The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

Davy Vancampfort; Brendon Stubbs; Tine Van Damme; Lee Smith; Mats Hallgren; Felipe Schuch; Jeroen Deenik; Simon Rosenbaum; Garcia Ashdown-Franks; James Mugisha; Joseph Firth

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048

The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

Davy Vancampfort^*, Brendon Stubbs, Tine Van Damme, Lee Smith, Mats Hallgren, Felipe Schuch, Jeroen Deenik, Simon Rosenbaum, Garcia Ashdown-Franks, James Mugisha, Joseph Firth

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

49 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the potential efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions (MBIs) within mental health care. We conducted a systematic metareview of the published randomized control trial (RCT) evidence. MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycARTICLES and EMBASE were searched from inception to 06/2020 examining MBIs (mindfulness, qigong, tai chi, yoga) as add-on or monotherapy versus no treatment, minimal treatment and passive and active control conditions in people with a mental disorder. The quality of the methods of the included meta-analyses using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the methodological quality of the RCTs using AMSTAR-Plus. Sixteen (94%) of 17 meta-analyses had good overall methodological quality. The content validity of the included RCTs was considered good in 9 (53%) meta-analyses. In meta-analyses with good methodological quality (AMSTAR 8≤) and content validity (AMSTAR+ 4≤), large effect sizes (0.80 or higher) were observed for mindfulness in schizophrenia and in ADHD, a moderate (0.50 ≤ 0.80) effect size for mindfulness in PTSD and a small (0.20 < 0.50) effect size for yoga in schizophrenia No serious adverse events were reported (n RCTs = 43, n in the MBI arms = 1774), while the attrition rates were comparable with the rates in passive and active control conditions. Our meta-review demonstrates that mindfulness and to a lesser extent yoga may serve as an efficacious supplement to pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy and can be complementary in healthy lifestyle interventions for people with mental disorders. Meta-analytic evidence of high methodological quality and content validity of included trials is currently lacking for qigong and tai chi.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	181-191
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of psychiatric research
Volume	134
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048
Publication status	Published - Feb 2021

Keywords

ADHD
Depression
Mindfulness
Qigong
Schizophrenia
Tai chi
Yoga

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10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048

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Vancampfort, D., Stubbs, B., Van Damme, T., Smith, L., Hallgren, M., Schuch, F., Deenik, J., Rosenbaum, S., Ashdown-Franks, G., Mugisha, J., & Firth, J. (2021). The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Journal of psychiatric research, 134, 181-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048

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title = "The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials",

abstract = "There is increasing interest in the potential efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions (MBIs) within mental health care. We conducted a systematic metareview of the published randomized control trial (RCT) evidence. MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycARTICLES and EMBASE were searched from inception to 06/2020 examining MBIs (mindfulness, qigong, tai chi, yoga) as add-on or monotherapy versus no treatment, minimal treatment and passive and active control conditions in people with a mental disorder. The quality of the methods of the included meta-analyses using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the methodological quality of the RCTs using AMSTAR-Plus. Sixteen (94%) of 17 meta-analyses had good overall methodological quality. The content validity of the included RCTs was considered good in 9 (53%) meta-analyses. In meta-analyses with good methodological quality (AMSTAR 8≤) and content validity (AMSTAR+ 4≤), large effect sizes (0.80 or higher) were observed for mindfulness in schizophrenia and in ADHD, a moderate (0.50 ≤ 0.80) effect size for mindfulness in PTSD and a small (0.20 < 0.50) effect size for yoga in schizophrenia No serious adverse events were reported (n RCTs = 43, n in the MBI arms = 1774), while the attrition rates were comparable with the rates in passive and active control conditions. Our meta-review demonstrates that mindfulness and to a lesser extent yoga may serve as an efficacious supplement to pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy and can be complementary in healthy lifestyle interventions for people with mental disorders. Meta-analytic evidence of high methodological quality and content validity of included trials is currently lacking for qigong and tai chi.",

keywords = "ADHD, Depression, Mindfulness, Qigong, Schizophrenia, Tai chi, Yoga",

author = "Davy Vancampfort and Brendon Stubbs and {Van Damme}, Tine and Lee Smith and Mats Hallgren and Felipe Schuch and Jeroen Deenik and Simon Rosenbaum and Garcia Ashdown-Franks and James Mugisha and Joseph Firth",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Melissa Eaton (Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia) for her assistance in the data collection. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048",

language = "English",

volume = "134",

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Vancampfort, D, Stubbs, B, Van Damme, T, Smith, L, Hallgren, M, Schuch, F, Deenik, J, Rosenbaum, S, Ashdown-Franks, G, Mugisha, J & Firth, J 2021, 'The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials', Journal of psychiatric research, vol. 134, pp. 181-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.048

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AU - Stubbs, Brendon

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AU - Smith, Lee

AU - Hallgren, Mats

AU - Schuch, Felipe

AU - Deenik, Jeroen

AU - Rosenbaum, Simon

AU - Ashdown-Franks, Garcia

AU - Mugisha, James

AU - Firth, Joseph

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Melissa Eaton (Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia) for her assistance in the data collection. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/2

Y1 - 2021/2

N2 - There is increasing interest in the potential efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions (MBIs) within mental health care. We conducted a systematic metareview of the published randomized control trial (RCT) evidence. MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycARTICLES and EMBASE were searched from inception to 06/2020 examining MBIs (mindfulness, qigong, tai chi, yoga) as add-on or monotherapy versus no treatment, minimal treatment and passive and active control conditions in people with a mental disorder. The quality of the methods of the included meta-analyses using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the methodological quality of the RCTs using AMSTAR-Plus. Sixteen (94%) of 17 meta-analyses had good overall methodological quality. The content validity of the included RCTs was considered good in 9 (53%) meta-analyses. In meta-analyses with good methodological quality (AMSTAR 8≤) and content validity (AMSTAR+ 4≤), large effect sizes (0.80 or higher) were observed for mindfulness in schizophrenia and in ADHD, a moderate (0.50 ≤ 0.80) effect size for mindfulness in PTSD and a small (0.20 < 0.50) effect size for yoga in schizophrenia No serious adverse events were reported (n RCTs = 43, n in the MBI arms = 1774), while the attrition rates were comparable with the rates in passive and active control conditions. Our meta-review demonstrates that mindfulness and to a lesser extent yoga may serve as an efficacious supplement to pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy and can be complementary in healthy lifestyle interventions for people with mental disorders. Meta-analytic evidence of high methodological quality and content validity of included trials is currently lacking for qigong and tai chi.

AB - There is increasing interest in the potential efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions (MBIs) within mental health care. We conducted a systematic metareview of the published randomized control trial (RCT) evidence. MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycARTICLES and EMBASE were searched from inception to 06/2020 examining MBIs (mindfulness, qigong, tai chi, yoga) as add-on or monotherapy versus no treatment, minimal treatment and passive and active control conditions in people with a mental disorder. The quality of the methods of the included meta-analyses using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the methodological quality of the RCTs using AMSTAR-Plus. Sixteen (94%) of 17 meta-analyses had good overall methodological quality. The content validity of the included RCTs was considered good in 9 (53%) meta-analyses. In meta-analyses with good methodological quality (AMSTAR 8≤) and content validity (AMSTAR+ 4≤), large effect sizes (0.80 or higher) were observed for mindfulness in schizophrenia and in ADHD, a moderate (0.50 ≤ 0.80) effect size for mindfulness in PTSD and a small (0.20 < 0.50) effect size for yoga in schizophrenia No serious adverse events were reported (n RCTs = 43, n in the MBI arms = 1774), while the attrition rates were comparable with the rates in passive and active control conditions. Our meta-review demonstrates that mindfulness and to a lesser extent yoga may serve as an efficacious supplement to pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy and can be complementary in healthy lifestyle interventions for people with mental disorders. Meta-analytic evidence of high methodological quality and content validity of included trials is currently lacking for qigong and tai chi.

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KW - Depression

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ER -

The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

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Keywords

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