Marloes J. Huijbers

Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse: An Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis From Randomized Trials

IMPORTANCE Relapse prevention in recurrent depression is a significant public health problem, and antidepressants are the current first-line treatment approach. Identifying an equally efficacious nonpharmacological intervention would be an important development. OBJECTIVE To conduct a meta-analysis on individual patient data to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) compared with usual care and other active treatments, including antidepressants, in treating those with recurrent depression. DATA SOURCES English-language studies published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals identified from EMBASE, PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register from the first available year to November 22, 2014. Searches were conducted from November 2010 to November 2014. STUDY SELECTION Randomized trials of manualized MBCT for relapse prevention in recurrent depression in full or partial remission that compared MBCT with at least 1 non-MBCT treatment, including usual care. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS This was an update to a previous meta-analysis. We screened 2555 new records after removing duplicates. Abstracts were screened for full-text extraction (S.S.) and checked by another researcher (T.D.). There were no disagreements. Of the original 2555 studies, 766 were evaluated against full study inclusion criteria, and we acquired full text for 8. Of these, 4 studies were excluded, and the remaining 4 were combined with the 6 studies identified from the previous meta-analysis, yielding 10 studies for qualitative synthesis. Full patient data were not available for 1 of these studies, resulting in 9 studies with individual patient data, which were included in the quantitative synthesis. RESULTS Of the 1258 patients included, the mean (SD) age was 47.1 (11.9) years, and 944 (75.0%) were female. A 2-stage random effects approach showed that patients receiving MBCT had a reduced risk of depressive relapse within a 60-week follow-up period compared with those who did not receive MBCT (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.58-0.82). Furthermore, comparisons with active treatments suggest a reduced risk of depressive relapse within a 60-week follow-up period (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64-0.97). Using a 1-stage approach, sociodemographic (ie, age, sex, education, and relationship status) and psychiatric (ie, age at onset and number of previous episodes of depression) variables showed no statistically significant interaction with MBCT treatment. However, there was some evidence to suggest that a greater severity of depressive symptoms prior to treatment was associated with a larger effect of MBCT compared with other treatments. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy appears efficacious as a treatment for relapse prevention for those with recurrent depression, particularly those with more pronounced residual symptoms. Recommendations are made concerning how future trials can address remaining uncertainties and improve the rigor of the field.

Preventing relapse in recurrent depression using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, antidepressant medication or the combination: trial design and protocol of the MOMENT study

BackgroundDepression is a common psychiatric disorder characterized by a high rate of relapse and recurrence. The most commonly used strategy to prevent relapse/recurrence is maintenance treatment with antidepressant medication (mADM). Recently, it has been shown that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is at least as effective as mADM in reducing the relapse/recurrence risk. However, it is not yet known whether combination treatment of MBCT and mADM is more effective than either of these treatments alone. Given the fact that most patients have a preference for either mADM or for MBCT, the aim of the present study is to answer the following questions. First, what is the effectiveness of MBCT in addition to mADM? Second, how large is the risk of relapse/recurrence in patients withdrawing from mADM after participating in MBCT, compared to those who continue to use mADM after MBCT?Methods/designTwo parallel-group, multi-center randomized controlled trials are conducted. Adult patients with a history of depression (3 or more episodes), currently either in full or partial remission and currently treated with mADM (6 months or longer) are recruited. In the first trial, we compare mADM on its own with mADM plus MBCT. In the second trial, we compare MBCT on its own, including tapering of mADM, with mADM plus MBCT. Follow-up assessments are administered at 3-month intervals for 15 months. Primary outcome is relapse/recurrence. Secondary outcomes are time to, duration and severity of relapse/recurrence, quality of life, personality, several process variables, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.DiscussionTaking into account patient preferences, this study will provide information about a) the clinical and cost-effectiveness of mADM only compared with mADM plus MBCT, in patients with a preference for mADM, and b) the clinical and cost-effectiveness of withdrawing from mADM after MBCT, compared with mADM plus MBCT, in patients with a preference for MBCT.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00928980

Discontinuation of antidepressant medication after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for recurrent depression: randomised controlled non-inferiority trial

Background Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and maintenance antidepressant medication (mADM) both reduce the risk of relapse in recurrent depression, but their combination has not been studied. Aims To investigate whether MBCT with discontinuation of mADM is non-inferior to MBCT+mADM. Method A multicentre randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00928980). Adults with recurrent depression in remission, using mADM for 6 months or longer (n = 249), were randomly allocated to either discontinue (n = 128) or continue (n = 121) mADM after MBCT. The primary outcome was depressive relapse/recurrence within 15 months. A confidence interval approach with a margin of 25% was used to test non-inferiority. Key secondary outcomes were time to relapse/recurrence and depression severity. Results The difference in relapse/recurrence rates exceeded the non-inferiority margin and time to relapse/recurrence was significantly shorter after discontinuation of mADM. There were only minor differences in depression severity. Conclusions Our findings suggest an increased risk of relapse/recurrence in patients withdrawing from mADM after MBCT.

Adding mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to maintenance antidepressant medication for prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depressive disorder: Randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and maintenance antidepressant medication (mADM) both reduce the risk of relapse in recurrent depression, but their combination has not been studied. Our aim was to investigate whether the addition of MBCT to mADM is a more effective prevention strategy than mADM alone. METHODS This study is one of two multicenter randomised trials comparing the combination of MBCT and mADM to either intervention on its own. In the current trial, recurrently depressed patients in remission who had been using mADM for 6 months or longer (n=68), were randomly allocated to either MBCT+mADM (n=33) or mADM alone (n=35). Primary outcome was depressive relapse/recurrence within 15 months. Key secondary outcomes were time to relapse/recurrence and depression severity. Analyses were based on intention-to-treat. RESULTS There were no significant differences between the groups on any of the outcome measures. LIMITATIONS The current study included patients who had recovered from depression with mADM and who preferred the certainty of continuing medication to the possibility of participating in MBCT. Lower expectations of mindfulness in the current trial, compared with the parallel trial, may have caused selection bias. In addition, recruitment was hampered by the increasing availability of MBCT in the Netherlands, and even about a quarter of participants included in the trial who were allocated to the control group chose to get MBCT elsewhere. CONCLUSIONS For this selection of recurrently depressed patients in remission and using mADM for 6 months or longer, MBCT did not further reduce their risk for relapse/recurrence or their (residual) depressive symptoms.

Memory for emotional pictures in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia: Comparing picture-location binding and subsequent recognition

Emotional content typically facilitates subsequent memory, known as the emotional enhancement effect. We investigated whether emotional content facilitates spatial and item memory in patients with Alzheimers dementia (AD). Twenty-three AD patients, twenty-three healthy elderly, and twenty-three young adults performed a picture relocation task and a delayed recognition task with positive, negative, and neutral stimuli. AD patients showed a benefit in immediate spatial memory for positive pictures, while healthy young and older participants did not benefit from emotional content. No emotional enhancement effects on delayed item recognition were seen. We conclude that AD patients may have a memory bias for positive information in spatial memory. Discrepancies between our findings and earlier studies are discussed.

Improvement of mindfulness skills during Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy predicts long-term reductions of neuroticism in persons with recurrent depression in remission

BACKGROUND This study examined whether changes in mindfulness skills following Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are predictive of long-term changes in personality traits. METHODS Using data from the MOMENT study, we included 278 participants with recurrent depression in remission allocated to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Mindfulness skills were measured with the FFMQ at baseline, after treatment and at 15-month follow-up and personality traits with the NEO-PI-R at baseline and follow-up. RESULTS For 138 participants, complete repeated assessments of mindfulness and personality traits were available. Following MBCT participants manifested significant improvement of mindfulness skills. Moreover, at 15-month follow-up participants showed significantly lower levels of neuroticism and higher levels of conscientiousness. Large improvements in mindfulness skills after treatment predicted the long-term changes in neuroticism but not in conscientiousness, while controlling for use of maintenance antidepressant medication, baseline depression severity and change in depression severity during follow-up (IDS-C). In particular improvements in the facets of acting with awareness predicted lower levels of neuroticism. Sensitivity analyses with multiple data imputation yielded similar results. LIMITATIONS Uncontrolled clinical study with substantial attrition based on data of two randomized controlled trials. CONCLUSIONS The design of the present study precludes to establish whether there is any causal association between changes in mindfulness and subsequent changes in neuroticism. MBCT could be a viable intervention to directly target one of the most important risk factors for onset and maintenance of recurrent depression and other mental disorders, i.e. neuroticism.

A parallel-group, randomized controlled trial into the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) compared to treatment-as-usual in recurrent depression: Trial design and protocol

BACKGROUND Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to reduce the risk of relapse in patients with recurrent depression, but relapse rates remain high. To further improve outcome for this group of patients, follow-up interventions may be needed. Compassion training focuses explicitly on developing self-compassion, one of the putative working mechanisms of MBCT. No previous research has been done on the effectiveness of compassion training following MBCT in patients with recurrent depression. AIMS To investigate the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) in reducing (residual) depressive symptoms in patients with recurrent depression who previously participated in MBCT. METHODS/DESIGN A randomized controlled trial comparing MBCL in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) with TAU only, in patients suffering from recurrent depressive episodes who completed an MBCT course in the past. Assessments will take place at baseline, post-treatment and at six months follow-up. After the control period, patients randomized to the TAU condition will be offered MBCL as well. OUTCOME MEASURES Primary outcome measure is severity of depressive symptoms according to the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) at post-treatment. Secondary outcome measures are presence or absence of DSM-IV depressive disorder, rumination, self-compassion, mindfulness skills, positive affect, quality of life, experiential avoidance and fear of self-compassion. DISCUSSION Our study is the first randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of compassion training following MBCT in a recurrently depressed population. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02059200, registered 30 January 2014.

Mindfulness voor patiënten

SamenvattingEr bestaan, ook onder professionals in de eerste lijn, nog steeds veel misverstanden over mindfulness. Dat is jammer, omdat steeds duidelijker wordt dat mindfulness-based interventies wel degelijk waardevol zijn voor patiënten met psychische klachten in de huisartsenpraktijk. Uit een recente meta-analyse bleek dat mindfulness vooral effectief is bij depressie, chronische pijn en verslaving. Bij het voorkomen van een recidief bij recidiverende depressie is Mindfulness-Based Cognitieve Therapie (MBCT) even effectief gebleken als antidepressiva, al bleek het helaas niet te beschermen tegen een terugval na stoppen met antidepressiva. Mindfulnesstraining is lastig vol te houden voor patiënten met een chronische therapieresistente depressie, maar diegenen die de training afmaken, hebben wel minder last van depressieve klachten.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as an alternative to maintenance antidepressant medication to prevent relapse and recurrence in depression

ABSTRACT FROM: Kuyken W, Hayes R, Barrett B, et al . Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy compared with maintenance antidepressant treatment in the prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence (PREVENT): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2015;386:63–73. Patients with major depressive disorder have a high risk of relapse/recurrence.1 Maintenance antidepressant medication (mADM) is typically recommended to prevent relapse/recurrence, but many individuals prefer psychosocial interventions.2 Previous studies have indicated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy with taper support (MBCT-TS) may be at least as effective as mADM in reducing the risk of depressive relapse/recurrence,3 and the aim of the current study was to compare these interventions in a definitive trial. In this 24-month single-blind, randomised controlled trial, 424 adult patients with three or more previous episodes of depression, who were using mADM, were included. They were recruited between March 2010 and October 2011, from 95 …