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The next MBCT course is scheduled to begin on the 14th May 2009.
Download a brochure on MBCT
1) About
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is an innovative approach that combines the practice and clinical application of mindfulness meditation with the tools of cognitive therapy. The heart of this work lies in acquainting patients with the characteristic cognitive and emotional patterns of mood disorders, while simultaneously inviting them to develop a new healthier relationship to these patterns.
How does MBCT work?
MBCT is a group-based brief intervention. Groups meet once-weekly for eight sessions and participants are asked to do home-based practice during the week. There is also a full-day training between the 6th and 7th session.
What you will learn:
- To become more aware of, and relate more constructively to, bodily sensations, feelings and thoughts.
- Simple breathing meditations to become more aware of the present moment
- Information about depression and anxiety
- Cognitive therapy exercises that show the links between thinking and feeling.
- To see more clearly the patterns of the mind
- To learn how to recognize when our mood is beginning to go down
- To break the link between negative mood and the negative thinking that it would normally have triggered.
2) Applications of MBCT
Relapse in Depression:
During an episode of depression, negative mood occurs alongside negative thinking and bodily sensations of sluggishness and fatigue. When the episode has passed, and the mood has returned to normal, the negative thinking and body sensations tend to disappear as well. However, during the episode an association has been learned between the various symptoms. This means that when negative mood happens again (for any reason), it will tend to trigger all the other symptoms in proportion to the strength of association. When this happens, the old habits of negative thinking will start up again, negative thinking gets into the same rut, and a full-blown episode of depression may be the result.
The data behind MBCT indicate that it effectively reduces relapse rates by 50% in patients with recurrent depression. In fact, it has recently been recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the U.K. as an empirically supported depression prevention treatment. The empirical support for MBCT has raised awareness about the need for effective and comprehensive treatment of depression and individuals can participate in this treatment regardless of whether they recovered from their depression via medication or talk therapy. (see links for further information)
Other:
The success of MBCT with treatment of relapse in depression has led to its use with several other conditions including:
- chronic fatigue syndrome,
- generalized anxiety disorder,
- panic disorder
- bi-polar mood disorder.
See links to articles for more information on the success of MBCT with anxiety and panic.
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3) Feedback from past participants
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“To me, depression is a balancing act of pain vs. coping resources and this course has piled up strong and real coping resources to counterbalance episodes of pain, sadness and anxiety…”
“I can see practicing will change the quality of my life and health.”
“It (MBCT) has given me an intimate sense of who I am, of control… It has changed my outlook on life and given me perspective.”
“It helped me realize that my ‘auto-pilot’ was in overdrive and gave me ways to take my foot off the petrol.”
“It has given me some focus and direction; taken me out of a big black hole which I was in at the beginning of the course.”
“I have slowed everything down to a manageable reality… spending less the in the past and future and more time in the present.”
“(This) course has given me tools.” |
“It has grounded me with my anxiety.”
“It (MBCT) has increased my skills in handling up(s) and downs. I am able to put distance between reacting and acting.”
“I am really pleased to have had the opportunity to begin to really understand the practice of mindfulness, the vital ideas of acceptance and non-judgement (and) being with what is in the moment.”
“I can feel changes taking place inside me and in my reaction to circumstances or other people” |
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4) Links to relevant articles on MBCT
“Declutter your Mind” – Jane Feinmann reports for the Independent
“Scientists probe meditation secrets” – Naomi Law
“What are MBSR and MBCT”
“Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy in Bipolar Disorder”
Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy As Effective As Anti-depressant Medication, Study Suggests
“How meditation helps depression” by Jack Rucker
“Overcoming severe depression through Mindfulness and Meditation” by Ria Robinson
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5) Links to MBCT sites
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6) Key MBCT reference
Effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as an adjuvant to pharmacotherapy in patients with panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder Yong Woo Kim, M.D. 1, Sang-Hyuk Lee, M.D. 1 *, Tae Kyou Choi, M.D. 1, Shin Young Suh, M.D. 1, Borah Kim, M.D. 1, Chan Mo Kim, Ph.D. 2, Sung Joon Cho, M.D. 1, Myo Jung Kim, M.S.W. 1, Keunyoung Yook, M.A. 1, Mi Ryu, M.A. 1, Su Kyung Song, R.N. 1, Ki-Hwan Yook, M.D. 1
Ma, S.H., & Teasdale, J.D. (2002). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. 1Department of Psychiatry, Bundang CHA Hospital, Pochon CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, Republic of Korea
2POSCO Research Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Segal, Z.V., Williams, J.M.G. and Teasdale, J.D. (2002) Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York, Guilford Press
Teasdale, J.D., Segal, Z.V., Williams, J.M.G., et al. (2000) Prevention of Relapse/Recurrence in Major Depression by Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 615-623
Usefulness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Treating Insomnia in Patients With Anxiety Disorders: A Pilot Study
Yook, Keunyoung MA; Lee, Sang-Hyuk MD, PhD; Ryu, Mi MA; Kim, Keun-Hyang MA; Choi, Tae Kyou MD, PhD; Suh, Shin Young MD, PhD; Kim, Yong-Woo MD; Kim, Borah MD; Kim, Mi Young MSW; Kim, Myo-Jung MSW
Depression, low self-esteem and mindfulness
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK
Melanie J.V. Fennell
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in bipolar disorder: Preliminary evaluation of immediate effects on between-episode functioning
Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 107, Issue 1, Pages 275-279
J. Williams, Y. Alatiq, C. Crane, T. Barnhofer, M. Fennell, D. Duggan, S. Hepburn, G. Goodwin
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for generalized anxiety disorder
Susan Evans a,*, Stephen Ferrando a, Marianne Findler a,
Charles Stowell a, Colette Smart b, Dean Haglin a
a Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, United States
Outcomes following Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy in a Heterogeneous
Sample of Adult Outpatients
Melissa J Ree1,2* & Mark A Craigie3
1 Private Clinics Australia, Perth, Western Australia.
2 School of Psychology, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
b JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, United States
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