Absence of structural brain changes from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Description: Meditation-naïve participants completed 2 structural MRI scans in this combined dataset from two, 3-arm randomized controlled trials. The first scan (T1) occurred pre-randomization, and the second scan (T2) occurred after the intervention period. After the first (baseline) MRI scan, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, the Health Enhancement Program (HEP) active control intervention, or a waitlist control intervention. We examined the impact of MBSR on changes in brain structure by comparing changes in GMV (T2-T1) for MBSR compared to controls.