Workshop 4

 

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression

Mark Williams, University of Oxford, UK

 

 

 
Mark Williams

There is a high risk of relapse and recurrence in patients suffering a first episode of major depression. Once an episode has recurred, the risk of a further episode is substantially increased.  There is accumulating evidence to suggest that this risk of recurrence is highest for those people who react to small shifts in negative mood with re-triggering of old habits of negative thinking formed during previous episodes. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) combines Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Stress Reduction program with techniques from Cognitive Therapy in an eight week ‘class’ format for up to twelve patients who are currently in remission.  It aims to teach participants how to become aware of early warning signs of relapse, and to reduce tendencies to avoid these early signs.  Preliminary evidence from two randomised controlled trials suggests that MBCT is effective in reducing risk of relapse in patients with three or more previous episodes of major depression, and MBCT is now included in the UK Government’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidelines for prevention of recurrence in major depression.

 
Key Objectives: The aim is that, by the end of the workshop, participants will be more familiar with:
1) the recent evidence on the nature of cognitive risk for relapse. 
2) why a mindfulness-based approach may be an appropriate way to address such risk. 
3) the preliminary evidence on efficacy.
4) and will have experienced some of the MBCT practices used in the 8-week program and how these are integrated with CBT through dialogue and discussion of the practice.

Training Modalities: The workshop will be interactive and include both experiential and didactic teaching and video.

Mark Williams is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Wellcome Principal Research Fellow in the University of Oxford.  He collaborated with John Teasdale and Zindel Segal in developing Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR program for the purpose of preventing relapse and recurrence in major depression, and is working with Melanie Fennell in developing MBCT for suicidal patients.
 
References: 1) Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990)  Full catastrophe living.  New York: Delacorte.
2)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. (see also www.mbct.co.uk)