| In the current study, we examined processes that have been proposed to be the active mechanisms that influence behavior change in mindfulness practice. Ninety-five participants completed a series of self-report and behavioral measures that captured different dimensions of mindfulness-related processes; for example, attention, cognitive flexibility, acceptance, and metacognitive awareness. A factor analysis was conducted to examine the common underlying dimension between the self-report measures. The unidimensional factor that resulted reflected psychological flexibility, or flexible responding to thoughts and feelings. One hypothesis was that participants who were more psychologically flexible would respond more effectively to a task after a mood induction procedure was conducted. Results did not support this hypothesis. We also investigated how psychological flexibility was related to psychopathology, specifically posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Of the 95 participants, 31 reported no history of trauma, 32 reported a history of trauma but no current PTSD symptomology, and 32 reported a history of trauma plus current PTSD symptoms. There was a trend indicating that participants who reported trauma plus PTSD symptoms also reported less psychological flexibility. Follow-up analyses revealed that among those participants who reported a trauma history, psychological flexibility significantly predicted PTSD severity after controlling for time since the event and current negative affect. The implications for these findings as well as directions for future research are discussed. |
