Mindfulness-based therapy regulates brain connectivity in major depression
Michael Lifshitz, Matthew D. Sacchet, Julia M. Huntenburg, Thomas Thiery, Yan Fan, Matti Gärtner, Simone Grimm, Emilia Winnebeck, Maria Fißler, Titus A. Schroeter, Daniel S. Margulies, Thorsten Barnhofer
May 29, 2019 DOI: 10.31231/osf.io/ctkwq (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Population | Clinically depressed patients |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based therapy |
| Topics | Depression Meditation |
| Keywords | Functional connectivity Intervention counseling Depression economics Resting State FMRI Psychotherapist Randomized controlled trial Clinical psychology Cognition |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | A brief, clinically effective mindfulness intervention functionally decouples top-down control regions from brain areas implicated in sensory, affective, and attentional processing in patients with major depressive disorder. |
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with abnormal functional interactions among large-scale brain networks. Here we report findings from a randomized, active-controlled trial examining whether mindfulness-based therapy can regulate specific patterns of resting-state functional connectivity in clinically depressed patients. We show that a brief, clinically effective mindfulness intervention functionally decouples top-down control regions from brain areas implicated in sensory, affective, and attentional processing. While previous work has demonstrated the clinical impact of mindfulness training, the present findings shed light on the precise neural targets, providing new insight into the specificity of this therapeutic approach.