Mindfulness-based therapy can be as effective as antidepressants in reducing the risk of relapse in depression, according to a new Oxford-led study.
The study compared mindfulness-based therapy - structured training for the mind and body which aims to change the way people think and feel about their experiences - with maintenance antidepressant medication for reducing the risk of relapse in depression.
The findings showed that Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) isn't any more effective than maintenance antidepressant treatment in preventing relapse of depression.
However, the results, combined with those of previous trials, suggest that MCBT may offer similar protection as maintenance antidepressant treatment against depressive relapse for people who have experienced multiple episodes of depression, with no significant difference in cost.
"Depression is a recurrent disorder. Without ongoing treatment, as many as four out of five people with depression relapse at some point," said Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, and lead author of the study published in The Lancet journal.
MBCT was developed to help people who have experienced repeated bouts of depression by teaching them the skills to recognise and to respond constructively to the thoughts and feelings associated with relapse, thereby preventing a downward spiral into depression.
In a trial, which was conducted from the University of Exeter, UK, 424 adults with recurrent major depression and taking maintenance antidepressant medication were recruited from 95 primary care general practices across the South West of England.
Participants were randomly assigned to come off their antidepressant medication slowly and receive MBCT (212 participants) or to stay on their medication (212 participants).
Participants in the MBCT group attended eight over two hour group sessions and were given daily home practice. After the group they had the option of attending 4 follow up sessions over a 12 month period.
The MBCT course consists of guided mindfulness practices, group discussion and other cognitive behavioural exercises. Those in the maintenance antidepressant group continued their medication for two years.
Over 2 years, relapse rates in both groups were similar (44 per cent in the MBCT group vs 47 per cent in the maintenance antidepressant medication group).
"As a group intervention, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was relatively low cost compared to therapies provided on an individual basis and, in terms of the cost of all health and social care services used by participants during the study, we found no significant difference between the two treatments," said co-author Professor Sarah Byford, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, UK.
