Joint Talk - Is Mindfulness self-help, helpful for depression? - Prof Clara Strauss

Mindfulness involves deliberately paying non-judgemental attention to present-moment experiences such as body sensations, feelings, thoughts and the world around. It is now well-established that in-person mindfulness training led by expert mindfulness teachers helps people develop mindfulness skills and that this is beneficial for a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes, with evidence being particularly strong when examining depression outcomes. Due to the strength of evidence, in-person mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; an 8-week mindfulness course) is now recommended as a treatment for depression in national treatment guidelines including in the US and UK. However, access to MBCT for people experiencing depression is very patchy in public health systems and is not available at all in many places.

There a wide range of mindfulness self-help resources available, including online programmes, smartphone apps and workbooks. These have potential to address the patchy availability of in-person mindfulness courses for depression however, the question of effectiveness and safety remains. This talk will present information about mindfulness self-help for depression with a focus on findings from a recent Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) of supported MBCT self-help intervention for depression.