Many people carry emotional pain from childhood without even realizing how deeply it affects daily life.
A new study shows that mindfulness practices may reduce depression symptoms, especially in people who experienced abuse or neglect early in life.
Researchers at Brown University led this important study. Professor Eric Loucks, a professor of medicine, epidemiology, and behavioral and social sciences, and director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown, guided the research.
The findings suggest that caring for the mind can improve both emotional and physical health.
Studying mindfulness programs
The research team enrolled 201 adults. Out of this group, 101 participants joined the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction Program.
The other 100 participants received enhanced usual care. This care included home blood pressure monitors, access to a physician, and health education materials.
The main goal of the program was to lower blood pressure. However, the researchers also wanted to examine mental health.
The team measured early life adversity, which includes experiences such as childhood abuse and neglect. Over six months, the researchers tracked blood pressure, health habits, and depression symptoms.
Depression improved after mindfulness
After six months, participants in the mindfulness program showed clear improvement in depression symptoms. Even though the program focused on heart health, mental well-being improved as well.
“In this program, that was primarily designed to lower blood pressure while addressing whole-person health, we also saw that mental well-being, particularly around depression symptoms, improved in participants that went through the program,” Loucks said.
“The findings suggest that cultivating mindful self-regulation skills – such as self-awareness, attention control and emotion regulation – may help interrupt maladaptive patterns shaped by past experiences.”
How the practice helps
Mindfulness teaches people to pay attention to the present moment. A person learns to notice thoughts and emotions without reacting immediately. This practice builds self awareness and emotional control.
These skills matter because early life adversity can shape how the brain responds to stress.
A child who experiences neglect or abuse may develop patterns of fear, sadness, or self doubt. As an adult, those patterns can lead to depression or unhealthy habits.
Mindfulness can help interrupt these patterns. Instead of reacting automatically to stress, a person can pause, breathe, and respond calmly. Over time, this new way of responding can reduce depression symptoms.
Biggest gains after neglect
The study found something even more interesting. Participants who experienced childhood neglect showed greater improvement in depression symptoms compared to those who did not face such adversity.
A similar trend appeared in people with a history of childhood abuse, although the effect was slightly smaller.
“If we look at everyday folks out in the world, those that had exposure to early life adversity, like abuse and neglect, tend to have worse mental health and also worse cardiovascular health,” Loucks said.
Mindfulness helps trauma responses
“Mindfulness interventions help by regulating our emotions better when different challenges come up,” said Loucks.
“For someone who has experienced childhood neglect or abuse, mindfulness training can help us make sense of that and respond skillfully to this moment in time.”
Early stress does not simply disappear with age. It can affect heart health, body weight, and emotional stability.
This study shows that mindfulness may offer a practical way to improve both mental and physical outcomes.
Early life adversity and mindfulness
Professor Loucks has studied social determinants of health for over 15 years. Social determinants include factors such as childhood experiences, education, income, and environment.
His research has explored how early life adversity affects cardiovascular health, body mass index, and blood pressure.
“I came to a point where I wanted to not just document it, but do something about it, and I wondered if mindfulness training might help,” said Professor Loucks.
“I’d gone through a lot of mindfulness training myself outside of work and started to get trained up in mindfulness programs that are specific to health contexts.”
Professor Loucks first studied the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. The National Institutes of Health funded two clinical trials of this program. Both trials showed that mindfulness training reduced blood pressure.
After seeing those results, Loucks wanted to examine the program from a whole-person perspective.
A meaningful milestone
Professor Loucks shared this work during a keynote address at the U.S. DOHaD Society.
DOHaD stands for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, a field that studies how early-life experiences shape long-term health.
“It felt like a coming-home moment to see that this intervention, originally developed to address psychosocial factors that influence health, had even stronger effects among people with early-life adversity, particularly on depression,” said Professor Loucks.
“It’s been about a 15-year arc of research that culminated in these findings.”
This study sends a hopeful message. Simple practices such as mindful breathing and focused attention can improve emotional health.
For individuals who experienced childhood neglect or abuse, mindfulness may provide a safe and effective path toward healing.
The study is published in the journal Health Psychology.
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