News
Mindfulness Is A Therapy
According to a major new study, therapy based on the concept of mindfulness works as well as some anti-depressant drugs.
Inspired in part by Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness involves training the brain to deal with negative emotions using techniques such as meditation, pranayama and yoga.
The new study is the largest-ever analysis of research on the subject. The researchers reported in a paper in the journal JAMA Psychiatry that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) helped people just as much as commonly prescribed anti-depressant drugs. Adding that there was no evidence of any harmful effects.
Professor Willem Kuyken, an Oxford University clinical psychologist, director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and lead author of the paper, said: “While MBCT is not a panacea, it does clearly offer those with a substantial history of depression a new approach to learning skills to stay well in the long-term. “ He underlined that different people required different treatments and mindfulness should be viewed as one option alongside drugs and other forms of therapy. He stressed that while mindfulness may share a “lineage” with Buddhism and other “contemplative traditions”, the way it was used in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was “entirely secular”.
Inspired in part by Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness involves training the brain to deal with negative emotions using techniques such as meditation, pranayama and yoga.
The new study is the largest-ever analysis of research on the subject. The researchers reported in a paper in the journal JAMA Psychiatry that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) helped people just as much as commonly prescribed anti-depressant drugs. Adding that there was no evidence of any harmful effects.
Professor Willem Kuyken, an Oxford University clinical psychologist, director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and lead author of the paper, said: “While MBCT is not a panacea, it does clearly offer those with a substantial history of depression a new approach to learning skills to stay well in the long-term. “ He underlined that different people required different treatments and mindfulness should be viewed as one option alongside drugs and other forms of therapy. He stressed that while mindfulness may share a “lineage” with Buddhism and other “contemplative traditions”, the way it was used in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was “entirely secular”.