Effects of Mindfulness Training on Memories of Personal Past Events

NCT05121116 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: StAMBSR1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 63
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of participation in an online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on everyday memories of personal past events in individuals with depression vulnerability. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with depression experience various difficulties when thinking about personal past events, such as more intense negative emotions, difficulties in regulating their emotions, and difficulties in recalling highly contextualized and detailed events. Some of these difficulties may continue following recovery from depression and as such may constitute a vulnerability for recurring depression. Other studies have found that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) may influence how people experience and regulate their emotions, and certain aspects of how people remember personal past events. Therefore, it is possible that MBIs may also influence how individuals with depression vulnerability emotionally process memories of personal past events. In the present study participants with a history of depression were allocated to either an 8-week online MBSR condition where participants were introduced to and engaged in different mindfulness practices, or a waitlist-control condition, where participants did not receive any active training or treatment. In order to assess the effects of the MBSR program on everyday memories of personal past events participants were asked to complete a memory diary in which participants recorded both spontaneously arising and word-cued memories of personal past events in everyday life, before and after participating in the MBSR program or the waitlist-control condition. The investigators hypothesized that participants in the MBSR condition would report reduced difficulties related to memories of personal past events compared to the waitlist-control group, including how participants emotionally process these memories. The investigators predicted that these effects would be greater for spontaneously occurring memories than for voluntary memories, since previous research comparing individuals with different levels of mindfulness skills suggests that mindfulness may be especially beneficial for influencing emotion regulation in response to memories that come to mind spontaneously.

Conditions

Depression; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Keywords

Depression vulnerability; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; Randomised controlled trial; Waitlist control

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in the employment of emotion regulation strategies in response to everyday involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories from baseline to post-intervention

  Self-rated (1 = Not at all, to 5 = A great deal) memory suppression ("I tried not to keep thinking about it"), expressive suppression ("I controlled my emotion by not expressing it"), reflection ("I analyzed the event to try to understand my feelings"), brooding ("I thought: Why do I always react this way?", cognitive reappraisal ("I changed the way I was thinking about the situation"), and non-reactivity ("I noticed the memory and feelings without having to react to them") in response to autobiographical memories was measured with a naturalistic memory diary method. Participants were asked to record and rate involuntary autobiographical memories in the memory diary immediately upon retrieval, over a period of up to five days or until they had recorded seven memories. For each involuntary memory recorded in the memory diary, participants were instructed to record and rate a word-cued (voluntary) memory when they had time later that day.

  Baseline to post-intervention, an average of 11 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Change in depression symptoms from baseline to post-intervention

  Baseline through study completion, an average of 11 weeks

• Change in trait mindfulness from baseline to post-intervention

  Baseline to post-intervention, an average of 11 weeks

• Change in thought suppression from baseline to post-intervention

  Baseline to post-intervention, an average of 11 weeks

• Change in expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal from baseline to post-intervention

  Baseline to post-intervention, an average of 11 weeks

• Change in rumination (brooding, reflection, overall) from baseline to post-intervention

  Baseline to post-intervention, an average of 11 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Active intervention condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participation in an 8-week, online, self-directed MBSR program.

Behavioral: Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Waitlist control condition

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in the waitlist control condition received no active intervention during the trial period but received a link to the MBSR program after completing the post-intervention assessments.

Interventions

Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) BEHAVIORAL

Participation in an 8-week MBSR program consisting of pre-recorded mindfulness practices, including a guided body scan in week 1, guided sitting meditation in week 2, mindful yoga practices in week 3 and 4, meditation on difficult emotions in week 5, visualization meditation in week 6, lovingkindness meditation in week 7, and a silent meditation in week 8. Most practices last approximately 30 minutes and participants were encouraged to engage in a mindfulness practice daily or as often as possible. In weeks 2 - 8 participants could choose to alternate the practice introduced each week with practices from previous weeks. Participants had immediate access to all practices but were asked to complete them sequentially and in the order described above over a period of eight weeks. The MBSR program also encourages participants to employ mindfulness in their daily lives, and gives access to educative readings and videos related to the weekly mindfulness practices.

Active intervention condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Native or fluent English speaker
• Being 18-65 years old
• At least one past major depressive episode

You may not qualify if:

• Current depressive episode

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Aleksandra Eriksen Isham: lead
• University of Aarhus: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of St Andrews

St Andrews, Ingen Region, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Isham AE, del Palacio-Gonzalez A, Dritschel B. Trait Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation upon Autobiographical Memory Retrieval during Depression Remission. Mindfulness. 2020;11(12):2828-40.

  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Depression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Barbara Dritschel

  University of St Andrews

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: PhD

Model Details: Randomized waitlist-controlled

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 21, 2021
• First Posted: November 16, 2021
• Study Start: January 22, 2018
• Primary Completion: June 14, 2020
• Study Completion: June 14, 2020
• Last Updated: November 16, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)