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Differential effects of mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and loving-kindness meditation on decentering and negative reactions to repetitive thoughts
Open accessAbstract
Decentering has been proposed as a potential mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions but has received limited empirical examination to date in experimental studies comparing mindfulness meditation to active comparison conditions. In the present study, we compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing (MB) to two alternative stress-management techniques: progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) to test whether decentering is unique to mindfulness meditation or common across approaches. Novice meditators (190 female undergraduates) were randomly assigned to complete one of three 15-min stress-management exercises (MB, PMR, or LKM) presented by audio recording. Immediately after the exercise, participants completed measures of decentering, frequency of repetitive thoughts during the exercise, and degree of negative reaction to thoughts. As predicted, participants in the MB condition reported greater decentering relative to the other two conditions. The association between frequency of repetitive thought and negative reactions to thoughts was relatively weaker in the MB condition than in the PMR and LKM conditions, in which these two variables were strongly and positively correlated. Consistent with the construct of decentering, the relative independence between these two variables in the MB condition suggests that mindful breathing may help to reduce reactivity to repetitive thoughts. Taken together, results help to provide further evidence of decentering as a potential mechanism that distinguishes mindfulness practice from other credible stress-management approaches.
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“The effects of mindfulness may be enhanced by several processes that were not assessed in this study, including decentering that was identified by Feldman, Greeson, and Senville (2010) and Shapiro et al. (2006) as a core mechanism.”
From A Mindfulness-Based Intervention: Differential Effects on Affective and Processual Evolution (2018) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, a three-way interaction adding self-reported decentering indicated that only those in the mindful breathing condition who improved highly on decentering showed a decoupling effect between frequency of and reactions to thoughts.”
From Decoupling as a Mechanism of Change in Mindfulness and Acceptance: A Literature Review (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Indeed, mindfulness training has been associated with increased decentering and metacognitive awareness [44–46].”
From Testing the mindfulness-to-meaning theory: Evidence for mindful positive emotion regulation from a reanalysis of longitudinal data (2017) · cites this paper as [45]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“Experimental studies have provided support for such claims, with decentering increasing only in the mindfulness condition when compared to a control, relaxation, or loving-kindness mediation, respectively (Erisman & Roemer, 2010; Feldman et al., 2010).”
From Mediators of acceptance and mindfulness-based therapies for anxiety and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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“Attending to cognition as part of a mindful internal experience could help in the development of awareness of repetitive thoughts and lead to exposure and habituation processes, which may contribute to emotional processing and reduce the impact of repetitive thoughts (Feldman et al., 2010;Shapiro et al., 2006).”
From A Mindfulness-Based Intervention: Differential Effects on Affective and Processual Evolution (2018) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
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“Results indicated that mindful breathing led to significantly greater frequency of repetitive thoughts during the exercise as well as greater self-reported decentering.”
From Decoupling as a Mechanism of Change in Mindfulness and Acceptance: A Literature Review (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
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“A moderation effect was found such that frequency of thoughts was significantly less related to negative reactions to thoughts in the mindful breathing condition, relative to the other two conditions.”
From Decoupling as a Mechanism of Change in Mindfulness and Acceptance: A Literature Review (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
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“This review supports the traditional AMT account, with studies showing decoupling effects are related to improvements in self-compassion from treatment (Kuyken et al., 2010), improvements in decentering following mindful breathing (Feldman et al., 2010) and amount of meditation practice (Elwafi et al., 2013).”
From Decoupling as a Mechanism of Change in Mindfulness and Acceptance: A Literature Review (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
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“no studies were found that directly tested such a decoupling effect from defusion/decentering in isolation (although see Feldman et al., 2010 for an example of a decentering measure correlating with a decoupling effect from mindful breathing).”
From Decoupling as a Mechanism of Change in Mindfulness and Acceptance: A Literature Review (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
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“and decentering increased as a result of brief mindful breathing compared to other stress-reduction techniques (Feldman et al., 2010).”
From Measuring Decentering – Development and Validation of the French Version of the Experiences Questionnaire (EQ-F) (2024) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
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“Most studies applied progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as an active control group and demonstrated the beneficial effects of mindfulness (e.g. (Feldman et al. 2010; Semple 2010)).”
From The process-outcome mindfulness effects in trainees (PrOMET) study: Protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al. 2010
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Most studies applied progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as an active control group and demonstrated the beneficial effects of mindfulness (e.g. (Feldman et al. 2010; Semple 2010)).”
From The process-outcome mindfulness effects in trainees (PrOMET) study: Protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al. 2010
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Most of these studies applied PMR as an active control group and demonstrated beneficial effects of mindfulness (e.g. Feldman et al. 2010; Semple 2010).”
From The process-outcome mindfulness effects in trainees (PrOMET) study: Protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman et al. 2010
In the citing paper
“in a sample of novice meditators, researchers have found decentering to increase directly following brief mindful breathing compared to two other stress-reduction techniques (muscle relaxation and loving-kindness meditation; Feldman, Greeson, & Senville, 2010)”
From Five Facets of Mindfulness and Psychological Health: Evaluating a Psychological Model of the Mechanisms of Mindfulness (2015) · cites this paper as Feldman, Greeson, & Senville, 2010
In the citing paper
“a brief 15-minute mindfulness induction helped to reduce emotional reactivity to repetitive thoughts in college students (Feldman, Greeson, & Senville, 2010).”
From Dispositional Mindfulness Uncouples Physiological and Emotional Reactivity to a Laboratory Stressor and Emotional Reactivity to Executive Functioning Lapses in Daily Life (2016) · cites this paper as Feldman, Greeson, & Senville, 2010
In the citing paper
“Prior studies conducted with undergraduate students at the institution where the present studies were conducted suggest that regular formal meditation practice in an unselected sample may be relatively rare (e.g., in Feldman et al., 2010, only 4.8% of participants reported meditating daily).”
From Dispositional Mindfulness Uncouples Physiological and Emotional Reactivity to a Laboratory Stressor and Emotional Reactivity to Executive Functioning Lapses in Daily Life (2016) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“Mindfulness-based interventions are particularly effective for managing stressors and enhancing positive emotions, resulting in psychological and social benefits and reducing depression symptoms [31-35].”
From MoodHacker Mobile Web App With Email for Adults to Self-Manage Mild-to-Moderate Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial (2016) · cites this paper as [35]
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Reflecting on rumination: Consequences, causes, mechanisms and treatment of rumination
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Hayes, S. C., Villatte, M., Levin, M., & Hildebrandt, M. (2011) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104449 · Cited by 800
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Metadata
- Authors
- Feldman, G., Greeson, J., & Senville, J.
- Affiliations
- Simmons University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Feldman, Greg
- ORCID
- Feldman, Greg
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-10
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1002-1011
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2932656
- OpenAlex
- W2156039263
- Cited by
- 455
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 21.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Rowan Digitals Works (Rowan University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (K99 AT004945)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Keywords
- mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, loving-kindness meditation, decentering, repetitive thinking, stress management strategies, mindfulness meditation, novice meditators
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Attention, Awareness, Breathing Exercises, Empathy, Female, Humans, Love, Relaxation Therapy, Self-Assessment, Self Care, Thinking, Meditation, Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical, Resilience, Psychological, Young Adult
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