Mitnik Inbal, Lev-Ari Shahar
Harefuah. 2015 Jan;154(1):16-20, 70, 69.
"The Work" is a meditative technique developed by Byron Katie in 1986 and is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people in more than 30 countries. The technique trains individuals to identify the thoughts that cause stress and suffering in a systematic and comprehensive way and to meditatively "investigate" these thoughts, thus enabling them to experience a different interpretation of reality.
The current study aimed to assess the effect of "The Work" meditation on psychological scales among a non-clinical sample.
This was a prospective research study conducted without a control group. The intervention consisted of a 9-day workshop of "The Work" meditation technique. Fifty-eight participants completed the following questionnaires before and after the intervention: satisfaction with life (SWLS), sense of coherence (SOC), general well-being (MHI), self-esteem (SES) and demographics.
A significant improvement was obtained in all measures after "The Work" intervention: SWLS (21.6 to 25.07, p<0.001); SOC-comprehensibility subscale (4.05 to 4.55, p<0.001), SOC-manageability subscale (4.39 to 4.9, p<0.001) and meaningfulness subscale (4.58 to 5.07, p<0.001); SES (17.61 to 21.56, p<0.001); General wellbeing-well-being subscale (4.34 to 4.87, p<0.001) and distress subscale (3.42 to 2.79, p<0.001).
A sense of coherence is an important resource for coping with challenging life events and promoting well-being and health. This resource can be influenced by mind-body interventions. Satisfaction with life is a subjective judgment of satisfaction with one's life in relation to one's own unique criteria. It is a central resource in mental and physical health promotion. "The Work" meditation technique includes cognitive conceptualization and processes, which may have contributed to the increase demonstrated in this scale. Psychological well-being scales also improved--a finding which has health, social and economic implications in the general population. The findings of the current study should be evaluated in light of its limitations, mainly the lack of a control group.
The current pilot study shows the potentially beneficial effects of "The Work" technique as a method of intervention for improving results on psychological scales and promoting mental health among the general population. Future randomized controlled studies should examine the effectiveness of "The Work" intervention in this population.
“功课”是拜伦·凯蒂于1986年开发的一种冥想技巧，在30多个国家有数十万人练习。该技巧训练人们以系统、全面的方式识别导致压力和痛苦的想法，并通过冥想“探究”这些想法，从而使他们能够体验对现实的不同解读。
本研究旨在评估“功课”冥想对非临床样本心理量表的影响。
这是一项无对照组的前瞻性研究。干预包括为期9天的“功课”冥想技巧工作坊。58名参与者在干预前后完成了以下问卷：生活满意度（SWLS）、连贯感（SOC）、总体幸福感（MHI）、自尊（SES）和人口统计学信息。
“功课”干预后所有测量指标均有显著改善：SWLS（从21.6至25.07，p<0.001）；SOC-可理解性子量表（从4.05至4.55，p<0.001），SOC-可管理性子量表（从4.39至4.9，p<0.001）和意义子量表（从4.58至5.07，p<0.001）；SES（从17.61至21.56，p<0.001）；总体幸福感-幸福感子量表（从4.34至4.87，p<0.001）和苦恼子量表（从3.42至2.79，p<0.001）。
连贯感是应对具有挑战性的生活事件以及促进幸福感和健康的重要资源。这种资源可能会受到身心干预的影响。生活满意度是根据个人独特标准对自己生活满意度的主观判断。它是促进身心健康的核心资源。“功课”冥想技巧包括认知概念化和过程，这可能是该量表得分增加的原因。心理健康量表也有所改善——这一发现对普通人群具有健康、社会和经济方面的影响。本研究结果应根据其局限性进行评估，主要是缺乏对照组。
当前的试点研究表明，“功课”技巧作为一种干预方法，对于改善普通人群心理量表结果和促进心理健康可能具有有益效果。未来的随机对照研究应检验“功课”干预在该人群中的有效性。
