Most trials of compare people who took the programme with : people who signed up and were asked to wait without receiving anything. Against nothing, any attention looks useful. What happens against a real alternative?
The gap narrows. Against a waiting list an advantage is easy to see, because any attention beats nothing. But when the same mindfulness programme is compared with a group given a real alternative, such as physical exercise or social support, the difference between the groups shrinks. found exactly that pattern, and also stressed large variation between studies and possible biases.
The question here is subtler than it looks. Not whether mindfulness helps, but relative to what. And that is almost always the question that sets the size of a result.
Most trials in the field compare people who took a programme with people who signed up and were asked to wait. Someone waiting receives no attention, meets no group and does not feel they are doing anything. Against a group like that, almost any organized programme will look successful.
Swap that comparison for an : a group receiving a different real intervention, such as physical exercise or a support meeting. Everything the two share then drops out, the time, the expectation, the commitment and the framework. And the difference shrinks.
The review that gathered forty-four meta-analyses, with more than thirty thousand participants, found exactly that pattern, alongside large variation between studies and possible biases. The conclusion is not that mindfulness fails to help, but that the question is always what you compare it with. And since the review pools different programmes and populations, it says nothing about any particular app or class.
wat. A control group that only waits is not a fair comparison. Against a real alternative, the effect of mindfulness shrinks.
wat wat
It is a reminder that the important question is not only whether a treatment beats nothing, but whether it beats a reasonable alternative.
How do we know?
The authors gathered 44 meta-analyses covering 336 randomized trials and 30,483 participants, and compared no-treatment groups and active control groups separately.
What is still unknown
The review pools different programmes, populations and measures. It gives no single answer about any particular app or meditation class.
Learn something?
Where to next
Does meditation actually change the connections inside the brain?mindfulness
Meditation against chronic pain: real relief or an overstated promise?mindfulness
Does writing down what you are grateful for really change how you feel?meta-analysis