Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depressed individuals improves suppression of irrelevant mental-sets.
An impaired ability to suppress currently irrelevant mental-sets is a key cognitive deficit in depression. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was specifically designed to help depressed individuals avoid getting caught in such irrelevant mental-sets. In the current study, a group assigned to MBCT plus treatment-as-usual (n = 22) exhibited significantly lower depression scores and greater improvements in irrelevant mental-set suppression compared to a wait-list plus treatment-as-usual (n = 18) group. Improvements in mental-set-suppression were associated with improvements in depression scores. Results provide the first evidence that MBCT can improve suppression of irrelevant mental-sets and that such improvements are associated with depressive alleviation.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 120 2nd Ave, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA. jgreenberg5@mgh.harvard.edu.
Jonathan
J
Greenberg
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1 Bowdoin Square, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
Benjamin G
BG
Shapero
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1 Bowdoin Square, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
David
D
Mischoulon
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 120 2nd Ave, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.
Sara W
SW
Lazar
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064866:Mindfulness / Q000379:methods*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Competitor rule suppression; Depression; Mental-set; Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy