Major Research Findings in MBSR (University of Massachusetts Medical school’s Center for Mindfulness.)

Our work over the past twenty-eight years has shown consistent, reliable, and reproducible demonstrations of major and clinically relevant reductions in medical and psychological symptoms across a wide range of medical diagnoses, including many different chronic pain conditions [Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth and Burney, 1985; Kabat-Zinn et al, 1986], other medical diagnoses [Kabat-Zinn and Chapman-Waldrop, 1988]; and in medical patients with a secondary diagnosis of anxiety and/or panic [Kabat-Zinn et al, 1992; Miller et al, 1995], over the eight weeks of the MBSR intervention, and maintenance of these changes in some cases for up to four years of follow-up.

We have also seen consistent, reliable, and reproducible demonstrations of significant and clinically relevant increases in trait measures which are usually stable in adulthood, indicative of enhanced psychological hardiness (Kobasa) and greater sense of coherence (Antonovsky) over the course of the eight week intervention, and maintenance of these gains for up to three years of follow-up. The latter measures indicate a heightened sense of self and self-in-relationship, and a greater ability to find coherence and act effectively under high degrees of stress. These changes enhance the experience of self-efficacy in patients and their view of the value of engaging in their own on-going health and well-being through meditation, yoga, and above all, the systematic cultivation of awareness [Kabat-Zinn, Skillings, and Salmon, manuscript submitted].

A randomized clinical trial (Davidson et al, manuscript in preparation) took the form of a laboratory study of MBSR conducted in collaboration with Dr. Richard Davidson of the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin and the MacArthur Foundation's Mind/Body Network and others. We looked at the effects of MBSR training in a workplace setting on brain activity and on immune response to viral challenge, among other variables. Following publication of the manuscript, we will share the specific outcomes of this study with the public.)

A multi-year relationship between the CFM and the team of Drs. John Teasdale of the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, in Cambridge, UK, Mark Williams of the University of Wales, and Zindel Segal of the University of Toronto and the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry has led to the development of a new approach to cognitive therapy, termed mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and to major conceptual advances in the modeling of affective change in depressed patients [Teasdale, Segal and Williams, 1995; Teasdale, 1999].

The CFM is also engaged in a number of other research projects including the introduction of MBSR practices into the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, an integrated MBSR/mindful dietary intervention for men with prostate cancer, and a cost-effectiveness study of MBSR in conjunction with a large HMO

Peer-Reviewed Papers

Kabat-Zinn, J. An out-patient program in Behavioral Medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. Gen. Hosp. Psychiatry (1982) 4:33-47.

Kabat-Zinn, J., Lipworth, L. and Burney, R. The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. J. Behav. Med. (1985) 8:163-190.

Kabat-Zinn, J., Lipworth, L., Burney, R. and Sellers, W. Four year follow-up of a meditation-based program for the self-regulation of chronic pain: Treatment outcomes and compliance. Clin.J.Pain (1986) 2:159-173.

Kabat-Zinn, J. and Chapman-Waldrop, A. Compliance with an outpatient stress reduction program: rates and predictors of completion.   J.Behav. Med. (1988) 11:333-352.

Ockene, J., Sorensen, G., Kabat-Zinn, J., Ockene, I.S., and Donnelly, G.  Benefits and costs of lifestyle change to reduce risk of chronic disease.  Preventive Medicine, (1988) 17:224-234.

Bernhard, J., Kristeller, J. and Kabat-Zinn, J. Effectiveness of relaxation and visualization techniques as a adjunct to phototherapy and photochemotherapy of psoriasis. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. (1988) 19:572-73.

Ockene, J.K., Ockene, I.S., Kabat-Zinn, J., Greene, H.L., and Frid, D. Teaching risk-factor counseling skills to medical students, house staff, and fellows. Am. J. Prevent. Med. (1990)6 (#2): 35-42.

Kabat-Zinn, J., Massion, A.O., Kristeller, J., Peterson, L.G., Fletcher, K., Pbert, L., Linderking, W., Santorelli, S.F.  Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Am. J Psychiatry (1992) 149:936-943.

Miller, J., Fletcher, K. and Kabat-Zinn, J. Three-year follow-up and clinical implications of a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Gen. Hosp. Psychiatry (1995) 17:192-200.

Massion, A.O., Teas, J., Hebert, J.R., Wertheimer, M.D., and Kabat-Zinn, J. Meditation, melatonin, and breast/prostate cancer: Hypothesis and preliminary data. Medical Hypotheses(1995) 44:39-46.

Kabat-Zinn, J. Chapman, A, and Salmon, P. The relationship of cognitive and somatic components of anxiety to patient preference for alternative relaxation techniques. Mind/ Body Medicine (1997) 2:101-109.

Kabat-Zinn, J., Wheeler, E., Light, T., Skillings, A., Scharf, M.S., Cropley, T. G., Hosmer, D., and  Bernhard, J. Influence of a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and photochemotherapy (PUVA) Psychosomat Med (1998) 60: 625-632.

Saxe, G., Hebert, J., Carmody, J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Rosenzweig, P., Jarzobski, D., Reed, G., and Blute, R.  Can Diet, in conjunction with Stress Reduction, Affect the Rate of Increase in Prostate-specific Antigen After Biochemical Recurrence of Prostate Cancer?  J. of Urology, In Press, 2001.