Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for the management and prevention of depression

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was first developed at the turn of the 20th and 21st century as a group-based clinical intervention program geared towards the treatment of patients with depression who have achieved remission, to prevent relapse. The first study evaluating the efficiency of this method was published in 2000, followed by numerous studies and meta-analyses confirming its effectiveness for the reduction or prevention of relapse. Based on the compelling evidence base, the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence as early as in 2009 endorsed mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as an effective method of reducing depression recurrence in patients with a history of a minimum of three depression episodes who have achieved remission. Over the last decade, there has also been a number of promising studies investigating the efficiency of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for the management of current depression episodes as well as chronic depression, and analysing the mechanisms at work in this type of intervention. It has been demonstrated that the mechanism of change is mediated by an increased capacity for mindfulness and empathy towards oneself and a reduction in brooding. Despite the therapy's well-acknowledged status among evidence-based therapies, the literature of the subject in Polish has so far been scarce. This study is aimed at addressing this situation, offering a comprehensive review of the results of the studies analysing the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and its mechanisms of change in the management and prevention of depression.