From the abstract, there seems to be no indication that the authors believed there was any meaningful distinction between different meditation techniques.
That’s not totally surprising if true; reminds me of the finding that (with a few exceptions) a psychotherapist’s theoretical training doesn’t have much effect on patient outcomes.
I would find it surprising if different meditations techniques did not differ significantly from one another, but did differ significantly from sitting still with your eyes closed. Similarly, if training doesn’t significantly affect psychotherapeutic efficacy, then I would expect psychotherapy not to differ significantly from talking things through with a friend.
Rather, I expect psychotherapy not to differ from talking with a sympathetic person whose social approval you don’t need. People self-censor when talking to friends, even good friends.
From the abstract, there seems to be no indication that the authors believed there was any meaningful distinction between different meditation techniques.
That’s not totally surprising if true; reminds me of the finding that (with a few exceptions) a psychotherapist’s theoretical training doesn’t have much effect on patient outcomes.
I would find it surprising if different meditations techniques did not differ significantly from one another, but did differ significantly from sitting still with your eyes closed. Similarly, if training doesn’t significantly affect psychotherapeutic efficacy, then I would expect psychotherapy not to differ significantly from talking things through with a friend.
Rather, I expect psychotherapy not to differ from talking with a sympathetic person whose social approval you don’t need. People self-censor when talking to friends, even good friends.
Interesting. That’s a specific benefit of psychotherapists that hadn’t occurred to me.