Mindfulness meditation in women: what is noise and what is evidence? A narrative review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25118/2763-9037.2024.v14.1097Keywords:
mindfulness, women’s health, mental healthAbstract
Introduction: Women’s mental health is influenced by particularities and hormonal variations that can predispose to various mental disorders. Based on evidence from mindfulness meditation practices in general populations, these interventions have the potential to modulate female psychopathology, promoting improvements in mental health. Objectives: This article aims to conduct a narrative review assessing the relationship between mindfulness practice and women's mental health. Methods: The Pubmed, MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane databases were consulted, selecting articles in English published between 2013 and 2023. Results and Discussion: The results of the studies included in this review point to the effectiveness of mindfulness in stress management processes and in promoting emotional regulation in women. Mindfulness meditation practices have been consistently associated with an attenuation in symptoms of conditions specific to women's mental health, such as: premenstrual dysphoric disorder; depression, stress and anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum; perimenopausal stress; sexual dysfunctions and eating disorders, especially episodes of binge eating and emotional eating. Some methodological weaknesses in research on mindfulness meditation in women are also highlighted. Conclusion: Mindfulness practice is proven to be a beneficial intervention with broad applications in women's mental health. The positive impact on the management of pathologies associated with the reproductive cycle and eating disorders is highlighted, recommending the expansion of research with better methodological quality that focuses on therapeutic effects in the spectrum of women's mental health.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Igor Emanuel Vasconcelos e Martins Gomes, Maria Marta Neves de Oliveira, Patrícia Pimenta Lemos, Priscilla Santos Miguel Maistro, Christiane Carvalho Ribeiro, Hewdy Lobo Ribeiro, Jerônimo de Almeida Mendes Ribeiro, Ritele Hernandez da Silva , Antônio Geraldo da Silva, Joel Rennó Junior
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