Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Case Study

What is MBCT?

Kabat-Zinn has developed the practice of combining CBT with mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program and named it “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy” (Segal et al., 2013). Cognitive component includes education about depression, while mindfulness part covers meditation and simple yoga exercises (van der Velden et al., 2015). Unlike CBT, where the focus is on the changing the thought context, MBCT patients observe the thoughts and learn to disengage from them. Therefore, patients’ future thoughts are less likely to influence their feelings and behaviours (Omidi, Mohammadkhani, Mohammadi, & Zargar, 2013).
MBCT is a “third-wave therapy”, which is very cost-effective, as therapists could deliver it to many patients at
It plays an important role in treating depression. In CBT, therapists use decentering to change one’s thought content (Alsawy, Mansell, Carey, McEvoy, & Tai, 2014). A CBT therapist’s goal is to make a patient realize that the thought is not valid and the opposite might be true. As such, if someone thinks, “I am useless”, a therapist could help one to find examples that support the opposite. However, in MBCT, participants use decentering to simply observe one’s thoughts. Participants do not evaluate or change thoughts; rather, they accept them in a non-judgmental way (Larsson, 2013). As such, a patient would be aware that the thought of being useless came to mind; nevertheless, because it came to mind does not mean it is true. For many depressed patients, decentering is associated with an increased meta-awareness (awareness of the present moment; Segal et al., 2013) and decreased negative mood (Fissler et al., 2016). Meta-awareness is a key part of mindfulness (Jankowski & Holas, 2014). It gives an individual a wider range of possible viewpoints about self. Learning this skill could benefit depressed people and patients at risk of relapse, as those patients may have a different pattern of thinking from those who were never
It is important since it would aid psychologists to better identify patients who would benefit from MBCT the most (Holmes, Craske, & Graybiel, 2014). Additionally, there is a need for more neuroscientific studies to see whether there are differences in brain structures and functioning of those who have undergone MBCT treatment (van der Velden et al., 2015; Holmes et al., 2014). Moreover, it might be important to investigate developmental and gender variations in the effect of MBCT (Holmes et al., 2014). Accordingly, there is a need for a research on the genetic mechanisms that may influence the outcome of the MBCT as well to see how gene variation could mediate an effect of MBCT (Holmes et al., 2014). Another area of investigation could be whether the patients’ preference for a particular therapy or medication would influence the outcomes of MBCT. Currently, there is evidence that patients who prefer mADM have equally well outcomes from MBCT as those who do not have a preference for medication treatment; however, there is a need for further studies in this area (Huijbers et al., 2016). Besides, there is a need for more research to understand to understand whether mindfulness is the key component of the success of the therapy. Likewise, it is important to investigate the role of other factors, such as group participation. Until such studies are conducted, it remains a possibility that group CBT alone