January 4, 2010

be mindful: meditation for depression – new report from the Mental Health Foundation

Speakers:
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive, Mental Health Foundation
Prof Mark Williams, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director, Mindfulness Centre at the University of Oxford
Dr Jonty Heaversedge, GP, South London
Rebecca Crane, Research Fellow, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice

The Mental Health Foundation has published a new report on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a relatively new therapy which has been proven to cut relapse rates for those who experience more than two episodes of depression, and has been recommended for recurrent depression by NICE since 2004. However, access for GPs and their patients remains low. The authors of the report came to the SMC to talk about what MBCT involves, its benefits and evidence base, and how to make it more easily available.