CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 284Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsReligion, Spirituality, and PsychologyIndian and Buddhist Studies

The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditation

Ivanovski, Belinda, Malhi, Gin S.·2007·Acta Neuropsychiatrica
DOI 10.1111/j.1601-5215.2007.00175.x
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Objective: To provide a comprehensive review and evaluation of the psychological and neurophysiological literature pertaining to mindfulness meditation. Methods: A search for papers in English was undertaken using PsycINFO (from 1804 onward), MedLine (from 1966 onward) and the Cochrane Library with the following search terms: Vipassana, Mindfulness, Meditation, Zen, Insight, EEG, ERP, fMRI, neuroimaging and intervention. In addition, retrieved papers and reports known to the authors were also reviewed for additional relevant literature. Results: Mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions appear to be effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety, psychosis, borderline personality disorder and suicidal/self-harm behaviour. Mindfulness meditation per se is effective in reducing substance use and recidivism rates in incarcerated populations but has not been specifically investigated in populations with psychiatric disorders. Electroencephalography research suggests increased alpha, theta and beta activity in frontal and posterior regions, some gamma band effects, with theta activity strongly related to level of experience of meditation; however, these findings have not been consistent. The few neuroimaging studies that have been conducted suggest volumetric and functional change in key brain regions. Conclusions: Preliminary findings from treatment outcome studies provide support for the application of mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of affective, anxiety and personality disorders. However, direct evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation per se in the treatment of psychiatric disorders is needed. Current neurophysiological and imaging research findings have identified neural changes in association with meditation and provide a potentially promising avenue for future research.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1601-5215.2007.00175.x

Cites

128 of 128 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The attainment of a relaxation response during meditation has been confirmed by many subsequent studies and consistently reported in the scientific literature.

    “Importantly, the attainment of a relaxation response during meditation has been confirmed by many subsequent studies and consistently reported in the scientific literature (e.g., [10–13]).”

    From The Influence of Buddhist Meditation Traditions on the Autonomic System and Attention (2015) · cites this paper as [13]

  • Most studies of relaxation response in meditation investigated Mindfulness meditation, although there have been studies on Zen concentration and Vipassana as well.

    “Most of these studies investigated Mindfulness meditation, although there have been studies on Zen concentration and Vipassana as well (e.g., [10–13]).”

    From The Influence of Buddhist Meditation Traditions on the Autonomic System and Attention (2015) · cites this paper as [13]

  • Several studies have reported the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (including ACT) in treating depression, self-injury, and suicidal behaviors.

    “Several studies have reported the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (including ACT) in treating depression, self-injury, and suicidal behaviors (8, 25-30).”

    From The Effectiveness of Acceptance-Commitment Therapy on Anxiety and Depression among Patients on Methadone Treatment: A Pilot Study (2015) · cites this paper as [25]

  • Many modern and Buddhist meditations largely focus on awareness of breath and body, and much less on the senses and the mind.

    “A plausible reason for this is that many modern and Buddhist meditations largely focus on awareness of breath and body, and much less on the senses and the mind (Brown, Ryan, and Creswell 2007; Ivanovski and Malhi 2007; Mikulas 2011).”

    From Awareness Versus Un-Clinging: Which Matters in Mindfulness? (2017) · cites this paper as Ivanovski and Malhi 2007

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Ivanovski, B., & Malhi, G. S.
Affiliations
  • Black Dog Institute (AU)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author
Ivanovski, Belinda
ORCID
Malhi, Gin S.
Venue
Acta Neuropsychiatrica
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2007-04
Volume
19
Issue
2
Pages
76-91
ISSN
  • 0924-2708 (ISSN-L)
  • 1601-5215
DOI
10.1111/j.1601-5215.2007.00175.x
OpenAlex
W1970538880
Cited by
284
References
127
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 22
FWCI
17.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 2641 d)
Locations
  • Acta Neuropsychiatrica (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
Keywords
mindfulness meditation, mindfulness-based interventions, vipassana, Zen meditation, insight meditation, depression, anxiety, psychosis, borderline personality disorder, suicidal behavior, substance use, EEG, event-related potentials, functional MRI, brain volumetric changes, neural correlates of meditation, mental illness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review