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From Mindfulness to Personal Recovery: the Mediating Roles of Self-Warmth, Psychological Flexibility, and Valued Living

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Abstract

Objectives

The present study tested a model of mindfulness and its relationships with personal recovery of people with mental illness. It was hypothesized that mindfulness would be positively related to personal recovery through increased self-compassion, valued living, and reduced psychological inflexibility.

Method

One hundred and fifty-three people with mental illness completed questionnaires including measures of demographics, mindfulness, psychological inflexibility, self-compassion, valued living, and personal recovery.

Results

Results suggested that mindfulness is related to personal recovery through increased self-warmth (indirect effect = .04, SEaXb = .02, CI: .00 to .09), valued living (indirect effect = .06, SEaXb = .03, CI: .01 to .12), and reduced psychological inflexibility (indirect effect = .26, SEaXb = .06, CI: .14 to .39).

Conclusions

These findings suggested that mindfulness may be a vital ingredient in promoting personal recovery and that it exerts effects on personal recovery through these specific recovery-conducive qualities among people with mental illness. Implications of this model of mindfulness were discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

    Winnie W. S. Mak, Kathie S. C. Chong & Rita W. Law

  2. Department of Counselling & Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, North Point, Hong Kong

    Floria H. N. Chio

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  1. Winnie W. S. Mak
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  2. Floria H. N. Chio
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  3. Kathie S. C. Chong
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  4. Rita W. Law
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Contributions

WWSM conceived the study topic and design, coordinated the entire research process, and wrote the manuscript. FHNC were involved in data analyses and collaborated in writing the manuscript. KSCC was involved in study design, data collection, and write-up. RWL was involved in writing the manuscript. All authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Winnie W. S. Mak.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

Survey and behavioral research ethics approval was obtained at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Informed consent from the participants was obtained upon the explanation of the study.

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Mak, W.W.S., Chio, F.H.N., Chong, K.S.C. et al. From Mindfulness to Personal Recovery: the Mediating Roles of Self-Warmth, Psychological Flexibility, and Valued Living. Mindfulness 12, 994–1001 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01568-3

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