Experiential Avoidance as Mechanism of Mindfulness Based Online Intervention in Reducing Emotional Distress

Peking University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Emotional Distress

Treatments: Behavioral: Mindfulness Intervention for Emotional Distress

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05789160

E20220718

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study hopes to explore whether experiential avoidance could be a mediator between mindfulness-based interventions and emotional distress.

Full description

The improvement of emotional distress by mindfulness intervention has been supported by a large number of empirical studies. For example, the meta-analysis of the effect of MBSR on people with chronic diseases shows that both anxiety (Hedges' g = 0.47) and depression (Hedges' g = 0.26) in mindfulness intervention group are reduced. Mindfulness-based interventions also have good intervention effect on anxiety (Hedges' g = 0.67) and depression (Hedges' g = 0.48) in the general population. Unfortunately, few studies have used the correct methods to test the mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions in mediation analysis or experiments.

Experiential avoidance refers to the unwillingness to keep in touch with specific personal experiences (such as physical feelings, emotions, thinking, memory, and behavioral tendencies), and to take measures to change the form or frequency of these experiences, as well as the situations that trigger these experiences. Experiential avoidance often has only a short-term effect, but it has no effect in the long run, and may even be unfavorable. The paradox of experiential avoidance is that trying to hide or suppress unpleasant thoughts, feelings and physical feelings will increase the frequency and pain of these same experiences, and will enhance the feeling that they are unreal or out of touch with themselves. In addition, long-term experiential avoidance will interfere with the fun of being completely immersed in any activity, leading to the reduction of the frequency of positive events and the suppression of positive emotions.

Some reviews believe that experiential avoidance is one of the mechanisms of beneficial effects brought by mindfulness. Some cross-sectional studies show that the reduction of empirical avoidance is an important intermediary factor in the path of mindfulness to psychopathology . However, no research has directly tested the mediating role of experiential avoidance in mindfulness-based intervention to alleviate emotional distress, which is also the problem that this study wants to explore. According to Kazdin(2007), in order to prove the timeline principle, that is, the change of experiential avoidance is before the change of emotional distress, we will measure the above variables every week during the intervention.

Enrollment: 158 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Subjects with scores greater than 21 on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.

Exclusion criteria

• Subjects who could not access the Internet;
• Subjects with insufficient Chinese ability;
• Subjects who have participated in mindfulness based projects for more than 6 weeks before, and / or the current frequency of meditation practice is more than once a week;
• Patients with schizophrenia or psychotic affective disorder, current organic mental disorder, substance abuse disorder and generalized developmental disorder;

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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158 participants in 2 patient groups

the MIED group

Experimental group

Description:

provide standard audio instructions for mindfulness exercises, introduce the nature and law of anxiety, depression and other emotions, the source of anxiety, depression and other emotional distress, and the strategies and methods to alleviate emotional distress. These exercises, knowledge and strategies are based on the latest progress in the field of psychological counseling and treatment, and their application in daily life can help alleviate anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness Intervention for Emotional Distress

the waiting-list group

No Intervention group

Description:

no treatment.