Discussion
SE, mental disorders
The primary aims of this study were to investigate differential immediate effects and longitudinal effects over 10 weeks of two app-delivered daily practices on emotional well-being and thinking patterns. Specifically, a goal of the current study was to directly compare a novel partner-based socio-emotional mental practice, the Affect DyadOrdinal Bayesian mixed modeling revealed both similarities as well as considerable differences between socio-emotional dyadic and mindfulness-based mental practices on a phenomenological level. With regards to thought patterns, we found the daily practice of the Affect Dyad in itself as well as in comparison to the mindfulness-based practice indeed to be effective in increasing positive and other-related thoughts. Beyond these expected effects, the dyadic practice also led to a distinct increase in self- and past-related thoughts. After mindfulness-based practice, on the other hand, expected decreases in future-, other-related and negative thoughts could be observed, while past-related and positive thoughts remained unchanged, and self-related thoughts increased. Both practice types led to increases in positive affect, which was higher after dyadic practice in the SE group. Affect arousal increased in MB and SE groups. Taken together, we found evidence for commonalities in the immediate effects of both types of daily app-based practices, speaking to their efficacy in boosting positive affect. But more importantly, we also observed differential phenomenological fingerprints in evoked patterns of thought and feeling states between both practice types. Whereas mindfulness training seemed to be more efficient in instantly reducing thought content on several dimensions, the partner-based Dyad seemed to instantly instill more positive thoughts as well as thoughts about other people.Based on the findings of Kok and SingerWhile previous findings on mindfulness practice-related changes in affect valence have been inconsistent, with some suggesting a calming decrease in both positive and negative affectOur findings on the specific effects of the Affect Dyad are partly in line with previous findings on specific phenomenological fingerprints of socio-affective meditation practices observed in the compassion-based Affect module of the 9-month ReSource projectWhile on average direct effects of daily practice could be observed, a confounding effect of the weekly coaching session cannot be excluded. Coaching sessions were standardized and kept as consistent as possible between the two interventions. However, they were characterized by differences related to practice-specific focus. Particularly the longitudinal decrease in the direct effect of mindfulness-based practices on self-related thoughts over the course of the 10-week intervention period might be related to weekly coaching sessions. Thereby, particularly at the beginning of the intervention period, the focus of coaching sessions revolved around internal sensations such as breathing, body awareness and emotions (see coaching protocol in Supplement 3). Subsequent coaching sessions focused on external sensory experiences (e.g., hearing and sensory awareness) and open awareness, which likely activated less self-reference. While we abstained from including time-lagged models of change in the current analyses, they might be useful to address changes in thoughts and affect as associated with specific coaching session as well as their sequence in future research.The differential observed phenomenological fingerprints related to thought content and emotional experience after different types of daily mental practices support the notion that the specific type and format of the practiced contemplative mental training matters [see alsoWhile sociality and temporality of thought are not evaluated in their general desirability, specific patterns of thought content are characteristic of different mental disorders