Mindfulness meditation has become a mainstream technique in the toolkit of psychologists, but its efficacy in non-clinical settings is unclear. In
our recent study published in
BMC Psychology and registered in the
ISRCTN registry, we carefully designed a methodologically robust study to test the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on critical thinking.
....
It is fair to say that mindfulness meditation has become a mainstream technique in the toolkit of psychologists and others working in various settings across the world. It has made its way from clinical environments, such as the hospital or therapy room, to our schools, our workplaces and our universities. But what evidence is there for its usefulness in these different contexts?
Moving away from clinical environments has meant moving away from a reliance on clinical effects to justify the implementation of mindfulness meditation interventions. Now, mindfulness meditation is not only linked to decreased stress and relapse of mood disorders, it is also claimed that mindfulness meditation results in
better relationships,
more prosocial behaviour,
higher job satisfaction,
more focused attention, greater memory skills and
improved critical thinking.
But, how strong is the evidence for these claims? Take the research on relationships and pro-social behaviour –
a recent meta-analysis demonstrated that evidence for these benefits falls away when studies use stronger methods.
