Mindfulness

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Mindfulness has become very popular in recent years and we are seeing a large quantity of research published on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based group therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Mindfulness exercises are popular with the general public because they are easy to learn and quick to do, compared with a long wait for other forms of psychotherapy (e.g. CBT).

The published research covers a huge range of health problems and we have featured blogs on topics including anxiety, depression, substance misuse, psychosis, stress, binging and weight loss and the mental health of breast cancer patients.

Overall it seems that the uptake of mindfulness as an intervention and the popularity of this approach amongst service users and health professionals is some way ahead of the evidence. As is often the case, people are not waiting for high quality reliable studies before they start to practice an intervention which is accessible and (seemingly) safe.

Our Mindfulness Blogs

Mindfulness based childbirth and parenting: positive impact on stress and depression

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In her debut blog, Sophia Ahmed summarises an RCT which finds that Mindfulness based childbirth and parenting can help to reduce stress and depression in expectant mothers.

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Self-compassion for anxiety and depression in young people #ActiveIngredientsMH

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Sarah Egan summarises a recent systematic review relating to her own Wellcome Trust funded research on self-compassion for the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression in young people.

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What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on people with mental health problems and the services they use?

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Dafni Katsampa summarises a broad review which explores the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on mental health care and people with pre-existing mental health problems.

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Repetitive negative thinking: an important clinical target for the treatment of depression and anxiety? #ActiveIngredientsMH

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Imogen Bell summarises a systematic review relating to her own Wellcome Trust funded research into repetitive negative thinking in anxiety and depression.

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Digital interventions for suicidal thinking: a tale of two reviews

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In his debut blog, Wouter van Ballegooijen summarises two recent systematic reviews on digital interventions for suicidal thinking, which include more or less the same research, but come to quite different conclusions.

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Universal interventions to prevent mental illness in medical students

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Tayla McCloud summarises a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of universal programmes for the prevention of suicidal ideation, behaviour and mental ill health in medical students.

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Mindfulness to support antidepressant withdrawal: patient views and experiences

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Hannah Bowers writes her debut blog on a recent qualitative study, which explores how mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can help people stop taking antidepressants and recover from depression. This paper includes the views and perspectives of participants in the 2015 PREVENT trial.

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The Trial: pharmacotherapy versus psychotherapy for schizophrenia – how do trials compare?

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Keith Laws looks at a systematic review of patient and study characteristics, which asks: are randomised controlled trials on pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for positive symptoms of schizophrenia comparable?

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