Focus on Your Breathing: Does Meditation Help Lower Rumination and Depressive Symptoms?

The present study examines the relationships between meditation, rumination and depressive symptoms. Research to date has found that individuals who meditate experience less ruminative thinking and have lower depressive symptoms than individuals who do not meditate. While most psychological studies in this area examined the influence of controlled attention focused therapies on rumination and depression, this study describes the relationships between these indices in a non-clinical population. We hypothesize that: 1) The longer meditators practice meditation, the less they will experience ruminative thinking and depressive symptoms; 2) Meditators will have less ruminative thinking and depressive symptoms than non-meditators; 3) Different measures of meditation and ruminative thinking will negatively predict depressive symptoms; and 4) The relation between ruminative thinking and depressive symptoms will be positive and stronger among non-meditators than among meditators. 150 participants, about half of them practicing meditation, were sampled via social networks and answered questions pertaining to ruminative thinking, depressive symptoms and their meditation practice. Participants who practiced meditation for a longer period of time reported less rumination and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, meditators experienced significantly less ruminative thinking (but not depressive symptoms) than non-meditators. Moreover, rumination was found to positively predict depressive symptoms, while meditation measures did not. Finally, the relationship between ruminative thinking and depressive symptoms was found to be positive, significant and stronger among non-meditators than among meditators. Persistent meditation may have long lasting effects on lowering ruminative thinking and depressive symptom