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Ontological Addiction Theory is a metaphysical theory of mental illness which conceptualises psychological suffering in terms of excessive ego-centeredness. This study aimed to develop and validate the Ontological Addiction Scale (OAS) and compare OAS scores with mental health measures. A 31-item prototype scale was developed based on traditional Buddhist theory and contemporary models of addiction. An ego-centeredness form of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI) was the main criterion measure. For mental health measures, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used. The prototype OAS and two shorter versions showed excellent internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Construct validity was evidenced by medium to large correlations with criterion measures. OAS scores showed strong correlations with PHQ-9, GAD-7 and RSES, suggesting a clear relationship between OAS and mental health. The OAS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument suitable for assessing OA.

Consanguineous marriage is associated with increased risk of congenital physical disabilities, as well as behavioural and mental health problems among consanguineous offspring. Furthermore, mental health problems have been highlighted as being prevalent among women involved in consanguineous marriages. Despite this, there has been limited research exploring the lived experiences of consanguineous marriage among women living in the United Arab Emirates, where up to 39% of all marriages are consanguineous. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of Emirati women involved in a consanguineous marriage in order to improve understanding of the experiential challenges faced by such individuals. Six Emirati women involved in a consanguineous marriage attended a focus group, and a thematic analysis of the interview transcript was subsequently undertaken. Five master themes emerged from the dataset: (i) Reasons for Marrying Consanguineously, (ii) Awareness and Fear of Hereditary Diseases, (iii) Emotional and Psychological Challenges, (iv) Coping Mechanisms, and (v) Confidence in Consanguineous Marriages. The master themes indicated a high level of family and parental influence as well as a cultural/traditional paradigm as being key causes for entering into a consanguineous marriage. Emotional and mental health challenges arouse due to the fear of genetic problems among offspring as well as difficulties coming to terms with consanguineous marriage dynamics. Self-help coping strategies were identified such as participants turning to religion in times of need, while shunning professional psychological help. Despite these challenges, participants generally retained confidence in the consanguineous marriage process. Findings shed light on the personal and health challenges experienced by Emirati women involved in consanguineous marriages, and highlight the need for further research to better understand the support needs of this population group.

While there is a growing understanding of the relationship between mindfulness and compassion, this largely relates to the form of mindfulness employed in first-generation mindfulness-based interventions such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Consequently, there is limited knowledge of the relationship between mindfulness and compassion in respect of the type of mindfulness employed in second-generation mindfulness-based interventions (SG-MBIs), including those that employ the principle of working harmoniously as a “secular sangha.” Understanding this relationship is important because research indicates that perceived emotional synchrony (PES) and shared flow—that often arise during participation in harmonized group contemplative activities—can enhance outcomes relating to compassion, subjective well-being, and group identity fusion. This pilot study analyzed the effects of participation in a mindful-dancing SG-MBI on compassion and investigated the mediating role of shared flow and PES. A total of 130 participants were enrolled into the study that followed a quasi-experimental design with an intervention and control group. Results confirmed the salutary effect of participating in a collective mindful-dancing program, and demonstrated that shared flow and PES fully meditated the effects of collective mindfulness on the kindness and common humanity dimensions of compassion. Further research is warranted to explore whether collective mindfulness approaches, such as mindful dancing, may be a means of enhancing compassion and subjective well-being outcomes due to the mediating role of PES and shared flow.

School-based mindfulness interventions have recently shown promise for treating and preventing mental health issues in young people. However, the literature lacks a high-level perspective of the impact of mindfulness on young people’s mental health according to their own first-hand accounts. Therefore, the objective of this study was to conduct the first systematic review and thematic synthesis to rigorously evaluate the qualitative evidence pertaining to students’ experiences of school-based MBIs. The following electronic databases were searched for qualitative school-based mindfulness intervention papers published up until the end of March 2019: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. An assessment of study quality was undertaken using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme qualitative checklist. The initial literature search returned 4102 papers and seven studies met all of the inclusion criteria. The thematic synthesis identified four major themes of (i) using attentional processes to regulate emotions and cognitions, (ii) stress reduction, (iii) improved coping and social skills, and (iv) calming and/or relaxation. Findings show that school-based MBIs are experienced by students as having a range of benefits to mental health, including in both preventative and treatment contexts. However, efforts should be made to improve methodological quality, including taking steps to minimise recall bias and provide a greater degree of transparency regarding how students are selected to attend qualitative interviews or focus groups.

International audience; Bypassing a reductionist view of existing diagnostic categories, ontological addiction theory (OAT) is a new psychological model of human functioning. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), defined as "a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity", is not only common (up to 20% of psychiatric inpatients), but also strongly associated with suicide attempts and death by suicide. Therefore, BPD constitutes a major public health concern. As a consequence of an underlying condition of ontological addiction, self-harming behaviors can be conceptualized as addictions, suicidal acts reflecting an experiential avoidance strategy against unbearable psychological pain. The present paper aims at: (1) understanding BPD daily life experiences from the perspective of OAT; (2) offering psychotherapeutic perspectives for this mental disorder. The diagnostic category of BDP may be understood as a simple label reflecting several extreme types of manifestations resulting from the Self-grasping ignorance that underpins ontological addiction. Therefore, development of psychotherapeutic interventions targeting ontological addiction appears to be a promising future direction.

Social validity (SV) is a concept used in intervention research and is concerned with the overall acceptability, relevance, and utility of an intervention to all intervention stakeholders. SV not only takes into account efficacy in respect of the pre-defined study outcomes, but also participants’ perceptions of the intervention as well as the wider social context in which it will be applied. There are a growing number of mindfulness-based educational programs (MBEPs) being empirically evaluated and implemented in educational settings. However, due to a lack of scientifically validated instruments that can assess SV in MBEPs, a systematic evaluation of SV in such programs has not been undertaken to date. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Social Validity Scale of Mindfulness-Based Programs for Adolescents (Escala de Validez Social de Programas de Mindfulness para Adolescentes—EVSPM-A), composed of 20 items. The sample comprised 512 compulsory secondary education and high school students (mean age = 14.5; SD = 1.57) from three Spanish educational centers that had completed an MBEP known as the TREVA Program. The final version of the scale showed good psychometric properties and factor analyses yielded five factors: global impact-satisfaction, acceptance and viability, individual perceived effectiveness, perceived classroom climate; training feasibility, and applicability of techniques. The EVSPM-A appears to be a suitable means of assessing SV in MBEPs delivered to adolescents. Using the EVSPM-A to evaluate SV can help improve the implementation and long-term efficacy of MBEPs.

Business ethics have come under increasing scrutiny recently due to various corporate scandals. This has prompted a need for research into the characteristics of people drawn to the business world and the education they receive. This study (i) evaluates the levels of ethical judgement, mental health, motivation, and self-compassion in 144 UK business students and (ii) assesses the relationships between these variables. A high proportion of respondents (i) believed that other students would behave unethically, whilst they themselves would not, and (ii) had a high level of anxiety, extrinsic motivation and self-compassion. Extrinsic motivation was associated with participants’ belief that others would behave unethically, whilst intrinsic motivation was associated with strict ethical judgement and self-compassion. Extrinsic motivation and self-compassion were significant explanatory variables for students’ ethical judgement, and self-compassion was a significant explanatory variable for mental health symptoms. This study is unique in examining the facets of ethics, mental health, self-compassion and motivation in business students. Findings have implications for both educators and practitioners since improving ethical behaviour in the future workforce may be achieved by augmenting future employees’ levels of self-compassion and intrinsic motivation, rather than solely administering “ethics training” that has been found to be of limited value. Findings also indicate that such an approach may have utility for improving business students’ mental health.

Research into the effects and mechanisms of mindfulness training draws predominantly on quantitative research. There is a lack of understanding about the subjective experiences of experienced mindfulness meditators, which may provide additional insights into the effects, processes and context of mindfulness training. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of a novel group of experienced mindfulness meditators who practise Vipassana Mahasi (VM) meditation. The study aimed to understand how experienced VM practitioners make sense of the effects of practice and what processes they ascribe to it. Participants attended semistructured interviews, and their responses were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results yielded overarching themes including (a) improvements in hedonic and eudaimonic well-being; (b) insights into self, others and perception of reality; (c) attaining equanimity; and (d) physical and interpersonal difficulties. Participants perceived VM as a ‘cleansing’ process whereby maladaptive responses were eliminated through mindfulness, other supportive mental qualities, decentering and nonattachment. The findings revealed a complex and dynamic set of interdependent outcomes and processes, which are reinforced by Buddhist teachings and ethical practices. This study highlights the need for additional interdisciplinary research into topics such as insight generation and supportive mental qualities cultivated during VM, novel states of well-being informed by Buddhist constructs and interpersonal difficulties related to long-term practice. Findings also suggest that incorporating Buddhist teachings and ethics into mindfulness-based interventions may enhance practitioner understanding and implementation of meditation techniques.

Between 10 and 20% of adolescents worldwide experience a mental health problem within a given 12-month period. Mental health problems impact on an adolescent’s potential to live a fulfilling and productive life and lead to challenges such as stigma, isolation and discrimination. To address this need, in recent years, there has been growing interest into broad-based school-integrated health promotion interventions that seek to build resilience and augment protective factors in adolescents. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) reflect one such approach that have been administered to adolescent populations in both resilience building and treatment contexts. This paper discusses the utility of school-based MBIs as an adolescent health promotion approach and makes recommendations for intervention design, delivery and evaluation. Emerging evidence indicates that school-integrated MBIs may be a cost-effective means of not only meeting government objectives relating to adolescent mental health, but also for improving the wellbeing of teachers and parents. Furthermore, there is growing evidence indicating that mindfulness can elicit improvements in student learning performance and general classroom behaviour. However, notwithstanding these beneficial properties, there remains a need to conduct large-scale empirical investigations that seek to evaluate the effectiveness of school-integrated MBIs at a regional or national level. A further challenge is the need to ensure that mindfulness instructors are able to impart to adolescents an experiential understanding of this ancient contemplative technique.

Spanish Research Network on Preventative Activities and Health Promotion (RD06/0018/0017) and the Aragon Health Sciences Institute.

Despite the fact that there is increasing integration of Buddhist principles and practices into Western mental health and applied psychological disciplines, there appears to be limited understanding in Western psychology of the assumptions that underlie a Buddhist model of mental illness. The concept of ontological addiction was introduced and formulated in order to narrow some of the disconnect between Buddhist and Western models of mental illness, and to foster effective assimilation of Buddhist practices and principles into mental health research and practice. Ontological addiction refers to the maladaptive condition whereby an individual is addicted to the belief that they inherently exist. The purposes of the present paper are to: (i) classify ontological addiction in terms of its definition, symptoms, prevalence, and functional consequences, (ii) examine the etiology of the condition, and (iii) appraise both the traditional Buddhist and contemporary empirical literature in order to outline effective treatment strategies. An assessment of the extent to which ontological addiction meets the clinical criteria for addiction suggests that ontological addiction is a chronic and valid – albeit functionally distinct (i.e., when compared to chemical and behavioral addictions) – form of addiction. However, despite the protracted and pervasive nature of the condition, recent empirical findings add support to ancient Buddhist teachings and suggest that addiction to selfhood can be overcome by a treatment process involving phases of: (i) becoming aware of the imputed self, (ii) deconstructing the imputed self, and (iii) reconstructing a dynamic and non-dual self.

Due to its potential to improve work-related stress and job performance, there is growing interest into the applications of mindfulness in the workplace setting. To date, mindfulness research within occupational psychology has mostly involved First Generation Mindfulness-Based Interventions (FG-MBIs). However, a growing number of researchers, clinicians, and Buddhist teachers/scholars have suggested that FG-MBIs may only partially embody the full potency of mindfulness when compared with its utilisation in traditional Buddhist practice settings. Consequently, recent years have witnessed the early stage evaluation of a number of Second Generation Mindfulness-Based Interventions (SG-MBIs). Although still secular, SG-MBIs are overtly spiritual in aspect and teach mindfulness within a practice infrastructure that integrates what would traditionally be deemed as prerequisites for effective spiritual and meditative development. The purpose of this study was to conduct the first qualitative investigation to analyse the experiences of employed participants receiving training in a SG-MBI. Ten participants were randomly selected from the intervention arm of a randomised controlled trial assessing the effects of meditation awareness training (MAT) on work-related wellbeing and job performance. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse participant experiences of MAT, and six themes emerged from the data-set: (1) changing attitudes towards work, (2) improved job performance, (3) letting go of self, (4) phenomena feed-back effect, (5) wellbeing at work and (6) taking responsibility for one’s spiritual growth. Findings have important implications for the development of authentic mindfulness training programs and suggest that, compared with FG-MBIs, the SG-MBI approach may be tapping into different metacognitive resources.

Mindfulness-based interventions are reported as being efficacious treatments for a variety of psychological and somatic conditions. However, concerns have arisen relating to how mindfulness is operationalized in mindfulness-based interventions and whether its 'spiritual essence' and full potential treatment efficacy have remained intact. This qualitative study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine participant experiences regarding the acceptability and effectiveness of a newly designed secularized intervention called meditation awareness training (MAT) that follows a more traditional Buddhist approach to meditation. Participants (with issues of stress and low mood) reported experiencing improvements in psychological well-being due to receiving MAT. The wider implications are discussed.

Mindfulness has been practiced in the Eastern world for over twenty-five centuries but has only recently become popular in the West. Today, interventions such as “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy” are used within the Western health setting and have proven to be successful techniques for reducing psychological distress. However, a limitation of such interventions is that they tend to apply the practices of mindfulness in an “out of context” manner. To overcome this, a newly formed Meditation Awareness Training (MAT) program focusses on the establishment of solid meditative foundations and integrates various support practices that are traditionally assumed to effectuate a more sustainable quality of well-being. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of MAT for improving psychological well-being in a sub-clinical sample of higher education students with issues of stress, anxiety, and low mood. Utilizing a controlled design, participants of the study (n = 14) undertook an 8-week MAT program and comparisons were made with a control group (n = 11) on measures of self-assessed psychological well-being (emotional distress, positive affect, and negative affect) and dispositional mindfulness. Participants who received MAT showed significant improvements in psychological well-being and dispositional mindfulness over controls. MAT may increase emotion regulation ability in higher education students with issues of stress, anxiety, and low mood. Individuals receiving training in mindfulness meditation may benefit by engendering a broader, more ethically informed, and compassionate intention for their mindfulness practice.