Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Loving-kindness meditation is a millennia old tradition for increasing positive emotions such as love, kindness, and compassion.To date the only published lovingkindness intervention focused mainly on pain and psychological symptom variables.Thus, the ability of loving-kindness meditation to boost compassion has not been studied in a controlled scientific study.The current study compared the effects of a four-session loving-kindness intervention to a non-intervention control group on the variables of selfcompassion, compassionate love, and trait anxiety.A repeated measures design (pre, post, two month follow-up) showed an overall time by group interaction, and univariate tests revealed that the loving-kindness group showed greater increases in self-compassion and compassionate love at post-treatment, and a greater increase in self-compassion and a greater decrease in trait anxiety at follow-up.The Discussion highlights the potential for future research into methods of boosting compassionate attitudes and emotions as well as exploring the potential secondary benefits of these attitudes and emotions.
Author: David Weibel
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2337054763