Mindfulness- and Acceptance-based Treatment for Older Adults: A Literature Review

Mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions (MBI)have been suggested to be a suitable treatment alternative for older adults, as these interventions are easily administered in groups and can be tailored to the patients' level of functioning. The aim of this study was to review existing evidence for the effect and feasibility of MBI for older adults. MBI outcome trials with participants who were 55 years (range: 55 - 88) or older were included in the review. Eight studies were found, of which five were mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) trials for chronic pain, and three were trials of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for depressive conditions. The MBSR trials demonstrated large effects for pain-acceptance, while showing only small effects for pain-experience. Significantly more chronically depressed recovered using anti-depressants when receiving also DBT treatment. MBCT treatment showed potential for depression relapse prevention. All trials were found feasible for older adults. The reviewed studies suggest promising effects of MBI for older adults. However, so far only few studies have been conducted, all with small and possibly biased samples, and/or without adequate experimental control. Larger controlled trials are needed to assess reliably the effects of MBI for older adults