The Effect of Short-Term Mindfulness-Based Group Therapy on Social Anxiety and Self-Esteem

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term mindfulness-based group therapy (SMGT) on social anxiety and self-esteem in adults. The study was conducted in Busan, South Korea, and recruited 16 adults through the counseling center at OO University. The participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group participated in 5 weeks of weekly 2-hour SMGT. The control group did not receive any treatment. To measure the effects of the intervention, the participants completed pre-tests, post-tests, and follow-up tests at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 5 weeks after the intervention. The Mindfullness Scale(MS) was used to measure mindfulness, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was used to measure self-esteem, the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) was used to measure social anxiety, and the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE) was used to measure the fear of negative evaluation. The results showed that SMGT was associated with significant improvements in mindfulness and self-esteem. However, there was no significant improvement in social anxiety. The study's implications were discussed at the end.