RESEARCH  STUDIES 

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Below is a selected list of major research studies and/or findings:

 

1982, the first peer-reviewed scientific paper about mindfulness meditation for chronic pain patients was published in General Hospital Psychiatry by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, based on data gathered in the first years of the Stress Reduction Program at UMass Memorial Medical Center. Other papers describing patient outcomes followed in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1995, and 1997.

1992, the Inner-City Stress Reduction Clinic began, offering a free stress reduction program for lower-income, inner-city participants in Worcester, MA. The program and associated study continued for seven years, with over 500 people completing the program.

1992, the Massachusetts Committee on Criminal Justice funded a $1M project to bring MBSR to the state prison population. This program continued for 4 years and served 1,350 inmates. In 2006, Marlene Samuelson, PhD, along with James Carmody, PhD, et al, published in Prison Journal, the results, showing substantial reductions in hostility and mood disturbance, and increases in self-esteem.

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1998, Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues published a randomized trial in Psychosomatic Medicine demonstrating a four-fold increase in the rate of skin clearing in patients with psoriasis practicing mindfulness, while receiving phototherapy.

2003, with Richard Davidson, PhD, Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues published a study in Psychosomatic Medicine showing positive changes in brain activity, emotional processing under stress, and immune function in people taking an MBSR course in a corporate work setting in a randomized clinical trial.

 

2003, the Center received the first federally funded DOD grant to study stress reduction and prostate cancer; James Carmody, PhD, principal investigator.

2006, the Center’s clinical research infrastructure supported two NIH-funded studies of MBSR for hot flashes and asthma in adult populations. James Carmody, PhD, and Lori Pbert, PhD, principal investigators. Pilot data from the hot flash study suggested preliminary positive evidence of the feasibility and efficacy of MBSR in supporting women who are experiencing severe hot flashes. Data from the asthma study suggested MBSR produced lasting and clinically significant improvements in asthma-related quality of life and stress in patients with persistent asthma, without improvements in lung function.

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2008, Drs. David Ludwig and Jon Kabat-Zinn published the “Mindfulness in Medicine” article in the Journal of the American Medical Association exploring clinical applications, research challenges, and possible mechanisms of action.

2011, Drs. Britta Hölzel, James Carmody, et al, published “Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density” in Psychiatry Research. Anatomical magnetic resonance (MR) images from 16 healthy, meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the 8-week program. The results suggested that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.