[Effects of a meditation program (mindfulness) on the measure of alexithymia and social skills]

This study aimed to determine whether training in meditation (mindfulness) produced effects on measures of alexithymia and social skills in a group of students. The results indicated that the meditation program produced significant differences in the variable social skills and in five of its factors at posttest. In the intra-analysis, the differences were significant both in alexithymia and in social skills, and in all its factors in the experimental group, and no significant differences were observed in the control group. The percentages of change in the experimental group presented reductions in the total score of alexithymia and its three factors of about 20% and an increase in the variable social skills and its six factors ranging between 15.96 and 22.60%. In the control group, the two variables and their factors ranged from -0.14 to 4.43%. These results should be considered with caution as the study sample was non-clinical and relatively small; therefore, these results should be confirmed with larger samples and patients with high alexithymia.