title: Loving-Kindness Meditation to Target Affect in Mood Disorders: A Proof-of-Concept Study.
abstract: Conventional treatments for mood disorders primarily focus on reducing negative affect, but little on enhancing positive affect. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is a traditional meditation practice directly oriented toward enhancing unconditional and positive emotional states of kindness towards oneself and others. We report here two independent and uncontrolled studies carried out at different centers, one in Boston, USA (n = 10), and one in Frankfurt, Germany (n = 8), to examine the potential therapeutic utility of a brief LKM group intervention for symptoms of dysthymia and depression. Results at both centers suggest that LKM was associated with large-sized effects on self-reported symptoms of depression (d = 3.33 and 1.90), negative affect (d = 1.98 and 0.92), and positive affect (d = 1.63 and 0.94). Large effects were also found for clinician-reported changes in depression, rumination and specific positive emotions, and moderate effects for changes in adaptive emotion regulation strategies. The qualitative data analyses provide additional support for the potential clinical utility of the intervention. This proof-of-concept evaluation of LKM as a clinical strategy warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petrocchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Muyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Kohki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arimitsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Shelley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kind
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Stangier