Mindfulness for stress management - results of a randomized controlled pilot trial of mindfulness stress-reduction-training (MST)

Mindfulness-based interventions such as the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme are increasingly applied to enhancing patients' stress management and problem solving skills, and to preventing and treating mental disorders. However, its generalisability to psychosocial counseling remains uncertain. The aim was to examine whether an abbreviated MBSR-based mindfulness stress-reduction-training (MST) provided in a counseling context has a positive impact on mindfulness, quality of life, stress and depressive symptoms. The psychosocial counseling centre at the TU Chemnitz conducted a randomised-controlled pilot study (N = 28), comparing MST (6 weekly sessions at 2 hours) with a waiting-list control group before, after and 3 months after treatment. MST-participants displayed a higher quality of life, fewer dysfunctional and more functional stress management strategies and fewer depressive symptoms than control participants. The potential of MST could be realized successfully in a short, cost-effective version of the MBSR programme and achieve a positive impact on stress management, quality of life and depression. Providing MST in the context of treatment or (psychosocial) counseling may address shortages in health service provision.