Mindfulness 'as good as drugs for preventing depression relapse' "Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may be as good as pills at stopping people relapsing after recovering from major bouts of depression," The Guardian reports.
Researchers wanted to see if a type of therapy known as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) could be an effective alternative treatment to
antidepressants for people with major
depression at high risk of relapse.
MBCT combines the problem-solving approach of
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with mindfulness techniques. These are designed to fix your awareness on the "here and now" instead of having unhelpful thoughts about the past and the future.
In a two-year clinical trial, people already taking antidepressants were assigned to a MBCT programme with a view to reducing or stopping their medication, or were asked to continue antidepressants alone. With support from their GP and therapist, around 70% of the mindfulness group were able to stop taking antidepressants.
The trial suggests MBCT might help some people with major recurrent depression reduce or cut out their medication. However, between four and five people out of every 10 in the trial relapsed within two years, regardless of their treatment. Depending on your perspective, the treatments were equally good or equally bad.
