The Impact of Mindfulness as a Session-Introduction on Symptoms and Alliance in Individual Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy With Children and Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Julia Kalmar, Ines Baumann, Elena Schleiting et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This randomized controlled trial examined whether beginning individual cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions with mindfulness improved symptoms or therapeutic alliance among 90 outpatient adolescents aged 11–19 years with depression, an anxiety disorder, or a hyperkinetic disorder. Mindfulness was compared with session-opening relaxation and with no standardized introduction. Multilevel analyses found that symptoms decreased significantly over time with mindfulness compared with no standardized introduction, but not compared with relaxation. Patient-rated alliance increased with mindfulness and decreased with no standardized introduction; therapist-rated alliance increased over time without group differences.
Key findings
- Symptoms decreased significantly over time with mindfulness versus no standardized session introduction, but not versus relaxation.
- Patient-rated therapeutic alliance increased with mindfulness and decreased with no standardized introduction; relaxation showed no statistically meaningful change.
- Therapist-rated alliance increased over time, with no differences between groups.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that a brief mindfulness-based session opening may be associated with better symptom trajectories and patient-perceived alliance than beginning without a standardized activity. However, the absence of an advantage over relaxation means the results do not establish a mindfulness-specific benefit. The study highlights the potential relevance of how therapy sessions begin while underscoring the need to distinguish mindfulness effects from those of other structured introductions.
What to keep in mind
The study included outpatient adolescents with specified diagnoses, so findings may not generalize to other populations. The authors note that future studies controlling confounding variables are needed.