Depression Helped by Ancient-Modern Combo

Jonathan Wood, writing in Anxiety Insights, details ongoing research at Oxford University that demonstrates the effectiveness of a treatment regimen that includes ancient meditation techniques combined with modern cognitive behavior therapy.

Everything old is new again!

MBCT, or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, was used in a small sample study involving severely depressed patients, some of whom had expressed thoughts of suicide. The therapy included learning about meditation (always helpful), education about depression, and training on what patients could do to help themselves when they start to feel overwhelmed.

The treatment reduced the number of patients with major depression, compared to no change in the control group. Promising stuff!

As we’ve discussed at KnowFear many times, the Buddhist concepts of mindfulness and self-awareness can be powerful tools in the treatment of a number of disorders. Taking the time to examine and understand what’s happening is beneficial in a number of ways, including being an active participant in your treatment rather than acting as a passive patient, waiting to be cured.

Be here now. Be somewhere else later. Is that so hard?

Ancient-modern therapy combo provides hope for severely depressed