A 9-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for 79 veterans at an urban VA facility led to significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, along with improved mental health functioning. Increases in mindfulness were linked to these improvements. However, pain intensity and physical health functioning did not improve. The findings suggest MBSR can benefit veterans' mental health symptoms that are critical to overall health.
After an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention, people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who responded to the treatment showed large reductions in symptom severity and increases in mindfulness compared to nonresponders. Responders also exhibited widespread changes in brain resting-state functional connectivity, particularly decreased connectivity within the default mode network and between cognitive control and somatomotor networks, which together accounted for 56% of the improvement in IBS symptom severity. These brain changes were linked to reductions in comorbid psychological symptoms. The findings suggest that MBSR may improve IBS symptoms by shifting brain activity from inward, ruminative focus to more externally directed attention to the body and environment.