Changes in mindset mediated effects of intervention on posttraumatic growth, depression symptoms, other domains of mental health<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A brief mindset intervention can reduce inflammation and depressive symptom levels, according to a study published online Aug. 26 in Brain, Behavior and Immunity<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jesse A. Barrera, from Stanford University in California, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial to examine the effect of an intervention that promotes the mindset that “catastrophes can be opportunities in the long-term” on mental health and well-being two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were randomly assigned to a mindset intervention or control group (226 and 153 individuals, respectively). The mindset group watched five brief videos and wrote about their mindsets toward the COVID-19 pandemic and how these could encourage or discourage posttraumatic growth, while the control group watched videos of the chronology of the pandemic and answered questions reviewing their knowledge.<\/p>\n The researchers found that at three months, there were significant reductions in C-reactive protein and depressive symptom levels with the mindset intervention. The effects of the intervention on posttraumatic growth, depressive symptoms, and other domains of mental health and well-being were significantly mediated by changes in mindset.<\/p>\n “We would have liked to avoid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it came regardless,” senior author Alia J. Crum, Ph.D., also from Stanford University, said in a statement. “In the postpandemic era, we face a choice: We can let it recede into memory, leaving us depleted and disillusioned, or we can choose to look back, learn from it, and grow — both personally and collectively.”<\/p>\n