The comparison of the Facets of Mindfulness among Patients with Major Depression, Generalized anxiety Disorder and Normal Individuals

Mindfulness is a new construct which has held psychiatrists and psychologist's attention in the treatment of many psychological disorders. The use of mindfulness techniques needs more information about the mechanisms of the facets of mindfulness in each disorder. The goal of the present study was to compare the facets of mindfulness among patients with major depression, generalized anxiety disorder and normal individuals. Statistical population of the present study consisted of all of patients who were diagnosed major depression disorder and Generalized anxiety disorder in the counseling center of Mashhad university of medical sciences. Thirty patients with MDD and 30 patients with GAD were recruited among them via available sampling method. Moreover, 30 normal individuals without the diagnosis of MDD and GAD from the staff of Mashhad university of medical sciences were recruited and matched to the depressed and anxious groups on the basis of age, gender and lack of medical and other mental diseases. Participants completed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI- II), Speilberger State – Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire. Mean and standard deviation were utilized to analyze the data in the descriptive statistics section. And in the inferential statistics section, MANOVA and Post Hoc Tukey Test were used. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the three groups with regards to the facets of mindfulness. In other words, there were significant differences between anxious and normal groups and also depressed and normal individuals with regards to the scores in the facets of Observing, Describing and Acting with awareness (P<0.0001). There were also significant differences between anxious and depressed groups and anxious and normal individuals in the facet of Nonjudging (P<0.0001). Moreover, significant differences were found between anxious- depressed (P < 0.001), anxious- normal (P<0.0001) and depressed- normal (P<0.05) groups with regards to the scores in the facet of Nonreacting. It can be concluded that patients with MDD and GAD compared to normal individuals have lower scores in the facets of mindfulness. Therefore, mindfulness- based treatments can facilitate the process of the treatment and improve the symptoms of such disorders via focusing on the five facets of mindfulness.