Role of mindfulness in dissociative disorders among adolescents

CONTEXT: Dissociation is understood as maladaptive coping and is common in children and adolescents. Treatment outcome studies show improvement in comorbid conditions suggesting the need to implement programs that target dissociative pathology. AIM: To study the effect of practicing mindfulness among adolescents diagnosed with dissociative disorders. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: It was a hospital-based repeated measures design. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 7 adolescents participated in a mindfulness-based therapeutic program for 6 weeks. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Scores were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Friedman test was used to assess significance of the difference in scores at various assessment phases. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for post hoc analysis. RESULTS: Participants were mostly female adolescents from rural, Eastern India. There was a significant reduction in dissociative experiences and significant improvement in mindfulness. CONCLUSIONS: Incorporating mindfulness in clinical practice may prove effective in reducing dissociation and promoting adaptive functioning.