Is Mindfulness (Ibaadat Bandagi) as Good as Antidepressants?

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Is Mindfulness (Ibaadat Bandagi) as Good as Antidepressants?

By  Neha John-Hnderson

Summaries of new research on the effects of mindfulness against depression, the health benefits of a good story, and how kids can deal with mixed messages they get from home and school.

 

  

* This Greater Good section, Research Digests, offers short summaries of recent studies on happiness, empathy, compassion, and more. Quick to read, easy to digest—we review the research so you don’t have to! Subscribe to the Research Digests RSS feed to receive future digests.

 

Mindfulness (Ibaadat Bandagi): As Good as Antidepressants?

"Antidepressant Monotherapy vs Sequential Pharmacotherapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, or Placebo, for relapse Prophylaxis in Recurrent Depression."

Segal, Z., et. al. Archives of General Psychiatry. December 2010, Vol. 77 (12), 1256-1264.

Antidepressant medication is the standard treatment for patients diagnosed with depression. But this study suggests that being mindful of our thinking patterns is just as effective. Participants in remission from depression after eight months of taking antidepressants were split into three groups: They either continued taking antidepressants, participated in a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program, or were given a placebo treatment. Participants in the MBCT group attended eight weekly two-hour meetings in which they learned how to monitor their thought patterns when they felt depressed, how to avoid ruminating on negative thoughts, and how to engage in more reasoned reflection on their thoughts and situation instead. For those patients who had experienced depressive symptoms during the remission phase prior to the study, MBCT training was as effective as antidepressants at protecting them from a relapse of depression, and more effective than a placebo treatment. —Neha John-Henderson

 

 

 

 

Best Wishes, Kind Regards & Ya Ali Madad

 

Amin Chunara