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Mental Relief: Mindfulness Training May Reduce Paranoia

Mindfulness Paranoia

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In news that may be useful for people dealing with the stress of the global pandemic, researchers from the University of London have found that just one week of practicing mindfulness—moment-to-moment awareness—reduces feelings of paranoia. The research, published in the journal Mindfulness, was based on questionnaires of 494 people, enabling researchers to find a correlation between paranoia and judgemental thinking. They found that higher levels of nonjudgement predicted lower levels of paranoia, even in individuals that had a predisposition for it. Then, 68 people were selected and divided into two groups: one that was asked to go through a prerecorded, guided mindfulness session once per day, and one that acted as a control. The session consisted of a quick body scan, mindful breathing and awareness exercises. The results showed a drop in judgmental thinking and paranoia in the mindfulness group.