Mindfulness Meditation and Depression
Meditation has been around for thousands of years. The oldest written records were found in India around 1500 BCE from the ancient Hindu tradition of Vedantism — a spiritual enlightenment path. Then it started to disperse to other religious and philosophical practices such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. In Buddhism, wherein meditation is closely associated with, it is referred to as bhavana/ dhyana which means mental calmness and development. Due to its growing popularity, it started to spread throughout China, and then to Japan which points to the practice of Zen Buddhism — a combination of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. We can see that across all of these practices, meditation is always at its core.
Around 1700’s, copies of Eastern philosophy texts started circulating in the West, and by 18th century, it ignited the interest and became a topic of discussion among prominent philosophers and intellectuals including Voltaire and Schopenhauer. It is not until 1970’s wherein meditation was taken out as a religious practice and started to become more of a secular practice. It was Jon Kabat-Zinn who originated the use of the mindfulness as a way of reducing stress through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) technique. Then, Segal, Williams, and Teasdale further developed it by combining elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and became the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).
Mindfulness is defined as: “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are”.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is known to be one of the effective techniques that was developed to prevent relapse on people with recurrent depression, and it is widely used due to its efficacy and methodology. MBCT practices the mind to be aware of one’s thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations, and combined with CBT, an individual also learns how to identify dysfunctional thought processes like the constant rumination of negative thoughts, with the goal of detaching from it to alleviate depressive symptoms and prevent relapse. According to empirical evidences that support the use of MBCT, individuals who were on remission from Major Depressive Disorder had a decreased rate of relapse, and it also lowered the risk of other comorbid symptoms, which then resulted to better quality of life.
You don’t have to be a Buddhist or to be in a specific religion that practices meditation to start doing mindfulness meditation. It makes it truly amazing because mindfulness through meditation can do so much for our mental health, which is supported by numerous scientific researches and empirical data. By knowing the benefits of it, it will become a great avenue to start getting help if you are suffering from mental health issues. Simply by being aware of our own thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, and acknowledge it without any judgments through mindfulness meditation, with guidance of a counselor or a psychologist, it will surely help in dividuals to alleviate depressive and other comorbid symptoms which can lead to an increased quality of living and even full recovery.
References:
- Segal ZV, Williams JM, Teasdale JD. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Relapse Prevention. New York: Guilford Press; 2002 [Link]
- MacKenzie MB, Abbott KA, Kocovski NL (2018). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with depression: current perspectives. [Link]
- Winnebeck E, Fissler M, Gärtner M et al (2017). Brief training in mindfulness meditation reduces symptoms in patients with a chronic or recurrent lifetime history of depression: A randomized controlled study. [Link]
- Michalak J, Burg J, Heindreich T (2012). Don’t Forget Your Body: Mindfulness, Embodiment,and the Treatment of Depression. [Link]
- Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology-Science And Practice, 10(2), 144–156.
- https://positivepsychology.com/history-of-meditation/
