A Comparison of the Facets of Mindfulness Among Patients With Major Depression, Social Anxiety Disorder and Healthy Individuals

Objective: There are well-established benefits of mindfulness in clinical settings, but the different roles of mindfulness facets in each disorder yet remain unclear. The purpose of the current study was to investigate between-group comparisons of the facets of mindfulness among patients with Major Depression Disorder (MDD), Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and healthy individuals. Methods: The present study employs a. Using convenience sampling method, a sample composed of three groups of students with SAD (n=67), MDD (n=51) and healthy (n=81) completed the Five Facet Mindfulness, Beck depression, and the Social Phobia Inventory. To analyze the data, MANOVA test was conducted.  Results: Results indicated that for the observing facet, SAD group significantly had higher scores than the MDD and Healthy groups and MDD group exhibited least scores For describing, non-judge and acting with awareness facets, both SAD and MDD groups had significantly lower scores than the healthy group, while there was no significant difference between the SAD and MDD groups. For the non-reacting facet, the SAD group had significantly lower scores than the MDD and healthy groups, while there was no significant difference between MDD and healthy groups. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that non-judging, acting with awareness, and describing are facets within the umbrella concept of mindfulness facets, which have a common role in SAD and MDD. However, observing and non-reacting have distinct roles in the SAD and MDD. The findings of the present study will certainly have important implications for clinical health psychologists while tailoring mindfulness-based treatments for SAD and MDD patients.