The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review

Abstract

Objective: Although mindfulness-based therapy has become a popular treatment, little is known about its efficacy. Therefore, our objective was to conduct an effect size analysis of this popular intervention for anxiety and mood symptoms in clinical samples.

Method: We conducted a literature search using PubMed, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, and manual searches. Our meta-analysis was based on 39 studies totaling 1,140 participants receiving mindfulness-based therapy for a range of conditions, including cancer, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and other psychiatric or medical conditions.

Results: Effect size estimates suggest that mindfulness-based therapy was moderately effective for improving anxiety (Hedges's g = 0.63) and mood symptoms (Hedges's g = 0.59) from pre- to posttreatment in the overall sample. In patients with anxiety and mood disorders, this intervention was associated with effect sizes (Hedges's g) of 0.97 and 0.95 for improving anxiety and mood symptoms, respectively. These effect sizes were robust, were unrelated to publication year or number of treatment sessions, and were maintained over follow-up.

Conclusions: These results suggest that mindfulness-based therapy is a promising intervention for treating anxiety and mood problems in clinical populations.

Figure 1

Flow diagram of study selection process.

Figure 2

Funnel plot of precision by Hedges’ g for anxiety measures. Note that in the absence of a publication bias, the studies should be distributed symmetrically with larger studies appearing toward the top of the graph and clustered around the mean effect size and smaller studies toward the bottom.

Figure 3

Funnel plot of precision by Hedges’ g for depression measures.