Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to examine MBSR-related changes in emotional reactivity and regulation of negative self-beliefs in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD).
Results Summary
Post-MBSR, patients showed reduced anxiety and depression symptoms, improved self-esteem, decreased negative emotion experience, reduced amygdala activity, and increased activity in brain regions linked to attentional deployment during breath-focused attention tasks.
Population
Adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD) (n=16, with 14 completing post-MBSR assessments).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | decrease | symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression | - | - | shown to reduce | #1 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | increase | anxiety and depression symptoms and self-esteem | MBSR completers | - | showed improvement in | #2 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | decrease | negative emotion experience | MBSR completers | - | showed decreased | #3 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | decrease | amygdala activity | MBSR completers | - | showed reduced | #4 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | increase | brain regions implicated in attentional deployment | MBSR completers | - | showed increased activity in | #5 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | decrease | emotional reactivity | patients with SAD | - | may reduce | #6 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | increase | emotion regulation | patients with SAD | - | may enhance | #7 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) | decrease | SAD-related avoidance behaviors, clinical symptoms, and automatic emotional reactivity to negative self-beliefs | adults with SAD | - | might facilitate reduction in | #8 |
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an established program shown to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. MBSR is believed to alter emotional responding by modifying cognitive-affective processes. Given that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by emotional and attentional biases as well as distorted negative self-beliefs, we examined MBSR-related changes in the brain-behavior indices of emotional reactivity and regulation of negative self-beliefs in patients with SAD. Sixteen patients underwent functional MRI while reacting to negative self-beliefs and while regulating negative emotions using 2 types of attention deployment emotion regulation-breath-focused attention and distraction-focused attention. Post-MBSR, 14 patients completed neuroimaging assessments. Compared with baseline, MBSR completers showed improvement in anxiety and depression symptoms and self-esteem. During the breath-focused attention task (but not the distraction-focused attention task), they also showed (a) decreased negative emotion experience, (b) reduced amygdala activity, and (c) increased activity in brain regions implicated in attentional deployment. MBSR training in patients with SAD may reduce emotional reactivity while enhancing emotion regulation. These changes might facilitate reduction in SAD-related avoidance behaviors, clinical symptoms, and automatic emotional reactivity to negative self-beliefs in adults with SAD.