An 8-week compassion and mindfulness–based exposure therapy program improves posttraumatic stress symptoms

Abstract

The persistence of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) can be debilitating. However, many people experiencing such symptoms may not qualify for or may not seek treatment. Potentially contributing to ongoing residual symptoms of PTSS is emotion dysregulation. Meanwhile, the research area of mindfulness and compassion has grown to imply emotion regulation as one of its underlying mechanisms; yet, its influence on emotion regulation in PTSS cohort is unknown. Here, we explored the potential effectiveness of an 8-week Compassion-oriented and Mindfulness-based Exposure Therapy (CoMET) for individuals with PTSS using a waitlist control design. A total of 28 individuals (27 females, age range = 18–39 years) participated in the study (17 CoMET; 11 waitlist control). Following CoMET, participants reported significant decreases in PTSS severity (from clinical to non-clinical levels), emotion dysregulation and experiential avoidance, as well as significant increases in mindfulness, self-compassion and quality of life. Electroencephalogram-based brain network connectivity analysis revealed an increase in alpha-band connectivity following CoMET in a network that includes the amygdala, suggesting that CoMET successfully induced changes in functional connectivity between brain regions that play a crucial role in emotion regulation. In sum, the current study demonstrated promising intervention outcomes of CoMET in effectively alleviating the symptoms of PTSS via enhanced emotion regulation.