Latest research says that mindfulness therapy can help ease recurrent bouts of depression in a person. What is the link between this disease and the therapy? Read out the rest of the blog post to find out what the study has discovered about it.
What is Depression?
In the present era, mental disturbances such as ‘depression’ is no big deal to occur. With these many stress factors in the air of 2016, any one with considerable responsibilities can develop depression. However, the ailment must not be taken lightly.
Severe forms of depression can induce ‘personality disturbances’ in the patient, and so, early sign of this medical condition must be identified and treated.
The signs of depression are pretty easy to recognize since, anyone with the condition develops instincts strong enough to tell that person that ‘he is not doing well, and that he needs help.’ Some common signs of depression are as follows:
- Frequent low mood incidence
- Loss of pleasure in activities that used to make you happy once
- Developing a negative approach for each situation
- Increased anger and irritability
- Self under-estimation
- Loss of a good appetite
- Lack of sleep or too much of sleep
Such signs also occur in other kinds of psychological conditions, but they are more common to depression.
Diagnosis of depression is clearly made on clinical-grounds. The treatment which follows depends upon the severity of the patient’s condition.
What is mindfulness therapy?
Mindfulness therapy is something which makes you to practice focusing upon whats going on at the present. This therapy can be described as the practice of concentrating on the present experiences and moments with curiosity, willingness, and openness of mind. The creators of this therapy say that it is the best way to beat stress at the modern times. Mindfulness therapy aims at stopping a person and allowing them to connect with their instinct, by making them to observe and breathe freely. Art, yoga, and spending time with nature are some easy ways by which the state of mindfulness can be brought into a person. The great thing about this therapy is that once a person is systematically trained, they can incorporate it into their daily routine, despite of belonging to a specific age, background or profession.
What does this therapy do to the health of a person?
When a person gets connected to their inner self, he feels tranquility and becomes less stressed. Such a peaceful state of mind will certainly lower blood pressure, increase cognitive skills, improve the person’s ability to focus and concentrate, enhance the functioning of immune system, help cope up with anxiety, and nourish the brain areas that are employed for the purpose of emotional flexibility, decision making and empathy. Since mindfulness therapy brings about positive change in a person’s ability to concentrate and focus, patients with ADHD can certainly gain benefits from this mode of treatment.
How can mindfulness therapy ease depression?
A psychiatrist as well as the director or adult inpatient services at Lenox Hill Hospital in the New York City, Dr. Ami Baxi says that, “Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy enhances awareness of thoughts and emotions being experienced, and enables development of skills to better cope with them.”
A team of researchers from the University of Oxford in England, which was led by Willem Kyuken analyzed the results of 9 such published researches. The studies included about 1300 subjects who were affected with depression. These research works analyzed the benefits of mindfulness therapy in the pursuit of treating depression, and compared the result to benefits imparted by other therapies such as antidepressants and several other active treatments.
Subjects who underwent mindfulness therapy were observed to exhibit lesser incidences of recurrent depression after a period of 60 weeks of follow-up. Subjects who received the traditional care designed for depression showed up with the same amount of risk that was present in them previously.
An accompanying editorial that was provided by Richard Davidson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reads that, “Mindfulness practices were not originally developed as therapeutic treatments.They emerged originally in contemplative traditions for the purposes of cultivating well-being and virtue. The questions of whether and how they might be helpful in alleviating symptoms of depression and other related psychopathologies are quite new, and the evidence base is in its embryonic stage,”
Jill Emanuele, who is a senior clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute of the New York City says that she is actively incorporating this therapy into her practice. She uses mindfulness therapy to treat children, adolescents and adults suffering from depression. According to Jill, she has seen an improved result and and overall positive outcome in all her patients. She adds that this therapy is associated with evidences of bringing enhanced knowledge of thoughts and emotions to people, so that they can regulate their mental health adequately and effectively.
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