 1993). In the experimental groups, significant increments after the training were obtained in all the three character scales describing the levels of self maturity at the intrapersonal (Self-Directedness), interpersonal (Cooperativeness), and transpersonal (Self-Transcendence) levels. No changes were found in the control group. Strikingly, these effects were significant only in those groups who were engaged in consistent daily meditation practice but not in the group who attended the meditation training but were less consistent in home practice. Since higher scores in the character scales are associated to a lower risk of personality disorder, we propose that the increase of self maturity after the training may be an important mechanism for the effectiveness of mindfulness-oriented meditation in psychotherapeutic contexts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy. Electronic address: fabio.campanella@uniud.it.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Campanella
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy; Department of Psychology, University of Rome, "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crescentini
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Cosimo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Urgesi
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy; Perceptual Robotics (PERCRO) Laboratory, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fabbro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002605:Character; D006801:Humans; D019122:Meditation / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D064866:Mindfulness; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult