Research has found that meditation may ease depression not only by reducing negative thoughts, but because it can change the way a person relates to themselves. A research team from the Cognition, Health and Society Laboratory (C2S) at the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne in France, led by Céline Stinus and Sophie Berjot, published the results of a randomised controlled trial comparing two meditation methods side by side in the international academic journal Mindfulness. PsyPost, a US psychology-focused outlet, described the study in detail on 11 July.
Focus or dismantle? Two-branch meditation mapped side by side
The research team randomly assigned 147 adults who had no meditation experience and no psychiatric diagnoses to three groups. One group practised focused attention meditation (breathing meditation and body scan), which directs attention to breathing and bodily sensations. Another group learned dismantling meditation that examines the sense of “self” as it is. The remaining participants were placed in a waiting-list control group that received no programme. Women made up the majority of participants, and the average age was in the late 40s.
The programme ran for four weeks. Participants took part in weekly 60-minute online group sessions and also carried out home practice for 20 minutes a day, five days a week. The team measured depressive symptoms before and after the practice (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), dysfunctional attitudes, and feelings that their identity is threatened.
Both types of meditation reduced depressive symptoms
In the results, both meditation groups showed a clearer reduction in depressive symptoms than the waiting-list control group. The effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were 0.47 for focused-attention meditation and 0.67 for self-inquiry meditation, with no statistically meaningful difference between the two approaches. The sense that one’s self is threatened also fell in both groups (0.54 for focused attention, 0.45 for self-inquiry).
But the details differed. Focused-attention meditation reduced dysfunctional attitudes—those involving distorted beliefs—more than the control group (d=0.77), and the reduction was also larger than in the self-inquiry meditation group. By contrast, in the self-inquiry meditation group, the sense of connection to humanity and nature was relatively higher. The team, however, drew a line, saying that the between-group difference in this sense of connection was an exploratory finding and had not been confirmed statistically.
Taken different routes, arriving at the same place: “Meditation is not one thing”
Although the two meditation methods produced similar effects, the pathways through which they worked differed. In focused-attention meditation, cognitive distancing—stepping back from one’s thoughts—fully mediated the reduction in depressive symptoms. In self-inquiry meditation, easing the sense of identity threat was explained in part through the sense of connection with humanity. Stinus’s team said, “Meditation is not one thing, and different practices can build different psychological skills.” It added: “Becoming vulnerable to depression is not just a matter of having negative thoughts; it is also a problem of experiencing oneself as a fragile being.”
This study has limitations: it focused on members of the general public who had not received clinical diagnoses, and it did not include long-term follow-up observations. The research team also said the findings must be read carefully. Even so, the study is viewed as a set of results worth consulting for those hoping to apply mindfulness in everyday life and in counselling settings, because it offers a clue that people can split recommendations for which type of meditation to use according to their goals.
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· PsyPost, “Letting go of a rigid self-image might be the secret to meditation's mental health benefits” (2026-07-11) — https://www.psypost.org/letting-go-of-a-rigid-self-image-might-be-the-secret-to-meditations-mental-health-benefits/
· Original paper: Stinus, C. & Berjot, S., “Preventing Depression through Selflessness...”, Mindfulness, Vol. 17, Issue 5 (online 2026-03-26) — https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-026-02817-7