HSPの特性不安，抑うつ，ストレスにおけるマインドフルネスの効果の検討 : 感情制御と注意制御からみた調整効果の検討

A Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is affected by both negative and positive environments. HSP is related to high trait anxiety, depression, and stress; mindfulness affects these relationships. Studies suggest that mindfulness interventions increase attention control and emotion regulation, affecting HSPs. Given the few Japanese studies exploring these effects, we conducted two studies with Japanese undergraduate and graduate students. First, we administered a questionnaire to explore whether attention control and emotion regulation moderate psychological symptoms of HSP (N = 182). Multiple regression analysis revealed that the interactions of sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS) and difficulty with emotional awareness in trait anxiety, and SPS and switching and divided attention in depression were significant. These results suggest that interventions promoting emotional awareness and attention control affect HSPs. Second, we conducted Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to explore the effect of mindfulness on HSP (N = 25). The intervention group (n = 12) participated in eight weekly sessions. Both intervention and control groups answered the questionnaire thrice: before the intervention (T1), one week after the intervention (T2), and four weeks after T2 (T3). T-test results at T1 suggested a significant difference among the two groups. Variance analysis revealed that stress decreased and selective and switching attention increased significantly from T1 to T2 in the intervention group. These results indicate that attention to breathing increases selective and switching attention and the tendency to distance oneself from negative stimuli. This study shows the effect of mindfulness on HSPs. However, depression and emotion regulation were unaffected. Therefore, emotion-focused interventions may have an effect on HSPs.