Examining the impacts of mindfulness training and medication on reductions in depressive and anxious symptoms in public school teachers

Abstract

School teachers show higher levels of job stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety compared to those in many other professions. In this paper, we examine the impacts of mindfulness training on reductions in depressive and anxious symptoms accounting for the fact that some of these same teachers were already being using medications for such symptoms. Do the benefits of mindfulness training for teachers with regard to internalized distress remain after accounting for medication use for depression and anxiety, and could the use of such medications interaction with mindfulness treatment to, for instance, produce incrementally larger benefits for those taking medication? We explore these research questions using data from two randomized-controlled trials (Study 1 and Study 2). In both studies, teachers were randomized to the same 8-week MT intervention or waitlist control condition, and were assessed for depressive and anxious symptoms at baseline, post-program, and 3-month follow-up. Data on medication use was assessed at baseline and showed ~20% percent of the overall samples reported such use. Overall, exploratory results showed that MT significantly reduced depressive and anxious symptoms at post-program and at 3-month follow-up when controlling for medication use. Furthermore, comparative effects analysis indicated that mindfulness training resulted in more long-term gains for depressive and anxious symptom reduction, while effects of medication remained relatively stable over time (Study 2). These preliminary findings suggest that MT is an effective tool for reducing internalized distress in public school teachers and adds benefit above and beyond the use of medication for such symptoms in this population.