BACKGROUND: Effective and accessible approaches to prevent depressive relapse and reduce symptoms are crucial for addressing the major public health problem of depression among perinatal women. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Mindful Mood Balance (MMB) for Moms plus usual care (hereafter MMB for Moms)-a web-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy programme customised for perinatal...
Mindfulness-based interventions have shown promise in supporting psychological well-being in children. However, mindfulness is commonly measured using self-report questionnaires, a method that might be problematic due to its reliance on children's accurate self-perceptions of their own mindfulness and the potential influence of social desirability bias. In the current study, we examined the...
Abstract Objectives Over the past decade, research on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) has expanded exponentially. A decade ago, Dimidjian and Segal (2015) used the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stage Model to assess the state of the science and identify key issues limiting public health impact. The present review provided a ten-year update on the field’s progress, applying the same...
Recent calls for mindfulness measures beyond self-report abound, especially for children. Because breath awareness is central to many mindfulness practices, the breath counting task has been proposed as a behavioral measure of mindfulness for adults. In the current study, we investigated whether the breath counting task can also serve as a valid behavioral measure of children’s mindfulness. We...
OBJECTIVE: Digital delivery of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy through the Mindful Mood Balance (MMB) program is clinically effective (Segal et al., 2020); however, the mechanisms through which this program delivers its benefits have not been established. METHOD: This study investigates the differential impact of the MMB program paired with usual depression care (UDC) compared to UDC alone...
Objectives: We examined the extent to which compassion practices helped guide skillful means of care among educators. We engaged educators in a collaborative design (co-design) process that foregrounded two components: (1) contemplative practice and (2) developing skill in how social interactions are embedded within wider systems through individual and joint inquiry. We analyzed the ways...
To address the elevated prevalence of depression, suicide, and suicidal ideation, patients require increased access to effective interventions. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy has a strong evidence base in relapse prophylaxis and can be delivered digitally through Mindful Mood Balance (MMB). This study was a secondary analysis of the impact of MMB paired with usual depression care (UDC)...
Compassion meditation (CM) is a promising intervention for enhancing compassion, although its active ingredients and neurobiological mechanisms are not well-understood. To investigate these, we conducted a three-armed placebo-controlled randomized trial (N = 57) with longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We compared a 4-week CM program delivered by smartphone application...
Open Journal of NursingAugust 16, 2021Meredith Mealer, Debra L Boeldt, Kathryn L Cochran et al.
Objective: Critical care nurses work in a challenging intensive care (ICU) environment that results in work-related psychological distress. Our objective was to pilot an in-person or virtual mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program enhanced resilience and a similarly designed attention control group. Methods: We randomized ICU nurses with symptoms of burnout syndrome and decreased...
Importance Patients with residual depressive symptoms face a gap in care because few resources, to date, are available to manage the lingering effects of their illness. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness for treating residual depressive symptoms with Mindful Mood Balance (MMB), a web-based application that delivers mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, plus usual depression care compared...
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is a multimodal intervention that integrates training in mindfulness meditation and the cognitive theory of affective disorder. This hybrid nature may provide an advantage in the prevention field that addresses the critical need for enhancing wellness among people with recurrent mood disorders. Despite the robust evidence base for MBCT, its penetration at the...
We conducted a 26-month follow-up of a previously reported 12-month study that compared mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to a rigorous active control condition (ACC) for depressive relapse/recurrence prevention and improvements in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants in remission from major depression were randomized to an 8-week MBCT group (n = 46) or the ACC (n =...
Workplace stress can affect job satisfaction, increase staff turnover and hospital costs, and reduce quality of patient care. Highly resilient nurses adapt to stress and use a variety of skills to cope effectively. To gain data on a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy resilience intervention for intensive care unit nurses to see if the intervention program would be feasible and acceptable....
Clinically significant psychological distress in pregnancy is common, with epidemiological research suggesting that between 15 and 25 % of pregnant women experience elevated symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. Untreated psychological distress in pregnancy is associated with poor obstetrical outcomes, changes in maternal physiology, elevated incidence of child physical and psychological...
Compassion is critical for societal wellbeing. Yet, it remains unclear how specific thoughts and feelings motivate compassionate behavior, and we lack a scientific understanding of how to effectively cultivate compassion. Here, we conducted 2 studies designed to a) develop a psychological model predicting compassionate behavior, and b) test this model as a mediator of a Compassion Meditation...
Clinical decision-making regarding the prevention of depression is complex for pregnant women with histories of depression and their health care providers. Pregnant women with histories of depression report preference for nonpharmacological care, but few evidence-based options exist. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has strong evidence in the prevention of depressive relapse/recurrence among...
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are at a pivotal point in their future development. Spurred on by an ever-increasing number of studies and breadth of clinical application, the value of such approaches may appear self-evident. We contend, however, that the public health impact of MBIs can be enhanced significantly by situating this work in a broader framework of clinical psychological...
The perinatal period is a high-risk time for mood deterioration among women vulnerable to depression. This study examined feasibility, acceptability, and improvement associated with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in perinatal women with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar spectrum disorder (BSD). Following a diagnostic evaluation, 39 perinatal women with a lifetime history of...
We evaluated the comparative effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) versus an active control condition (ACC) for depression relapse prevention, depressive symptom reduction, and improvement in life satisfaction. Ninety-two participants in remission from major depressive disorder with residual depressive symptoms were randomized to either an 8-week MBCT or a validated ACC...
Pregnant women with histories of depression are at high risk of depressive relapse/recurrence during the perinatal period, and options for relapse/recurrence prevention are limited. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has strong evidence among general populations but has not been studied among at-risk pregnant women to prevent depression. We examined the feasibility, acceptability, and...
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to effectively prevent relapse and reduce residual depressive symptoms (RDS), yet it faces barriers to dissemination. The present study examined Mindful Mood Balance (MMB), the first web-based approach to deliver the core content of MBCT. Of the 107 recurrently depressed individuals screened, 100 elected to enroll in the study and...
Background/Aims: The persistence of residual depressive symptoms (RDS) among patients in clinical remission predicts a negative prognosis and is considered an important target for adjunctive treatment. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective in reducing RDS. Delivered in 8 in-person group sessions, MBCT teaches disengagement from depression-related ruminative thought patterns to...
BACKGROUND: Mindful Mood Balance (MMB) is a Web-based intervention designed to treat residual depressive symptoms and prevent relapse. MMB was designed to deliver the core concepts of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a group treatment, which, despite its strong evidence base, faces a number of dissemination challenges. OBJECTIVE: The present study is a qualitative investigation of...
Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programs have demonstrated clinical effectiveness for both mental and physical health conditions. Less research exists on health services utilization, self-efficacy, or work productivity outcomes. Objective: To assess one-year outcomes of MBSR in patients with chronic pain, chronic illness, or stress-related problems, measuring functional...
In this article, we describe the nature of therapeutic collaboration between psychotherapist and group participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), which occurs in a group format and incorporates cognitive therapy and mindfulness practices with the aim of preventing depression relapse. Collaboration is a central part of two components of MBCT: inquiry and leading mindfulness...