The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Depression, Anxiety and Stress in women with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is one of the most common diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Stressors along with anxiety and depression, reduce a person's ability to cope with life's problems and play an important role in exacerbating the symptoms of GERD. Women are more fragile and vulnerable in this situation. This study investigates the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction on depression, anxiety, and stress in women with gastroesophageal reflux disease.

The present study is a pre-test, post-test and follow-up design. Sampling was done purposefully, in which 30 women with gastroesophageal reflux disease who were referred to Hazrat Rasool Akram Hospital in Tehran were randomly selected. They were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent stress reduction-based mindfulness training in 8sessions in 2-hour. The control group did not receive any training. Data were collected using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). All participants completed the questionnaire at three time points (pre-test, post-test, follow-up). Data obtained from the research were analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA and MANCOVA) using SPSS software.

The results showed that stress-based mindfulness training is effective in reducing depression, anxiety and stress in women. (p<0.05)

The results showed that the effectiveness of stress-based mindfulness therapy could be used as a complementary intervention method along with other common therapies to improve depression, anxiety and stress in women with gastroesophageal reflux disease.