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
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| 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 |
| Topics | Depression Meditation |
| Key findings | 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.
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on depression, most cited first.