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Original poster

Guess what? Mindfulness in secondary schools turns out to be crap

32 replies

noblegiraffe · 26/09/2017 18:52

Extensive trials of mindfulness in secondary schools shows no measurable benefits in terms of a wide range of psychological measures including anxiety and depression.

The failure is being blamed on teens being too cynical.

digest.bps.org.uk/2017/09/26/perhaps-teens-are-too-cynical-to-benefit-from-mindfulness-say-authors-of-latest-negative-school-trial/

OP posts:
Ta1kinPeece · 27/09/2017 17:50

noble
There is a massive evidence base for MBSR (mindfulness based stress relief) and for CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy)
they are linked
and the principle of starting in teenage years is presumably to stop them turning into adults in need of greater interventions

on which basis I support the effort
but it has to be tried in enough ways to find the one that works.

Helping kids to cope with stress and pressure without needing as much alcohol as our generation seems to
or as many weird pills as the middle one seems to
HAS to be a good thing

nocampinghere · 27/09/2017 14:12

hmmm DD1 did it in yr7 and said it was relaxing but boring
however since she did it she has got into colouring books. She must have got that idea from somewhere!

DD2 is doing it at the moment. says its boring. they have to "sit up straight" and relax and be still according to her. They might have more luck with mats / beanbags?

corythatwas · 27/09/2017 12:26

But noblegiraffe, wouldn't that depend on whether we had any evidence that it had worked with a different selection, for a different problem, in a different setting? After all, you probably wouldn't improve the general wellbeing of a random bunch of teenagers by feeding them painkillers but for the ones who were in pain it might actually make a difference.

For my dd, who was a) experiencing a genuine and clearly defined problem b) anxious to work hard at any technique she was taught, mindfulness was a very useful part of treatment and actually did a lot of good. Otoh nothing that required patient participation did any good with her brother who was also struggling but suspicious and refusing to engage. And it would have been a complete waste of time for me at that age because I wasn't struggling and had other things I wanted to get on with.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 27/09/2017 07:43

Too cynical teens. Wrong age teens. Teens who didn't want to do it.

Maybe it's not the teens that are the problem? If something is shown not to work then the usual scientific response is to conclude that the intervention didn't work. It's only when people are particularly wedded to something working that they then start blaming the patients when it doesn't

The correct response to this would not be 'we need to try it with slightly different aged teens with a less cynical outlook who have chosen to be there'. It would be 'let's abandon this and get on with stuff with an evidence-base'.

OP posts:
corythatwas · 27/09/2017 01:05

What whathave said. Also, probably older teens would be better target area.

whathaveiforgottentoday · 26/09/2017 21:24

Only works if the person involves wants to be involved. Having mindfulness foisted on you is never going to work. Would be better if it was a lunchtime club for those who want to do it.

Ta1kinPeece · 26/09/2017 19:18

I'm a big fan of mindfulness - it works really well to make me mildly less psychotic.
But the version in that article sounds like a bunch of Woo.

Teens ARE cynical
but "skills to cope with stress" which is what mindfulness really is
need to be introduced in a focused manner, not by quizzes and posters.

It definitely has its place for teenagers but I'm pretty sure the classroom is not the right one.

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