• Rachel E Goldsmith, James I Gerhart, Samantha A Chesney, John W Burns, Brighid Kleinman, and Megan M Hood.
• Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA Rachel.Goldsmith@mssm.edu.
• J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2014 Oct 1;19(4):227-34.

AbstractMindfulness-based psychotherapies are associated with reductions in depression and anxiety. However, few studies address whether mindfulness-based approaches may benefit individuals with posttraumatic stress symptoms. The current pilot study explored whether group mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy reduced posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, and negative trauma-related appraisals in 9 adult participants who reported trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress or depression. Participants completed 8 sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment, as well as pretreatment, midtreatment, and posttreatment assessments of psychological symptoms, acceptance of emotional experiences, and trauma appraisals. Posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, and shame-based trauma appraisals were reduced over the 8-week period, whereas acceptance of emotional experiences increased. Participants' self-reported amount of weekly mindfulness practice was related to increased acceptance of emotional experiences from pretreatment to posttreatment. Results support the utility of mindfulness-based therapies for posttraumatic stress symptoms and reinforce studies that highlight reducing shame and increasing acceptance as important elements of recovery from trauma.© The Author(s) 2014.

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