Case Report: Case report : Mindfulness training led to catharsis and mindfulness-to-meaning in a patient with social anxiety disorder comorbid with persistent depressive disorder (Dysthymia)
Hisanobu Kaiya, Asuka Hasegawa, Chika Komatsu, Shota Noda, Fusaka Minami, Philippe R. Goldin, Yosuke Hasegawa
F1000Research December 6, 2024 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.152730.1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | 41-year-old female patient with Social Anxiety Disorder and Persistent Depressive Disorder |
| Intervention | Mindfulness training |
| Duration | 25 months (180 sessions); 9-year treatment course reported |
| Topics | Anxiety Depression Meditation |
| Key findings | The authors report that 180 mindfulness training sessions over 25 months produced complete remission of anxiety and depression symptoms in a woman with Social Anxiety Disorder and Persistent Depressive Disorder. They propose that "Mindfulness-To-Meaning" emerged through a sequence of heightened awareness, verbalization of a suppressed theme, metacognitive appraisal, decentering, emotional catharsis, and positive appraisal, yielding durable eudaimonic well-being in the face of adversity. |
Abstract
Background: The use of mindfulness in the treatment of anxiety and depression is becoming more and more widespread, but there are few reports that it has fundamentally changed patients’ sense of life. Case Presentation This report showed 9 year’s progress of treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder and Persistent Depressive Disorder in a 41-year-old female patient experiencing a long-term painful married life with a reckless husband and controlling mother-in-law. During the past 25 months, she received 180 sessions of mindfulness training, resulting in complete remission of the anxiety and depression symptoms. After the 30th session she experienced an episode of the catharsis during the mindfulness training and experienced what can be called Mindfulness-To-Meaning, which is characterized by durable eudaimonic well-being in the face of adversity.
Conclusions: The psychological mechanisms that supported arriving at Mindfulness-To-Meaning are delineated as: Heightened (1) awareness which promoted (2) verbalization of the primary theme of suppression, in which the stress was (3) appraised metacognitively. Then (4) decentering permitted integrating this painful theme into a new adaptive self and world view, which resulted in (5) emotional catharsis, or release. Furthermore (6) positive appraisal of this experience enhanced awareness and led to the experience of (7) Mindfulness-To-Meaning.