April 4, 2023 – In a big UK study, depressed adults who got a self-help book that focused on mindfulness exercises and cognitive therapy showed greater improvement of their depression (at a lower cost) than peers who got a self-help book that only included cognitive therapy.
The cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) self-help programme utilized in the study is really helpful in UK treatment guidelines for mild to moderate depression, but some people don’t reply to it and plenty of drop out of treatment.
Introducing mindfulness-based CBT to treat depression would improve outcomes and get monetary savings compared with standard CBT, say researchers led by Clara Strauss, DPhil, from the Department of Psychology on the University of Sussex.
410 adults with mild to moderate depression took part within the “LIGHTMind” study. They received considered one of two established self-help books.
Someone was The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-week program to free yourself from depression and emotional stress. Written by the pioneers of mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy, this system helps people overcome depression, anxiety, and stress just by learning latest ways to answer thoughts and feelings. It includes guided audio meditations.
The other was Overcoming Depression and Low Mood, third Edition: A Five-Area Approach, a cognitive behavioural therapy programme widely utilized in England to assist people assess and manage their depression.
Both groups were supported by a trained “psychological wellbeing” provider.
After about 4 months, the mindfulness group showed a significantly greater reduction within the severity of depression symptoms and anxiety than the cognitive behavioral therapy group. The mindfulness self-help program also costs lower than the CBT program.
If the mindfulness program were implemented into routine practice, “many more people would recover from depression, and at the same time health services would cost less money,” the team's study says.
Dr. Zindel Segal, who was not involved within the study, found that mindfulness doesn’t “drastically” outperform cognitive therapy.
“But cognitive therapy is an effective treatment in itself, so even if it gets a little better, it's significant,” he said.
Segal is a professor of psychology on the University of Toronto at Scarborough and writer of the mindfulness workbook utilized in the study.
Segal also noted that the study appropriately recruited adults who were moderately depressed and never acutely in poor health.
“This is one of the reasons for self-help compared to more resource-intensive group treatment of patients,” he said.
“When you look at the needs of people with moderate depression, you find that negative thoughts and feelings have to be pervasive for cognitive therapy to work and for you to be able to use the techniques,” Segal explained. “With mindfulness, you don't need constant negative thoughts or feelings. Whatever comes up in your experience serves as a foundation for concentration and focus.”
He also noted that mindfulness is “better suited” to people who find themselves in a phase of recovery or remission.
“It is well suited for this because it tends towards the wellness sector,” he said.
Segal said the outcomes of the British study are relevant to the treatment of adults with mild to moderate depression within the United States.
“The self-help books used are widely available and the support offered to people, whether in person, by phone or email, can be easily provided. This would be a very useful model,” Segal said.