Mindfulness Helps Reduce Sadness

Sometimes, humans get swallowed up by negative emotions to a point that is unhelpful in letting us move forward with our lives, and which keeps us from feeling calm or joy. The study of emotion regulation investigates how we can best manage these negative emotions. One of the best strategies this field of study has found is called cognitive reappraisal. This strategy involves reinterpreting our situation as being more positive, when our natural inclination might be to make more negative evaluations. Recent research at Duke University compares mindfulness to reappraisal in terms of how well it helps people cope with sadness.

In this study a total of 129 participants were split into three groups and were given trainings in either mindfulness or reappraisal, or were given no training at all. They were then induced to feel sadness. Results indicate that both mindfulness and reappraisal equally helped people feel less sad, as compared to those who had received no training. Afterwards, participants were given cognitive tasks to measure if one method took more cognitive resources, or took more effort than the other. Because people in the mindfulness condition did better on the cognitive tasks, researchers concluded that mindfulness is less cognitively depleting than reappraisal.

Further, regardless of condition and before undergoing any training, all participants were measured based on how much they normally utilize the strategy of reappraisal and their trait level of mindfulness. Interestingly, those who were high in trait mindfulness, but not those who habitually practiced emotion regulation experienced greater reductions in sadness.