Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Brings Down Depression Relapse

Researchers used a meta-analysis of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to treat frequent depression. Experts studied information from those who were part of nine randomized MBCT trials.

With depression as well as a lack of treatment, four out of five of those suffering from the mental disorder tend to relapse. Even though antidepressants are used, the new belief is that MBCT, which is a group-based psychological treatment targeting to change the way people think or feel about their experience can also be very effective.

The study had nine trials. Of the 38 percent who received MBCT treatment, there was a depressive relapse within 60 follow-up weeks. This was a decrease from the 49 percent that could not get the MBCT treatment. The experts studied the time taken to relapse into their calculations and found that people receiving MBCT were 31 per cent less likely to show a relapse than the others.

Experts also found that MCBT helped patients irrespective of age, sex, educational level and time of its onset. Those who showed increased effects of depression at the start of the treatment showed better responsiveness to the treatment.

Four of the trials compared the effects of MBCT along with the "continuation, tapering or discontinuation" of antidepressants to the treatment. They showed that patients in the former group were 23 percent less likely to undergo a relapse in major depression compared to patients treated with antidepressants but no MBCT.

"This new evidence for Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy, collated from individual patient data across nine randomized trials is very heartening," said Willem Kuyken, a professor at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study. "While MBCT is not a panacea, it does clearly offer those with a substantial history of depression a new approach to learning skills to stay well in the long-term."

"It offers people a safe and empowering treatment choice alongside other mainstay approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and maintenance antidepressants," he added.

The findings were published in the April 27 issue of the journal JAMA Psychiatry.