Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse

Summary & key facts

Researchers pooled individual patient data from about 1,300 people across randomized trials to test whether mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, a program that combines mindfulness training with ideas from cognitive therapy, helps stop depression from coming back. Over follow-up of about 60 weeks, people who took the program were less likely to have a depressive relapse than people who got usual care. The benefit was strongest for people who still had noticeable depressive symptoms before the course. The authors say MBCT looks like a useful non-drug option to help prevent relapse, but some questions remain and future trials should be more rigorous.

Key facts:

• The analysis combined patient-level data from nine randomized trials with roughly 1,300 participants who had recurrent depression and were in remission when they entered the studies.
• On average participants were about 47 years old and around three quarters were female.
• People who took mindfulness-based cognitive therapy had a lower risk of becoming depressed again during about a 60-week follow-up compared with people who did not get the program; the reduction in risk was about 30% in one main analysis.
• When compared with other active treatments (for example, continuing usual treatment or antidepressants), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy showed a modest additional reduction in relapse risk in some analyses, suggesting it is at least as
• The benefit of the program was larger for people who still had more depressive symptoms before starting the course — those with more residual symptoms seemed to gain more.
• Common participant characteristics such as age, sex, level of education, relationship status, age when depression first started, and number of past depressive episodes did not significantly change how well the treatment worked.
• Not all uncertainties are solved: one eligible trial did not provide individual patient data, and a small number of included trials had issues such as assessors who were not blinded or incomplete outcome data, which can affect confidence in

Abstract

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy appears efficacious as a treatment for relapse prevention for those with recurrent depression, particularly those with more pronounced residual symptoms. Recommendations are made concerning how future trials can address remaining uncertainties and improve the rigor of the field.

Topics

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Mental Health Research Topics Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Clinical psychology Cognitive therapy Internal medicine Law Medicine MEDLINE Meta-analysis Mindfulness Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy Political science Psychiatry Psychology Psychotherapist PsycINFO Randomized controlled trial Relapse prevention

Conditions & symptoms

Depression Lack of energy or motivation Sadness or low mood