Mindfulness research’s huge problem with uninformative control groups

[A.B.]

Coyne has published a new blog post on Plos One in which he criticizes the inappropriate control groups so prevalent in studies on mindfulness as intervention for various health problems. The critique is applicable to CBT/GET studies for ME/CFS as well.

http://blogs.plos.org/mindthebrain/...ge-problem-with-uninformative-control-groups/

 

[Bob]

For a large proportion of studies of psychological interventions for chronic health conditions, the primary outcomes are indeed subjective self-report. Even when conceptually possible, objective measures of health conditions are either not included or they are deemphasized as secondary outcomes. The message of this study, again delivered with appropriate caution, is that we should not be generalizing from results obtained with subjective self-report to objective health outcomes.