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Effects of Detached Mindfulness on Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Murad Atmaca, Muhammed Fatih Tabara, Mehmet Gürkan Gürok

Alpha psychiatry 2024 DOI: 10.5152/alphapsychiatry.2024.231385 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Pre-post intervention study Peer reviewed
Sample size 17
Population Adult patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder receiving psychotropic medication
Topics Meditation
Keywords Obsessive-compulsive disorder Detached mindfulness Obsession
Citations 3
Key points Detached mindfulness therapy significantly reduced OCD symptom severity, as measured by Y-BOCS scores, from baseline to end of treatment.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of detached mindfulness (DM) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Seventeen adult patients with OCD, who were receiving psychotropic medication, were included in the study. M.A., a qualified metacognitive therapist at the Metacognitive Therapy Institute in Manchester, conducted DM therapy. The Yale-Brown Obsession Compulsion Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to monitor clinical progress. The mean Y-BOCS scores at baseline and the end of the study were 25.29 ± 5.70 and 13.53 ± 3.41, respectively, and a paired t-test analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between baseline and end-of-treatment scores (P<.001). The homework practices were also assessed in sessions 2, 3, and 4. The mean homework scores at the second, third, and fourth homework sessions were 8.70 ± 1.10, 8.00 ± 0.79 and 8.20 ± 1.1, respectively. The DM homework completion rate was at an acceptable level. In conclusion, our study has shown that the DM technique, one of the main techniques used in metacognitive therapy, is significantly beneficial in patients with a certain degree of severity. We are of the opinion that supportive studies with larger sample sizes are necessary for the demonstration of efficacy in patients with significant treatment resistance.

Comparable studies

Other non-randomized and open-label trials on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients Early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients 2003 Pre-post intervention study n = 59
Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Community sample 2010 Pre-post intervention study
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students Second-year medical students 2003 Prospective nonrandomized cohort-controlled study n = 302
Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators. Retreat participants and matched controls 2011 Controlled trial with wait-list control group n = 60
The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents Children aged 8-12 with ADHD and their parents 2011 Within-group waitlist controlled trial n = 22

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