Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common mental illness and the leading cause of disability worldwide. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for MDD and the gold-standard therapy for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), yet it remains underutilized due to factors such as limited availability, stigma, and concerns about cognitive side effects. Ketamine has...
Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) is a method that combines cognitive behavioral relapse prevention with mindfulness practice. Research suggests that MBRP can effectively reduce withdrawal/craving in people with substance use disorder (SUD). An important part of MBRP is to practice mindfulness meditation to cope with high-risk situations for relapse, such as stimuli and situations...
Background: Although individuals with psychiatric disorders are disproportionately affected by cigarette smoking, few outpatient mental health treatment facilities offer smoking cessation services. In this paper, we describe the development of a smartphone-assisted mindfulness smoking cessation intervention with contingency management (SMI-CM), as well as the design and methods of an ongoing...
Comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) commonly co-occur and is associated with a more complex clinical presentation with poorer clinical outcomes when compared with either disorder alone, and untreated PTSD can predict relapse to substance abuse. A number of integrated treatment approaches addressing symptoms of both PTSD and SUD concurrently...
Although therapeutic treatments exist for substance use disorder (SUD), about half of individuals who enter treatment leave early and relapse to substance use. Early dropout from residential treatment places individuals at risk of relapse, and women in SUD residential treatment represent a vulnerable population. Evidence gaps persist for the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) among...
Patients with progressive kidney disease experience increasing physiologic and psychosocial stressors and declining health-related quality of life (HRQOL). We conducted a randomized, active-controlled, open-label trial to test whether a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program delivered in a novel workshop-teleconference format would reduce symptoms and improve HRQOL in patients...
Phone-delivered mindfulness training to promote medication adherence and reduce sexual risk behavior among persons living with HIV: Design and methods.
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to reduce the risk of relapse in patients with recurrent depression, but relapse rates remain high. To further improve outcome for this group of patients, follow-up interventions may be needed. Compassion training focuses explicitly on developing self-compassion, one of the putative working mechanisms of MBCT. No previous research has...
Although suicide ranks 10th as a cause of death in the United States, and 1st among active military personnel, there are surprisingly few evidence-based therapies addressing suicidality, and development of new treatments is limited. This paper describes a clinical trial testing a novel therapy for reducing suicide risk in military veterans. The intervention, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy...
Introduction: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) may be beneficial for overweight/obese women, including women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), as it has been shown to reduce psychological distress and improve quality of life in other patient populations. Preliminary studies suggest that MBSR may also have salutary effects on blood pressure and blood glucose. This paper describes...
Although meditation therapies such as the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique are commonly used to assist with stress and stress-related diseases, there remains a lack of rigorous clinical trial research establishing the relative efficacy of these treatments overall and for populations with psychiatric illness. This study uses a comparative effectiveness design to assess the relative...
Sleep problems are prevalent among older adults, often persist untreated, and are predictive of health detriments. Given the limitations of conventional treatments, non-pharmacological treatments such as mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are gaining popularity for sleep ailments. However, nothing is yet known about the impact of MBIs on sleep in older adults with prodromal sleep...
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is widespread among older adults (≥ 65 years) and is often treated inadequately. With a rapidly growing aging population, CLBP will increase and so will the demand for treatment. We believe that mind-body therapies can help to meet this demand. We present the methodology of a randomized, controlled clinical trial of 300 individuals with CLBP aged 65 years or older....
Caregivers for a family member with dementia experience chronic long-term stress that may benefit from new complementary therapies such as mindfulness-based stress reduction. Little is known however, about the challenges of recruiting and retaining family caregivers to research on mind-body based complementary therapies. Our pilot study is the first of its kind to successfully recruit...