Positive Shifts in Emotion Evaluation Following Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in Remitted Depressed Participants

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) helps people with remitted major depression evaluate situations less negatively and more positively, a shift that correlates with increased mindfulness. In a non-randomized trial, 40 participants received MBCT, 33 continued treatment as usual, and 42 never-depressed controls were assessed. After the 8-week MBCT program, only the MBCT group showed a change in emotion evaluation ratings, from more negative to more positive, while both the MBCT and treatment-as-usual groups improved slightly in recognizing facial emotions. The findings suggest MBCT specifically encourages more positive appraisals of life events rather than altering basic emotion processing.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Objectives A combination of negatively biased information processing and a reduced ability to experience positive emotions can persist into remission from major depression (rMDD). Studies have shown that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) can increase self-reported positive emotions in rMDD participants; similar changes using neuropsychological tasks have not been shown. In this study, we investigated neuropsychological change in emotional processing following MBCT in rMDD participants. Methods Seventy-three rMDD participants, 40 of whom received MBCT and 33 of whom continued with treatment as usual (TAU), and 42 never depressed participants took part; neither the TAU nor never depressed participants received MBCT. All were assessed at baseline and immediately following MBCT or after an 8-week gap for those without active intervention. Participants completed emotion evaluation and face emotion recognition tasks with self-report measures (mood, mindfulness) at each session. Results Results showed an MBCT-specific shift in ratings from less negative to more positive emotion evaluations, which correlated with mindfulness practice and self-report mindfulness change. Both the MBCT and TAU groups showed a small increase in overall face emotion recognition accuracy compared with no change in never depressed participants. Conclusions These findings support a specific role for MBCT in encouraging more positive evaluations of life situations in those with previous depression rather than influencing lower-level processing of emotions. Results should be interpreted cautiously given that this was a non-randomised, preference choice trial. Trial Registration NCT02226042