Brief Training in Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Symptoms in Patients with a Chronic or Recurrent Lifetime History of Depression: A Randomized Controlled Study
Emilia Winnebeck, Maria Fißler, Matti Gärtner, Paul Chadwick, Thorsten Barnhofer
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) of three individual sessions plus regular home practice reduced depression symptoms more than a control condition with psycho-education and rest in 74 patients with chronic or recurrent depression. Only the MBI group showed increases in mindfulness and decreases in ruminative tendencies and cognitive reactivity. The results support a stress-buffering role for mindfulness and indicate that even short, targeted mindfulness training can alleviate symptoms in acutely depressed patients with a long-term history.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 74 |
| Population | Acutely depressed patients with a chronic or recurrent lifetime history |
| Interventions | mindfulness-based intervention psycho-educational components and regular rest periods |
| Key finding | A brief mindfulness-based intervention reduced depression symptoms more than a control condition in acutely depressed patients with chronic or recurrent depression. |
Abstract
Background: Training in mindfulness has been introduced to the treatment of depression as a means of relapse prevention. However, from a stress-buffering perspective, mindfulness techniques would be expected to unfold their beneficial effects particularly in those who are currently suffering from symptoms. This study investigated whether a brief and targeted mindfulness-based intervention can reduce symptoms in acutely depressed patients.Methods: Seventy-four patients with a chronic or recurrent lifetime history were randomly allocated to receive either a brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) encompassing three individual sessions and regular home practice or a control condition that combined psycho-educational components and regular rest periods using the same format as the MBI. Self-reported severity of symptoms, mindfulness in every day life, ruminative tendencies and cognitive reactivity were assessed before and after intervention.Results: Patients in the MBI condition showed pronounced and significantly stronger reductions in symptoms than those in the control condition. In the MBI group only, patients showed significant increases in mindfulness, and significant reductions in ruminative tendencies and cognitive reactivity.Conclusions: Findings are in line with a stress-buffering account of mindfulness and suggest that brief targeted mindfulness interventions can help to reduce symptoms in acutely depressed patients with chronic or recurrent lifetime history.