Hundreds of randomized controlled trials have evaluated and supported the stress-reducing effects of mindfulness practices since the creation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at UMass Medical School over forty years ago. In 2019, Brown researchers demonstrated that mindfulness can also lower blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide.
This week, a new study reveals that mindfulness practices may significantly reduce depression symptoms, particularly in people who have experienced early-life adversity, such as childhood abuse and neglect.
Led by Eric Loucks, professor of medicine, epidemiology, and of behavioral and social sciences and director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown, the study enrolled 201 participants, 101 of whom were randomized into the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction Program, while 100 were randomized into an enhanced usual care control, which included home blood-pressure monitors, physician access and health-education materials. Researchers also had a measure of participants’ early-life adversity, particularly their exposure to abuse or neglect.
Loucks and his team followed participants for six months to assess changes in blood pressure, health behaviors and mental health, finding that those in the mindfulness program showed significant improvements in their depression symptoms. Additionally, participants who experienced childhood neglect showed greater improvements in depression symptoms than those who had not. A similar, though less pronounced, trend was observed among people with a history of childhood abuse.
“In this program, that was primarily designed to lower blood pressure while addressing whole-person health, we also saw that mental well-being, particularly around depression symptoms, improved in participants that went through the program,” Loucks said. “The findings suggest that cultivating mindful self-regulation skills–such such as self-awareness, attention control and emotion regulation–may help interrupt maladaptive patterns shaped by past experiences.”
