What research says about meditation programmes and mental wellbeing

Research details

The review included 136 randomised trials with 11,605 adults across 29 countries.

Compared with no intervention, mindfulness-based programmes improved anxiety, depression, psychological distress, and mental wellbeing on average.

Compared with other active activities, depression improved, but anxiety and distress did not show reliable improvement.

Results varied between studies, and the findings do not mean everyone will benefit equally.

The evidence concerns in-person, teacher-led mindfulness-based programmes, not every type of meditation.

Teaser

A large review found that teacher-led mindfulness programmes were linked with better mental-health outcomes in generally healthy adults, although results varied and comparisons with other activities were less certain.

Source Title

Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Plain Summary

A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis brought together results from 136 randomised controlled trials involving 11,605 adults in 29 countries. The participants were generally healthy and did not have diagnosed mental disorders. The research examined in-person, teacher-led mindfulness-based programmes and their effects on mental health.

Compared with people who received no intervention, those taking part in these programmes showed average improvements in several areas. Anxiety, depression, and psychological distress were lower, while mental wellbeing was higher. The size of these average differences ranged from small to moderate. In everyday terms, the programmes appeared to offer a meaningful but not dramatic improvement for some mental-health outcomes.

The picture was less clear when the programmes were compared with active control groups—people taking part in another activity or programme rather than receiving no intervention. Depression showed improvement in this comparison, but the review found no reliable evidence that mindfulness programmes improved anxiety or psychological distress more than these other activities.

These findings describe average results across many studies; they do not mean that every person will experience the same change. The studies also differed from one another, and this variation makes the overall results less uniform. In addition, the findings apply specifically to the mindfulness-based programmes included in the research. They should not automatically be presented as proof that every form of meditation has the same effects.

Because this was a review of randomised controlled trials, it provides a broad and useful assessment of the evidence. Still, the findings are best understood as showing that these programmes may support mental wellbeing, particularly when compared with doing nothing, rather than proving that they will produce a particular result for any individual. Meditation may be one possible part of a person’s approach to mental health, alongside other appropriate forms of support.

Practical Takeaway

This large review suggests that in-person, teacher-led mindfulness programmes may help generally healthy adults feel less anxious, depressed, or psychologically distressed and may support better wellbeing—especially compared with receiving no intervention. The average benefits were small to moderate, and they were not consistent across every comparison. When mindfulness was compared with another active programme or activity, only depression showed a reliable improvement. In simple terms, mindfulness may be a helpful option for some people, but it is not a guaranteed solution, and these results should not automatically be applied to every form of meditation.