{"id":1647,"date":"2022-11-18T10:10:03","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T15:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=1647"},"modified":"2022-11-18T10:10:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T15:10:03","slug":"new-study-reveals-that-mindfulness-worked-as-well-as-a-drug-for-treating-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2022\/11\/new-study-reveals-that-mindfulness-worked-as-well-as-a-drug-for-treating-anxiety.html","title":{"rendered":"New Study Reveals That Mindfulness Worked as Well as a Drug For Treating Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness meditation worked as well as a standard drug for treating anxiety in the first head-to-head comparison.<\/p>\n

The study tested a widely used mindfulness program that includes 2 1\/2 hours of weekly classes and 45 minutes of daily practice at home. Participants were randomly assigned to the program or everyday use of a generic drug sold under the brand name Lexapro for depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n

After two months, anxiety, as measured on a severity scale, declined by about 30 percent in both groups and continued to decrease during the following four months.<\/p>\n

Study results,\u00a0published last Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry<\/a>,\u00a0are timely. In September, an influential U.S. health task force\u00a0recommended<\/a>\u00a0routine anxiety screening for adults. Numerous\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0suggest global anxiety rates have increased recently, related to worries over the pandemic, political and racial unrest, climate change, and financial uncertainties.<\/p>\n

Anxiety disorders include social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and panic attacks. Affected people are troubled by persistent and intrusive worries that interfere with their lives and relationships. In the U.S., anxiety disorders affect 40 percent of U.S. women at some point in their lives and more than 1 in 4 men, according to data cited in U.S. Preventive Services Task Force screening recommendations.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that emphasizes focusing only on what\u2019s happening at the moment and dismissing intrusive thoughts. Sessions often start with breathing exercises. Next might be \u201cbody scans\u201d \u2014 thinking about each body part systematically, head to toe. When anxious thoughts intrude, participants learn to acknowledge them briefly but then dismiss them.<\/p>\n

\"meditation\"
Pixabay\/Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead of ruminating over the troubling thought, \u201cyou say, \u2018I\u2019m having this thought, let that go for now,\u201d\u2019 said lead author Elizabeth Hoge, director of Georgetown University\u2019s Anxiety Disorders Research Program. With practice, \u201cIt changes the relationship people have with their own thoughts when not meditating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous studies have shown mindfulness works better than no treatment or at least as well as education or more formal behavior therapy in reducing anxiety, depression, and other mental woes. But this is the first study to test it against a psychiatric drug, Hoge said, and the results could make insurers more likely to cover costs, which can run $300 to $500 for an 8-week session.<\/p>\n

The results were based on about 200 adults who completed the six-month study at medical centers in Washington, Boston, and New York. Researchers used a psychiatric scale of 1 to 7, with the top number reflecting severe anxiety. The average score was about 4.5 for participants before starting treatment. It dropped to about three after two months, then dipped slightly in both groups at three and six months. Hoge said the change was clinically meaningful, resulting in a noticeable symptom improvement.<\/p>\n

Ten patients on the drug dropped out because of troublesome side effects possibly related to treatment, which included insomnia, nausea, and fatigue. There were no dropouts for that reason in the mindfulness group, although 13 patients reported increased anxiety.<\/p>\n

The study \u201cis reaffirming about how useful mindfulness can be when practiced effectively,\u201d said psychologist Sheehan Fisher, an associate professor at Northwestern University\u2019s Feinberg School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness meditation worked as well as a standard drug for treating anxiety in the first head-to-head comparison. The study tested a widely used mindfulness program that includes 2 1\/2 hours of weekly classes and 45 minutes of daily practice at home. Participants were randomly assigned to the program or everyday use of a generic drug…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":1653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,151,69],"tags":[82,135],"class_list":["post-1647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mental-health","category-stress","category-study","tag-meditation","tag-mindfulness"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Study Reveals That Mindfulness Worked as Well as a Drug For Treating Anxiety<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The study tested a mindfulness program that includes weekly classes and daily practice at home. 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Participants either took the class or generic drug.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2022\/11\/new-study-reveals-that-mindfulness-worked-as-well-as-a-drug-for-treating-anxiety.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Cup of Wellness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-18T15:10:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2022\/11\/meditation-credit-pexels-pixabay-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Study Reveals That Mindfulness Worked as Well as a Drug For Treating Anxiety","description":"The study tested a mindfulness program that includes weekly classes and daily practice at home. 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