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Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Depression An 8-Week Group with Regina Segura-Khagram

This 8-week group will be offered during Winter quarter on Mondays from 4:30-6:00pm beginning on Monday, January 11, 2010 and ending on Monday, March 15, 2010.

Please note: For those who have already participated in Regina Segura-Khagram's Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Depression 8-Week Group, a new follow-up group is now being offered and begins Wednesday, October 7.

Background: Once you have had depression or anxiety, there is an increased risk that you will become depressed or anxious again.

What causes depression and/or anxiety to return?

Client Handout for MBCT

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If you have been depressed or anxious, and then recovered, you may have noticed that a small amount of sadness or disappointment can trigger a large amount of negative thoughts (e.g. ‘I am a failure’, ‘I am weak’, ‘I am worthless’). The same small amount of negative mood can also trigger bodily sensations of weakness or fatigue or unexplained pain.

Both the negative thoughts and fatigue often seem out of proportion to the situation. You may find yourself ruminating: ‘what has gone wrong?’, ‘why is this happening to me?’, ‘when will it all end?

So what is going on here?

During an episode of depression or anxiety, negative mood occurs alongside negative thinking and bodily sensations of sluggishness and fatigue or muscle tension. When the episode has passed, and the mood has returned to normal, the negative thinking and body sensations may disappear as well. However, they have not really gone. The mind has learned an association between the various symptoms. This means that when negative mood happens again (for any reason) it will tend to trigger all the other symptoms. When this happens, the old habits of negative thinking will start up again, negative thinking gets into the same rut, and a full-blown episode of depression or panic may be the result.

The discovery that, even when you feel well, the link between negative moods and negative thoughts remains ready to be re-activated is of enormous importance. It means that sustaining recovery from depression depends on learning how to keep mild states of depression and stress from spiraling out of control.

Can MBCT help me?

If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you may find MBCT helpful.

1. Have you suffered from 3 or more episodes of depression or anxiety in the past? If ‘YES’, have you recovered enough to consider taking steps to prevent future episodes?
2. Do you find that, when you become sad or anxious, you tend to ruminate about things?
3. Does your thinking rapidly become negative in response to small downward shifts in your moods?
4. When your mood negatively affects you, do you find yourself thinking about why you always react this way?
5. When your mood negatively affects you, do you find yourself thinking about how it will all end?
6. When your mood negatively affects you, do you find yourself trying to analyze everything?

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): Research has found that a new combination of meditation and cognitive therapy can help. In 8 weekly classes, and by practicing at home during the week, you learn the practice of mindfulness meditation and how to use it to disentangle yourself from depressed or anxious mood and thinking.

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy includes simple breathing meditations and yoga stretches to help you become more aware of the present moment, including getting in touch with moment-to-moment changes in the mind and the body. It also includes basic education about depression and anxiety, and several exercises from cognitive therapy that show the links between thinking and feeling and how best to look after yourself when low mood or worry threatens to overwhelm you.

How does it work?

MBCT helps you to see more clearly the patterns of your mind; and to learn how to recognize when your thoughts are unhelpful and your mood is adversely affected. It helps break the link between negative mood and the negative thinking that could lead to a relapse. You develop the capacity to mindfully disengage from distressing mood, and negative thoughts. You find that you can learn to stay in touch with the present moment, without having to ruminate about the past, or agonize about the future.

The mindfulness approach is meant to enhance, and work well simultaneously with whatever type of treatment you may be receiving for depression, whether antidepressants or psychotherapy. The aim is to continue the envelope of care into those periods when you are feeling well, and beyond. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy differs from mindfulness meditation as it is normally taught by the way it integrates mindfulness practice into a psychological model of depression and depressive relapse, and the way it uses specific exercises to bring mindfulness to bear in stressful situations.

Group Details

Cost: $30 per session ($40 No Show Fee without 24 hour notice; $164 pre-group screening/intake. Insurance may cover fees, please check with your insurance carrier.)
Where: Mental Health Clinic, Hall Health Center
When: New group will start Mondays, January 11, 2010, 4:30pm - 6:00pm through March 15, 2010 (we will not meet on January 18 and February 15 due to state holidays)
Materials:

• The Mindful Way Through Depression book and CD by Williams, Teasdale, Segal and Kabat-Zinn (available at the UW bookstore and online)
• Bring a yoga mat and light blanket

For further information or to set up an initial intake appointment, please contact Cristina Le at cvl2@u.washington.edu or 206-543-5030.

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Last updated: 11/3/09