A new meta-analysis of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for recurrent depression - the largest analysis to date - suggests that the unique therapy is effective at preventing the recurrence of major depression. The researchers behind the analysis used anonymized patient data from individuals that participated in nine randomized MBCT trials to come to their conclusions.
Major depression is a serious health problem, and with a lack on ongoing treatment, four out of five of those that suffer from the mental disorder relapse at some point in their life. Although medications such as antidepressants are typically used as at least one facet of the treatment process, the new results suggest that MBCT - a group-based psychological treatment that aims to alter the way that people think and feel about their experiences - might be just as effective.
Across the nine trials that were examined in the study, 38 percent of those who received MBCT treatment had a depressive relapse within 60 weeks' follow-up, a significant decrease from the 49 percent that did not receive MBCT. When the team factored in the time it took to relapse into their calculations, they found that those who received MBCT were 31 percent less likely to relapse during the follow-up period than those that did not.
Using patient data, the team also determined that a person's age, sex, level of education and age of depression onset did not alter the effectiveness of MCBT in a significant way. In addition, those who experienced increased symptoms of depression at the start of their treatment program received more benefits from MCBT when compared to other treatments.
Interestingly, four of the trials compared the effects of MBCT combined with the continuation, tapering or discontinuation of antidepressants to antidepressant treatment alone, revealing that those in the former group were 23 percent less likely to experience a relapse in major depression compared to those who were treated with antidepressants without MBCT.
"This new evidence for Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy, collated from individual patient data across nine randomized trials is very heartening," said Willem Kuyken, 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.
