Abstract

Stressful events regularly affect people throughout their lives. Mindfulness-based interventions can be used to prevent the negative consequences of these events. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of a brief mindfulness intervention, measuring its effects on depressive symptomatology, life satisfaction, cognitive rumination and emotional regulation, in adults living in Chile, who have experienced a recent stressful event. An experimental design was used, through a randomized controlled trial of two groups, one experimental and one wait-list control, with pre, post and follow-up measurement of all study variables, using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Event-Related Rumination Inventory (ERRI) and the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Results show that the intervention decreased levels of depressive symptomatology and intrusive rumination, increasing levels of life satisfaction. No intergroup changes in emotional regulation were observed. It is concluded that brief mindfulness could be an effective intervention to prevent depressive symptomatology and cognitive rumination and promote life satisfaction in people experiencing a recent stressful event.