Citation

Hjeltnes A, Molde H, Schanche E, Vøllestad J, Lillebostad Svendsen J, Moltu C, Binder PE. Scand. J. Psychol. 2016; 58(1): 80-90.

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Scandinavian Psychological Associations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sjop.12342

PMID

27929608

Abstract

The present study investigated mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for young adults with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) in an open trial. Fifty-three young adults in a higher education setting underwent a standard eight-week MBSR program. Eight participants (15%) did not complete the program. Participants reported significant reductions in SAD symptoms and global psychological distress, as well as increases in mindfulness, self-compassion, and self-esteem. Using intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses, effect sizes ranged from large to moderate for SAD symptoms (Cohen's d = 0.80) and global psychological distress (d = 0.61). Completer analyses yielded large effect sizes for SAD symptoms (d = 0.96) and global psychological distress (d = 0.81). The largest effect sizes were found for self-compassion (d = 1.49) and mindfulness (d = 1.35). Two thirds of the participants who were in the clinical range at pretreatment reported either clinically significant change (37%) or reliable improvement (31%) on SAD symptoms after completing the MBSR program, and almost two thirds reported either clinically significant change (37%) or reliable improvement (26%) on global psychological distress. MBSR may be a beneficial intervention for young adults in higher education with SAD, and there is a need for more research on mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions for SAD.

© 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Language: en