Study: Mindfulness Therapies Can Help People Suffering From Depression Avoid Relapse

The biggest study to date on the topic of mindfulness (or meditation) has found that it can help control depression. In a meta-analysis by Oxford University, and published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers found that recovering patients who used the technique were nearly a quarter less likely to relapse within five months than those using only antidepressants.

Researchers say it is too early to declare that this therapy is better than anti-depressant drugs, but they believe that it offers an alternative for the millions of people who suffer recurrent depression. And in 2015, nearly 60 million antidepressants were dispensed in England, almost twice as many as in 2004.

So, this is especially helpful news as some antidepressants have been associated with severe side effects, even suicidal thoughts, but mindfulness has never shown evidence of any adverse effects. In Britain, of the around three million people who are suffering from depression, four in five- without ongoing treatment- will relapse at some point.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or MCBT purports to combine “ancient wisdom with 21st century science.” Using meditation techniques, patients are encouraged to accept negative thoughts and feelings without allowing them to, “alter their emotional state or send them into a spiral of despair,” reports National Post.

Patients involved in an MBCT program attend a group session two hours a week for eight weeks and a full-day class on the fifth week. During the week, patients use guided meditations to support their daily health. Researchers already know that the best treatments for depression involve both talk therapies and antidepressants and this study confirms mindfulness as an effective talking therapy.

I once saw an acupuncturist who believed that part of the reason acupuncture worked, is because people were forced to lay down, clear their minds and breathe. There’s something to be said for what happens to our bodies in moments like those.

What do you think? Would you consider daily meditation as part of your lifestyle if it would help with depression?