Study: MBSR helps breast cancer survivors with depression

Study reveals that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training effectively helps breast cancer survivors cope with emotional distress.

Rod Meade Sperry
5 January 2012

Via Mindful.org: A women’s health study, published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research, has revealed that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training effectively helps breast cancer survivors cope with emotional distress.

Researchers at the University of Missouri’s Sinclair School of Nursing in the US provided such patients with group sessions for eight to ten weeks and found their respiratory rate, pulse and blood pressure were lowered and their mood improved after participating in the program.

Previous research has shown 50 percent of those who have had the disease suffer from depression. Professor of nursing Jane Armer said: “Post diagnosis, breast cancer patients often feel like they have no control over their lives.

“Knowing that they can control something — such as meditation — and that it will improve their health, gives them hope that life will be normal again,” she added.

Rod Meade Sperry. Photo by Megumi Yoshida, 2024

Rod Meade Sperry

Rod Meade Sperry is the editor of Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar’s online source for committed Buddhists, and the book A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation: Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary Buddhist Teachers. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his partner and their tiny pup, Sid.