Science Daily: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy vs. AntiDepressant in Preventing Depressive Relapse

Science Daily has an article about a recent study of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). In a group of people who had experienced at least two depressive episodes, study participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. People who were tapered off an antidepressant and completed an 8-week MBCT course showed a 38% relapse rate, compared to 46% who remained on an antidepressant, and 60% whose antidepressant was replaced by a placebo. Quoted from the article:

"Our data highlight the importance of maintaining at least one active long-term treatment in recurrently depressed patients whose remission is unstable," the authors write. "For those unwilling or unable to tolerate maintenance antidepressant treatment, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy offers equal protection from relapse during an 18-month period."

 I intend to track down the original article. In the meantime, you can read the Science Daily article here.

For the full citation:

Segal, Z.V., Bieling, P., Young, T., MacQueen, G. Cooke, R. et al. (2010). Antidepressant Monotherapy vs Sequential Pharmacotherapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, or Placebo, for Relapse Prophylaxis in Recurrent Depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(12), 1256-1264.

A Podcast Interview with Steven Hayes, PhD, on BehaviorTherapist.com

Following fast on the heels of his interview with Dr. Zettle, Dr. Trent Codd has posted a podcast interview with Steven Hayes, PhD, on BehaviorTherapist.com. Dr. Hayes is the core originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). An enormously influential professor and psychologist,  Dr. Hayes has authored 32 books and over 400 scientific articles, as well as the popular self-help book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life.

Dr. Hayes discusses the importance of defining the philosophical underpinnings of psychological theories, and how Functional Contextualism guides ACT.

You can listen to the interview at BehaviorTherapist.com here.

Interview with Rob Zettle, PhD, on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression

BehaviorTherapist.com has an interview with Rob Zettle, PhD, who, as the first graduate student of Steven Hayes, PhD, was involved in the development of what would eventually become Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Dr. Zettle is also the author of the book, ACT for Depression.

Dr. Trent Codd interviews Dr. Zettle about his early work in developing ACT and his work on using ACT to treat depression. (The American Psychological Association Division 12 officially recognized ACT as a research-supported treatment for depression.) The interview may a little technical for people unfamiliar ACT but provides a fascinating window into its early development.

The interview can be found on BehaviorTherapist.com here.

If you're interested in Dr. Zettle's book, the citation is below:

Zettle, R. D. (2007). ACT for Depression: A Clinician's Guide to Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Treating Depression. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

Telephone-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Adult Smoking Cessation: A Feasibility Study

In an efforts to make psychotherapy more accessible to people, researchers have been experimenting with ways of offering treatment to people who cannot come in to see a therapist regularly, perhaps for financial reasons or geographic (e.g., rural areas).

Dr. Bricker and colleagues at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center did a pilot study on using a smoking cessation Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention delivered over the telephone.

Of the 74 people screened, 14 participated in the study. Although small, the sample was pretty diverse: 57% were African American and 64% were low-income. Participants had to be a daily smoker for the past 30 days, and 64% reported smoking half a pack a day.

A licensed psychologist delivered up to 5 telephone sessions: the first was about 30 minutes, and the remaining averaged 15 minutes per call. The components of intervention involved learning skills to: 1.) increase willingness to experience smoking-related urges; 2.) alter the function of these urges; 3.) change how they respond to the urges (e.g., notice without acting on them).

The study had 20-day and 12-month follow-ups. At 12-months, 29% of the participants were no longer smoking. Although this may not seem like a great outcome, it's pretty impressive when compared to other smoking intervention outcomes. According the authors, success rates are 4% for those quitting on their own, 12% for other telephone interventions, and 30-35% for face-to-face ACT interventions. What this means is that the success rate for this intervention was more than twice that of other telephone interventions and comparable to face-to-face interventions.

Because this was a small sample with no comparison control group, further research is necessary. Nonetheless, this study offers some really promising evidence that a brief ACT-based telephone intervention for smoking cessation may be pretty effective. That it's brief and delivered by phone means that it may offer more bang for the buck compared to face-to-face interventions. Additionally, participants rated the intervention really positively.

For the full citation:

Bricker, J.B., Mann, S.L., Marek, P.M., Liu, J., & Peterson, A.V. (2010). Telephone-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Adult Smoking Cessation: A Feasibility Study. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 12(4), 454-458.