Prevalence and 20-year trends in meditation, yoga, guided imagery and progressive relaxation use among US adults from 2002 to 2022.

Meditation, yoga, guided imagery, and progressive relaxation are promoted as complementary approaches for health and wellbeing in the United States, but their uptake by different sociodemographic groups is unclear. This study assessed the prevalence and 20 year trends in the use of these practices in US adults between 2002-2022. We examined practice use and associations with sociodemographic and health factors in a population-weighted analysis of n = 134,959 participants across 5 cycles of the National Health Interview Survey. The overall use of meditation (18.3%, 60.53 million), yoga (16.8%, 55.78 million) and guided imagery/progressive relaxation (6.7%, 22.22 million) increased significantly from 2002 to 2022. Growth was consistent across most sociodemographic and health strata, however users of 'Other' race (comprising 54% Indigenous Americans, Odds Ratios; ORs = 1.28-1.70) and users with moderate (ORs = 1.19-1.29) psychological distress were overrepresented across all practices, and those with severe psychological distress were overrepresented in meditation (OR = 1.33) and guided imagery/progressive relaxation (OR = 1.42). Meditation use has accelerated over time for 65 + year olds (OR = 4.22), people not accessing mental health care (OR = 1.39), and less educated (OR = 4.02) groups, potentially reflecting unmet health needs. Health professionals should consider the extensive use of complementary practices in service and treatment planning and consider their risks and benefits.

Reducing alexithymia and increasing interoceptive awareness: A randomized controlled trial comparing mindfulness with dyadic socio-emotional app-based practice.

BACKGROUND: Emotion processing deficits of alexithymia are a transdiagnostic risk factor. While such deficits are malleable, the differential efficacy of brief scalable digital mental trainings remains understudied. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial probed the efficacy of mindfulness-based (MB) and partner-based socio-emotional Affect Dyad (SE) practice, both supported by weekly coaching sessions, in reducing alexithymia in 285 adult participants. We investigated the predictive role of interoceptive awareness assessed a) before and after daily practice, b) in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) before and after the intervention, and c) weekly during the 10-week intervention. RESULTS: Both interventions reduced emotion processing difficulties on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Similarly, both interventions improved interoceptive awareness immediately after daily practice and after the intervention period, yet SE outperformed MB training in EMA assessments. Further, only Dyad practice led to increases in body listening and self-regulatory aspects of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) over time, with the latter explaining a decrease in alexithymia. LIMITATIONS: Given the subclinical study sample, findings are limited in their generalizability to clinical samples. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that app-based socio-emotional and mindfulness-based practices, supported by online coaching sessions, are effective in reducing emotion processing deficits. Dyad training showed advantages on some measures of body awareness, which predicted observed changes in alexithymia. This highlights the potential of using app-based dyadic approaches in the development of emotion awareness and regulation.