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Mindfulness-based therapy can offer significant relief for individuals who are still depressed after receiving treatment, according to a new clinical trial which Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) was part of.

DPT was one of the three main research sites for the RESPOND trial, building on longstanding expertise in research on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Exeter.

Researchers hope their findings, published in Lancet Psychiatry, could provide a new treatment pathway for people with depression who have not benefitted from previous treatment.

The study was led by a researcher from the University of Surrey, sponsored by the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and coordinated by staff at Devon Partnership NHS Trust. Funding was provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) differs from other psychological therapies by using intensive training in mindfulness meditation to help people develop skills to respond more adaptively to negative mood and stress, in addition to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) principles which seek to change negative thought patterns.

The new study found that MBCT significantly improved depression symptoms compared to continued treatment as usual. The average effect was in the small-to-moderate range and comparable to treatment with antidepressants. Crucially, the study also concludes that providing MBCT as an alternative to usual treatment was cost-effective, at less than £100 per person, and could save the NHS money by changing the way people use services.

The UK NHS Talking Therapies programme is the world's largest and most advanced publicly funded psychological therapies service, treating around 670,000 people each year, of which almost half have depression as their primary complaint. About 50 per cent of those individuals still have some degree of depression when their care ends. This rate is comparable to the wider picture in the treatment of depression, which for many patients is a recurring condition.

The study involved more than 200 patients who had received NHS talking therapies, but still had depression. They were recruited across 20 NHS trial sites.

One group of participants received eight weekly group-based MBCT sessions delivered by videoconferences, aimed to develop mindfulness skills and guide participants on how to respond more effectively to difficult emotions. The other group received treatment as usual. Six months after treatment, patients who had received MBCT had larger improvements in depression symptom scores on average, than those who had received treatment as usual. 

The study is titled 'Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy versus treatment as usual after non-remission with NHS Talking Therapies high-intensity psychological therapy for depression: a UK-based clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness randomised, controlled, superiority trial', and is published in Lancet Psychiatry. The research was led by Professor Thorsten Barnhofer from the University of Surrey and conducted in collaboration with Exeter Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Exeter.