THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 8, Number 6, 2002, pp. 719–730 © Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Does Mindfulness Meditation Contribute to Health? Outcome Evaluation of a German Sample MARCUS MAJUMDAR, Dipl. Psych., 1 PAUL GROSSMAN, Ph.D., 2 BARBARA DIETZ-WASCHKOWSKI, Dipl.-Soz. Päd., 3 SUSANNE KERSIG, Dipl.-Psych., 3 and HARALD WALACH, Ph.D. 4 ABSTRACT Objectives: This exploratory study is the first systematic outcome evaluation to examine the effects of an 8-week meditation-based program in mindfulness in a German sample. Design: Twenty-one (21) participants with chronic physical, psychologic, or psychosomatic illnesses were examined in a longitudinal pretest and post-treatment design with a 3-month fol- low-up. Outcome measures: Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. Emotional and gen- eral physical well-being, sense of coherence, overall psychologic distress, and satisfaction with life were measured with standardized instruments. Results: Overall, the interventions led to high levels of adherence to the meditation practice and satisfaction with the benefits of the course, as well as effective and lasting reductions of symptoms (especially in psychologic distress, well-being, and quality of life). Changes were of moderate-to-large effect sizes. Positive complementary effects with psychotherapy were also found. Conclusions: These findings warrant controlled studies to evaluate the efficacy and cost ef- fectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction as an intervention for chronic physical and psychosomatic disorders in Germany. 719 INTRODUCTION C omplementary medicine has become an in- creasingly attractive alternative for a wide range of medical conditions. There is an urgent need for research evaluating efficacy, appro- priateness, and cost effectiveness of such inter- vention programs within medical settings (Ernst, 1995), especially in the growing field of management of chronic illness. Mindfulness- based stress reduction (MBSR), a complemen- tary medical approach within behavioral med- icine in the United States (Kabat-Zinn, 1996), focuses on treatment of chronic physical and psychologic disorders and has engendered rel- evant and promising research results. Mindfulness meditation stems from the Southeast Asian Buddhist tradition, and the practice teaches nonjudgmental acceptance and interested awareness of moment-to-moment 1 Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Department of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Freiburg, Ger- many. 2 Freiburg Institute for Mindfulness Research, Freiburg, Germany. 3 Private practice, Freiburg, Germany. 4 University Hospital of Freiburg, Department of Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, Germany.