Meditation combats depression, study finds

Washington, December 1: A new study has found that a group-based psychological treatment involving Buddhist meditation techniques can combat the long-term depressiondefine as effectively as conventional medication.

The treatment, known as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), could be a viable alternative to prescription drugs for people suffering from long-term depressiondefine, suggests the novel study published on December 1, 2008 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

The principal author of the study, Professor Willem Kuyken at the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter, claims that in their study MBCT proved as effective as maintenance anti-depressants in lowering relapse rates and more effective in improving patients' quality of life.

To reach their findings, the researchers conducted a randomized control trial involving 123 long-term depressed people from urban and rural locations. The participants, who had suffered repeat depressions and were referred to the trial by their GPs, were split randomly into two groups - half participated in an MBCT course and were given the option of coming off anti-depressants and the rest continued their on-going anti-depressant drug treatment.

Fifteen months after an eight-week trial, the researchers found that 47 percent of the study subjects who underwent the MBCT therapy experienced a relapse, compared with 60 percent of those who continued with their anti-depressant medication.

In addition, the group on the MBCT therapy reported a higher quality of life, in terms of their overall enjoyment of daily living and physical well-being.

"Anti-depressants are widely used by people who suffer from depression and that's because they tend to work. But, while they're very effective in helping reduce the symptoms of depression, when people come off them they are particularly vulnerable to relapse. MBCT takes a different approach – it teaches people skills for life. What we have shown is that when people work at it, these skills for life help keep people well," said Prof Kuyken.

Also, the researchers compared the cost of providing MBCT courses with the cost of maintenance involved in anti-depressant treatment and found that the former is a cheaper alternative because it is a group-based technique, in which one psychologist could treat many people.

The researchers believe that this group-based technique could shorten NHS waiting lists. "Our results suggest MBCT may be a viable alternative for some of the 3.5 million people in the UK known to be suffering from this debilitating condition," the study authors concluded.

Depression is a kind of a mental disorder that influences a person’s basic outlook towards life. It is characterized by a consistent low mood and loss of interest in usual day to day activities.

Depression can be caused due to various psychological or biological reasons. Depression is a serious condition that affects a person's general health including his work, family life, sleeping and eating habits.

Kuyken conducted his study in collaboration with colleagues from the Centre for Economics of Mental Health (CEMH) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Peninsula Medical School, Devon Primary Care Trust and the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.