A nine-week meditation-based program called 'Open and Calm' (OC), which trains relaxed, receptive attention and non-intervening witnessing, reduced perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and sleep disturbances while improving quality of life and mental health compared to treatment as usual. Improvements were sustained three months later and were unrelated to age, gender, education, or whether the program was done individually or in a group. The dropout rate was only 6%. The program shows promise for public mental health promotion and reducing stress-related illness.
Most Dutch ecstasy users start out of curiosity and later stop automatically due to loss of interest or life changes like a new job or relationship, not because of health concerns. Users apply various harm reduction strategies, but inconsistently and sometimes incorrectly. The findings suggest that health promotion efforts should focus on improving consistent and correct harm reduction practices rather than trying to induce cessation.