Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) reduces depression-related self-referential processing in patients with bipolar disorder: an exploratory task-based study
Cognition & Emotion December 22, 2021 T. D. Stalmeier, Jelle Lubbers, M. Cladder-Micus et al.
Negative self-referential processing is well-studied in unipolar depression but less in bipolar disorder (BD). In 49 patients with BD from a randomized trial of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), those receiving MBCT plus treatment as usual (TAU, n=23) showed a reduction in negative self-referential memory bias over time compared with TAU alone (n=26). At baseline, all three measures of self-referential processing—positive and negative attributions and negative memory bias—were linked to depressive symptoms. The findings are preliminary and suggest that reducing negative self-referential memory bias may help prevent and treat depressive symptoms in BD through MBCT.