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Cited by 99Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsPsychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsReligion, Spirituality, and Psychology

The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

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Vancampfort, Davy, Stubbs, Brendon, Van Damme, Tine, Smith, Lee, Hallgren, Mats, Schuch, Felipe, Deenik, Jeroen, Rosenbaum, Simon +3 more·2021·Journal of Psychiatric Research
DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048
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Abstract

There is increasing interest in the potential efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions (MBIs) within mental health care. We conducted a systematic metareview of the published randomized control trial (RCT) evidence. MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycARTICLES and EMBASE were searched from inception to 06/2020 examining MBIs (mindfulness, qigong, tai chi, yoga) as add-on or monotherapy versus no treatment, minimal treatment and passive and active control conditions in people with a mental disorder. The quality of the methods of the included meta-analyses using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the methodological quality of the RCTs using AMSTAR-Plus. Sixteen (94%) of 17 meta-analyses had good overall methodological quality. The content validity of the included RCTs was considered good in 9 (53%) meta-analyses. In meta-analyses with good methodological quality (AMSTAR 8≤) and content validity (AMSTAR+ 4≤), large effect sizes (0.80 or higher) were observed for mindfulness in schizophrenia and in ADHD, a moderate (0.50 ≤ 0.80) effect size for mindfulness in PTSD and a small (0.20 < 0.50) effect size for yoga in schizophrenia No serious adverse events were reported (n RCTs = 43, n in the MBI arms = 1774), while the attrition rates were comparable with the rates in passive and active control conditions. Our meta-review demonstrates that mindfulness and to a lesser extent yoga may serve as an efficacious supplement to pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy and can be complementary in healthy lifestyle interventions for people with mental disorders. Meta-analytic evidence of high methodological quality and content validity of included trials is currently lacking for qigong and tai chi.

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  • Mindfulness-based interventions are efficacious for reducing depression and anxiety and promoting stress resilience and recovery.

    “Empirical evidence demonstrates their efficacy for a variety of psychosocial and neurobiological outcomes, including reductions in depression and anxiety, while promoting stress resilience and recovery [2,3,4,5].”

    From 10-Week Trajectories of Candidate Psychological Processes Differentially Predict Mental Health Gains from Online Dyadic versus Mindfulness Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2024) · cites this paper as [3]

    Section 3.4 (page not supplied) reports short-term reductions in depression among adolescents and young adults and lower relapse risk in people with recurrent depression. It does not establish reduced anxiety: it reports no significant anxiety benefit in the bipolar-disorder trials. The cited passages also do not establish stress resilience or recovery as outcomes. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  1. Higgins, J.P.T., Thompson, S.G., Deeks, J.J., Altman, D.G., 2003. Measuring inconsistency in metaanalyses. BMJ. 327(7414), 557-560.

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Authors
Vancampfort, D., Stubbs, B., Van Damme, T., Smith, L., Hallgren, M., Schuch, F., Deenik, J., Rosenbaum, S., Ashdown-Franks, G., Mugisha, J., & Firth, J.
Affiliations
  • KU Leuven (BE)
  • King's College London (GB)
  • Anglia Ruskin University (GB)
  • Karolinska Institutet (SE)
  • Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (BR)
  • Maastricht University (NL)
  • UNSW Sydney (AU)
  • Kyambogo University (UG)
  • University of Manchester (GB)
Corresponding author
Vancampfort, Davy
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Psychiatric Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-02
Volume
134
Pages
181-191
ISSN
0022-3956 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048
OpenAlex
W3115691691
Cited by
99
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 5
FWCI
0.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Psychiatric Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Research at York St John (York St John University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Anglia Ruskin Research Online (Anglia Ruskin University) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Western Sydney University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Keywords
mindfulness, qigong, Tai Chi, yoga, mental illness, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, complementary therapy, methodological quality of meta-analyses, adverse events
MeSH terms
Humans, Yoga, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Meditation, Tai Ji, Qigong

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