Advances in experimental medicine and biology
January 1, 2024
Marie Drüge, Lisa Guthardt, Elisa Haller et al.
8 citations
Depressive disorders impose a heavy societal burden due to their high prevalence and impact on relationships, emotions, and motivation. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the gold standard treatment for major depression, while mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) effectively prevents relapse and can be integrated into individual therapy. Various delivery modes, including therapist-guided digital CBT, blended therapy, and digitalized MBIs, offer efficacious supplements to face-to-face therapy, improving accessibility. This chapter reviews the principles and evidence for CBT and MBCT and different delivery modes for depressive disorders in adults, discussing integration opportunities and challenges, along with practice implications and future research recommendations.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2021
Naomi Lyons, Detlef E Dietrich, Johannes Graser et al.
3 citations
A disturbed sense of self, particularly feeling disconnected from one's own body (disembodiment), may contribute to delusions in psychosis. In a randomized experiment, 73 patients with psychosis either performed a 10-minute guided self-massage to enhance bodily boundary awareness or massaged a fabric ring. Those who did the self-massage showed a reduced tendency to jump to conclusions (an average of 4.11 pieces of evidence before deciding versus 2.43 in the control group, a moderate effect). However, there was no significant difference in explicit paranoid beliefs. The findings suggest that improving the sense of bodily boundaries can reduce an implicit bias linked to delusional thinking, supporting the idea that disembodiment plays a role in psychotic symptoms.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
June 12, 2026
Thorsten Barnhofer, Maria Niemi, Johannes Michalak et al.
1 citation
For adults with difficult-to-treat depression—those who have not responded to prior treatments, have treatment-resistant depression, or have a chronic course—mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is likely superior to usual care, reducing depressive symptoms by a standardized mean difference of -0.40 at post-treatment and -0.41 at medium-term follow-up. There was a 92% and 85% probability, respectively, that these benefits exceeded a minimal important difference. However, MBCT did not show clear superiority over other active psychosocial interventions, and no robust moderators of outcome were identified across baseline severity, chronicity, or comorbidity.
Mindfulness
February 1, 2020
Alice E. Buxton, Carina Remmers, Hans-Peter Unger et al.
An eight-week mindfulness-based day hospital treatment for currently depressed patients with work-related conflicts led to greater reductions in depression severity, higher work ability, and increased mindfulness compared with a waitlist condition that included psychopharmacological consultation. These improvements remained stable over an eight-month follow-up. The pilot study randomly assigned 81 patients to either the mindfulness-based day hospital treatment or the control condition. The authors note that generalizability may be limited due to the small sample size, selective patient group, and study design.
Johannes Michalak, Maria Niemi, Maria Velana et al.
preprint
Negative effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) in adults with difficult-to-treat depression are poorly understood. This protocol describes a planned individual patient data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to assess the incidence of clinically significant deterioration, suicidality, adverse events, and depressive symptom change. The primary outcome is a ≥6-point increase on the PHQ-9. The analysis aims to provide robust estimates of negative effects to inform clinical practice and guidelines on patient safety.