The Effects of a Mindfulness Intervention on Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in a Non-Clinical Student Population
Abstract
This controlled pilot study tested the effects of a mindfulness intervention on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms and tested the psychological processes possibly mediating such effects. Participants with OCD symptoms (12 women, 5 men) received either mindfulness training (N=8) or formed a waiting-list control group (N = 9). Meditation included 8 group meetings teaching meditative breathing, body-scan, and mindful daily living, applied to OCD. The intervention had a significant and large effect on mindfulness, OCD symptoms, letting go, and thought-action fusion. Controlling for changes in "letting go," group effects on change in OCD symptoms disappeared, pointing at a mediating role for letting go. This may be the first controlled study demonstrating that a mindfulness intervention reduces OCD symptoms, possibly explained by increasing letting go capacity. If replicated in larger and clinical samples, mindfulness training may be an alternative therapy for OCD.
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The effect of mindfulness in students with nonclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms was mediated by 'letting go'.
“Hanstede et al. (2008) demonstrated the effect of mindfulness in students with nonclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms with a quasi-random design. The treatment effect was mediated by “letting go,” which is comparable to refraining from catastrophic thinking.”
From Common Factors of Meditation, Focusing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Longitudinal Relation of Self-Report Measures to Worry, Depressive, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Among Nonclinical Students (2015) · cites this paper as Hanstede et al. 2008
Une étude auprès d'étudiants indique une baisse de 60% aux scores des questionnaires obsessionnels.
“Une étude auprès d’étudiants indique une baisse de 60% aux scores des questionnaires obsessionnels (Hanstede, Gidron et Nyklicek, 2008).”
From Les thérapies de troisième vague dans le traitement du trouble obsessionnel-compulsif: Application de la thérapie d’acceptation et d’engagement (2014) · cites this paper as Hanstede, Gidron et Nyklicek, 2008
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- Authors
- Hanstede, M., Gidron, Y., & Nyklíček, I.
- Affiliations
- Tilburg University (NL)
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Hanstede, Marijke
- Nyklíček, Ivan
- ORCID
- Nyklíček, Ivan
- Venue
- Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease
- Published
- 2008-10
- Volume
- 196
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 776-779
- ISSN
- 0022-3018 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1984935863
- Cited by
- 101
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 4.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- mindfulness-based interventions, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, obsessive-compulsive disorder, letting go, thought-action fusion, mediating mechanisms, meditation training, body scanning, complementary and alternative medicine
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Pilot Projects, Students, Meditation
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