Specific reduction in cortisol stress reactivity after social but not attention-based mental training

Psychosocial stress is a public health burden in modern societies. Chronic stress–induced disease processes are,in large part, mediated via the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary system. We asked whether the contemplative mental training of different practice types targetingattentional, socio-affective (for example, compassion), or socio-cognitive abilities (for example, perspective-taking)in the context of a 9-month longitudinal training study offers an effective means for psychosocial stress reduction.Using a multimethod approach including subjective, endocrine, autonomic, and immune markers and testing 313participants in a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor, we show that all three practice types markedly reducedself-reported stress reactivity in healthy participants. However, only the training of intersubjective skills via socio-affective and socio-cognitive routes attenuated the physiological stress response, specifically the secretion of theHPA axis end-product cortisol, by up to 51%. The assessed autonomic and innate immune markers were not influencedby any practice type. Mental training focused on present-moment attention and interoceptive awareness as im-plemented in many mindfulness-based intervention programs was thus limited to stress reduction on the level ofself-report. However, its effectiveness was equal to that of intersubjective practice types in boosting the associationbetween subjective and endocrine stress markers. Our results reveal a broadly accessible low-cost approach toacquiring psychosocial stress resilience. Short daily intersubjective practice may be a promising method for mini-mizing the incidence of chronic social stress–related disease, thereby reducing individual suffering and relieving asubstantial financial burden on society.