Facilitating Psychological Closure and Emotional Change Through Mindfulness Meditation

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if mindfulness meditation can improve closure and emotion towards unresolved memories in an undergraduate student population. This will be tested through a brief, novel intervention called Mindful Recollection, where participants transition immediately from mindfulness meditation into the recollection of an unresolved memory. The secondary aim of the study is to investigate the mechanisms of change underlying Mindful Recollection. Overall then, the main questions this study aims to answer are:

* Does mindful recollection reduce negative emotions associated with unresolved event memories?
* Can increases in acceptance, decentering, and reappraisal account for the observed effects of mindful recollection on negative emotion?
* Does mindful recollection facilitate closure towards unresolved event memories?
* Can increases in acceptance, decentering, and reappraisal account for the observed effects of mindful recollection on closure?

Researchers will compare the Mindful Recollection intervention to a mind-wandering control task to see if mindfulness meditation uniquely produces positive changes in emotion and closure above and beyond placebo. Mindful Recollection will involve a 13-minute audio-guided mindfulness meditation followed immediately by 2 minutes of memory recollection. The control task will involve 13-minutes of audio-guided mind-wandering followed immediately by 2 minutes of memory recollection.

Participants will:

* Complete pretest measures of emotion and closure towards an unresolved event memory.
* Engage in either the Mindful Recollection intervention or the placebo control task after a 24-72 hour delay.
* Complete post-test measures of emotion and closure towards the same unresolved event memory.

Conditions

• Unresolved Event Memories
• Psychological Closure

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindful Recollection consists of a 15-minute audio-guided task (13 minutes of guided meditation followed immediately by 2 minutes of unresolved event recollection). The 13-minute guided meditation is intended to facilitate a broad mindful awareness by working through sensations of the breath, body, and mind (in that respective order), eventually coming together in a practice of open monitoring - the non-selective observation of any and all aspects of experience. The 2-minute recollection period will have participants transition from meditating to recalling and reflecting on an unresolved memory they identified during the pretest period (approximately 24-72 hours prior).

BEHAVIORAL

Mind-Wandering Task

The mind-wandering control task consists of a 15-minute audio-guided task (13 minutes of mind-wandering followed immediately by 2 minutes of unresolved event recollection). Mind-wandering is a common sham mindfulness technique that repeatedly prompts participants to let their thoughts flow freely, thinking about whatever comes to mind. This exposes participants to the same procedure (i.e., listening to a 13-minute audio-recording) without receiving guided mindful meditation instructions. Thus, this condition will guide participants to have a typical mental experience of thinking freely about whatever comes to mind, without developing a mindful awareness of their internal experience.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Windsor

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-03-31

Primary Completion

2027-08-31

Completion

2027-08-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations