Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training in an Individual with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Single-Subject Experiment
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive and difficult-to-control worry accompanied by cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral symptoms that can interfere with daily functioning. Mindfulness training is one psychological approach used to support anxiety management. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness training in reducing GAD symptoms in one individual. A quantitative single-subject experimental approach was employed. The participant was a 21-year-old woman who met the criteria for GAD based on psychological assessment. The intervention comprised breathing meditation, body sensation awareness, compassionate body scan, open awareness, acceptance of thoughts and emotions, wanting release, and the application of mindfulness in daily life. Evaluation used observation, interviews, exercise-evaluation sheets, and pre-test/post-test measurement. The intervention was associated with positive within-subject changes, including greater awareness of thoughts and emotional responses, more adaptive coping, and reduced intensity of several anxiety symptoms. The participant’s mindfulness knowledge score increased from 13 at pre-test to 15 at post-test. Breathing meditation was perceived as the most useful technique because it was easy to practice and produced the clearest relaxation effect. These findings suggest that structured mindfulness practice may support anxiety self-regulation in this participant, although the single-case design limits generalization.
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