Evaluation of major depressive disorder using 7 Tesla phase sensitive neuroimaging before and after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

Objective: We applied 7 Tesla phase sensitive imaging to evaluate the impact of brain iron levels on depression severity and cognitive function in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) treated with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT).

Methods: Seventeen unmedicated MDD participants underwent MRI, evaluation of depression severity, and cognitive testing before and after receiving MBCT, compared to fourteen healthy controls (HC). Local field shift (LFS) values, measures of brain iron levels, were derived from phase images in the putamen, caudate, globus pallidus (GP), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and thalamus.

Preventing Depression Relapse: A Qualitative Study on the Need for Additional Structured Support Following Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy.

Background: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an effective group intervention for reducing rates of depression relapse. However, about one-third of graduates experience relapse within 1 year of completing the course.

Objective: The current study aimed to explore the need and strategies for additional support following the MBCT course.

Dysfunctional Cortical Gradient Topography in Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) refers to patients with major depressive disorder who do not remit after 2 or more antidepressant trials. TRD is common and highly debilitating, but its neurobiological basis remains poorly understood. Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed cortical connectivity gradients that dissociate primary sensorimotor areas from higher-order associative cortices.

Online Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for People with Parkinson's Disease and Their Caregivers: a Pilot Study.

Anxiety and depression are common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Caregivers of people with PD may experience severe caregiver burden. This study explored the feasibility and potential benefits of an online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) intervention for improving anxiety and depressive symptoms in people with PD and their caregivers (ClinicalTrials.

The Many Roads to Mindfulness: A Review of Nonmindfulness-Based Interventions that Increase Mindfulness.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have become increasingly popular for treating various physical and mental disorders. An increase in mindfulness levels through the teaching of mindfulness meditation is the most well-studied mechanism of MBIs. Recent studies, however, suggest that an increase in mindfulness is also observed in physical or psychosocial interventions not explicitly labeled as MBIs, or what the authors call non-MBIs.

Blunted amygdala activity is associated with depression severity in treatment-resistant depression.

Up to 50% of individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) do not recover after two antidepressant medication trials, and therefore meet the criteria for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is one promising treatment; however, the extent to which MBCT influences clinical outcomes relative to baseline neural activation remains unknown. In the present study we investigated baseline differences in amygdala activation between TRD patients and healthy controls (HCs), related amygdala activation to depression symptoms, and examined the impacts of MBCT and amygdala activation on longitudinal depression outcomes.

Evaluating metabolites in patients with major depressive disorder who received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and healthy controls using short echo MRSI at 7 Tesla.

Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate differences in metabolite levels between unmedicated patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls, to assess changes in metabolites in patients after they completed an 8-week course of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and to exam the correlation between metabolites and depression severity.

Materials And Methods: Sixteen patients with MDD and ten age- and gender-matched healthy controls were studied using 3D short echo-time (20 ms) magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) at 7 Tesla. Relative metabolite ratios were estimated in five regions of interest corresponding to insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate, putamen, and thalamus.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression.

Background: Due to the clinical challenges of treatment-resistant depression (TRD), we evaluated the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) relative to a structurally equivalent active comparison condition as adjuncts to treatment-as-usual (TAU) pharmacotherapy in TRD.

Methods: This single-site, randomized controlled trial compared 8-week courses of MBCT and the Health Enhancement Program (HEP), comprising physical fitness, music therapy and nutritional education, as adjuncts to TAU pharmacotherapy for outpatient adults with TRD. The primary outcome was change in depression severity, measured by percent reduction in the total score on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17), with secondary depression indicators of treatment response and remission.

A Preliminary Study: Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy versus Sertraline as First-line Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the leading cause of disability in the developed world, yet broadly effective treatments remain elusive. The primary aim of this pilot study was to investigate the efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) monotherapy, compared to sertraline monotherapy, for patients with acute MDD. This open-label, nonrandomized controlled trial examined a MBCT cohort (N=23) recruited to match the gender, age, and depression severity of a depressed control group (N=20) that completed 8 weeks of monotherapy with the antidepressant sertraline.

Critical analysis of the efficacy of meditation therapies for acute and subacute phase treatment of depressive disorders: a systematic review.

Background: Recently, the application of meditative practices to the treatment of depressive disorders has met with increasing clinical and scientific interest, owing to a lower side-effect burden, potential reduction of polypharmacy, and theoretical considerations that such interventions may target some of the cognitive roots of depression.

Objective: We aimed to determine the state of the evidence supporting this application.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials of techniques meeting the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality definition of meditation, for participants having clinically diagnosed depressive disorders, not currently in remission, were selected.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) versus the health-enhancement program (HEP) for adults with treatment-resistant depression: a randomized control trial study protocol.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the leading cause of disability in the developed world, yet broadly effective treatments remain elusive. Up to 40% of patients with depression are unresponsive to at least two trials of antidepressant medication and thus have "treatment-resistant depression" (TRD). There is an urgent need for cost-effective, non-pharmacologic, evidence-based treatments for TRD.

Preliminary long-term follow-up of Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy-induced remission of depression.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often chronic and characterized by relapse and recurrence despite successful treatments to induce remission. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was developed as a means of preventing relapse for individuals in remission using cognitive interventions. In addition, MBCT has preliminarily been found to be useful in treating active depression.

Altered cerebral perfusion in executive, affective, and motor networks during adolescent depression.

Objective: Although substantial literature has reported regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities in adults with depression, these studies commonly necessitated the injection of radioisotopes into subjects. The recent development of arterial spin labeling (ASL), however, allows noninvasive measurements of rCBF. Currently, no published ASL studies have examined cerebral perfusion in adolescents with depression.

Resting-state functional connectivity of subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in depressed adolescents.

Background: Very few studies have been performed to understand the underlying neural substrates of adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD). Studies in depressed adults have demonstrated that the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) plays a pivotal role in depression and have revealed aberrant patterns of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC). Here, we examine the RSFC of the sgACC in medication-naïve first-episode adolescents with MDD.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: theory and practice.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) incorporates elements of cognitive-behavioural therapy with mindfulness-based stress reduction into an 8-session group program. Initially conceived as an intervention for relapse prevention in people with recurrent depression, it has since been applied to various psychiatric conditions. Our paper aims to briefly describe MBCT and its putative mechanisms of action, and to review the current findings about the use of MBCT in people with mood and anxiety disorders.

Adapting Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Clinical Case Study.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is currently ranked the third leading cause of disability in the world. Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) causes the majority of MDD's disability. Strikingly, 50% of individuals with MDD will fail to remit with two adequate trials of antidepressant medications, thus qualifying as treatment resistant.

Subdiagnostic alcohol use by depressed men and women seeking outpatient psychiatric services: consumption patterns and motivation to reduce drinking.

Background: This study examined alcohol use patterns among men and women with depression seeking outpatient psychiatric treatment, including factors associated with recent heavy episodic drinking and motivation to reduce alcohol consumption.

Methods: The sample consisted of 1,183 patients aged 18 and over who completed a self-administered, computerized intake questionnaire and who scored ≥ 10 on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Additional measures included current and past alcohol questions based on the Addiction Severity Index, heavy episodic drinking (≥ 5 drinks on 1 or more occasions in the past year), alcohol-related problems on the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (SMAST), and motivation to reduce drinking using the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES).

Adapting Ancient Wisdom for the Treatment of Depression: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Group Training.

This paper outlines and discusses two models of training for group Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) which we have called and . MBCT training and practice focuses on present moment experience versus content, focused on gaining a metacognitive perspective on one's thoughts and internal processes. Trainees and trainers share their reflections on the training process as well as the experiential and acceptance-based framework of MBCT reflected in the training process itself.

Computerized screening for alcohol and drug use among adults seeking outpatient psychiatric services.

Objective: This study examined routine computerized screening for alcohol and drug use of men and women seeking outpatient psychiatric services (excluding chemical dependency treatment) and prevalence based on electronic medical records of consecutive admissions.

Methods: The sample of 422 patients, ages 18-91, completed a self-administered questionnaire. Measures included 30-day, one-year, and lifetime substance use and alcohol-related problems.

Factitious disorders: potential litigation risks for plastic surgeons.

Patients with factitious physical disorders can present with a myriad of signs and symptoms. Common presentations include persistent wounds and abscesses that are often treated by plastic surgeons. Because these individuals are surreptitiously trying to maintain their illness, rather than recover, adverse outcomes are common, particularly when the plastic surgeon has not detected the factitious etiology.

Psychiatric and behavioral correlates of factitious blindness.

In factitious disorder, an individual feigns, exaggerates, or actually self-induces physical or psychiatric illness to achieve ends such as mobilizing care and concern, ventilating aggression, diminishing guilty feelings, or gratifying dependency wishes. We present 2 new cases of factitious binocular blindness, which has rarely been reported but readily illustrates the dramatic range of factitious illness behaviors. Psychiatric and behavioral correlates culled from these cases include extravagant claims about the impairment and ludicrous claims for nonvisual sensory abilities.