Hofmann Stefan G, Petrocchi Nicola, Steinberg James, Lin Muyu, Arimitsu Kohki, Kind Shelley, Mendes Adriana, Stangier Ulrich
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Frankfurt, Germany.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:269126. doi: 10.1155/2015/269126. Epub 2015 Jun 1.
Conventional treatments for mood disorders primarily focus on reducing negative affect, but little on enhancing positive affect. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is a traditional meditation practice directly oriented toward enhancing unconditional and positive emotional states of kindness towards oneself and others. We report here two independent and uncontrolled studies carried out at different centers, one in Boston, USA (n = 10), and one in Frankfurt, Germany (n = 8), to examine the potential therapeutic utility of a brief LKM group intervention for symptoms of dysthymia and depression. Results at both centers suggest that LKM was associated with large-sized effects on self-reported symptoms of depression (d = 3.33 and 1.90), negative affect (d = 1.98 and 0.92), and positive affect (d = 1.63 and 0.94). Large effects were also found for clinician-reported changes in depression, rumination and specific positive emotions, and moderate effects for changes in adaptive emotion regulation strategies. The qualitative data analyses provide additional support for the potential clinical utility of the intervention. This proof-of-concept evaluation of LKM as a clinical strategy warrants further investigation.
情绪障碍的传统治疗主要侧重于减少消极情绪，而很少关注增强积极情绪。慈心禅（LKM）是一种传统的冥想练习，直接旨在增强对自己和他人无条件的、积极的友善情绪状态。我们在此报告两项在不同中心开展的独立且非对照研究，一项在美国波士顿（n = 10），另一项在德国法兰克福（n = 8），以检验简短的慈心禅团体干预对心境恶劣和抑郁症状的潜在治疗效用。两个中心的结果均表明，慈心禅与自我报告的抑郁症状（d = 3.33和1.90）、消极情绪（d = 1.98和0.92）及积极情绪（d = 1.63和0.94）的显著改善相关。在临床医生报告的抑郁、沉思和特定积极情绪的变化方面也发现了显著效果，在适应性情绪调节策略的变化方面发现了中等效果。定性数据分析为该干预措施的潜在临床效用提供了额外支持。这种将慈心禅作为临床策略的概念验证评估值得进一步研究。
