Image by ツ خله على كيفه via FlickrMBCT for Active Depression: Major Depressive Disorder is characterized as a relapsing disorder, one in which the typical individual who suffers from one episode will recover, but will very likely relapse into another episode. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was originally developed as a type of relapse-prevention therapy for people who suffer from this pernicious and dangerous cycle. The idea was that mindfulness meditation practice could help them identify and short-circuit the typical process that can take place when a person begins to develop a recurrence of severe symptoms of a major depressive episode. Since the early studies in which the effectiveness of this method received support, questions have been raised about whether MBCT could or should be used for certain groups: for example, could it be effective for persons who are currently in the midst of an active episode of depressive symptoms?I (along with many other scientists and clinicians) have long been of the opinion that mindfulness-based interventions, similar to MBCT, have great promise for the treatment of a wide variety of disorders of emotion regulation, and especially for mood and anxiety disorders. Evidence supporting this idea is gradually emerging.
There's a new study (click here for full text pdf) out, examining the effectiveness of MBCT for people currently suffering from depression. Here's part of the abstract:
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an 8-week course developed for patients with relapsing depression that integrates mindfulness meditation practices and cognitive theory. Previous studies have demonstrated that non-depressed participants with a history of relapsing depression are protected from relapse by participating in the course. This exploratory study examined the acceptability and effectiveness of MBCT for patients in primary care with active symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Results included that the patients displayed significantly reduced scores on measures of depression and anxiety. Participants reported that they found the group therapy experience to be helpful; they noted that they thought it should be longer than 8 weeks, however, and suggested that some sort of ongoing follow-up treatment would be important.
I know that clinicians and researchers are actively engaged in using and evaluating the MBCT model for treating a wide variety of disorders: mood and anxiety disorders, as well as disorders involving compulsive or addictive behaviors, and many others. It's great to see the published studies as they begin to emerge.
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