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Mindfulness based cognitive therapy improves frontal control in bipolar disorder: a pilot EEG study
Fleur M Howells1, Victoria L Ives-Deliperi, Neil R Horn
1Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7925, South Africa. howellsfleur@gmail.com
BMC Psychiatry
|March 2, 2012
Summary
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) improved attentional function in bipolar disorder (BD) patients. This study shows MBCT enhances attentional readiness and reduces processing of irrelevant information in individuals with BD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with significant attentional abnormalities.
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) integrates mindfulness meditation and cognitive therapy techniques.
- MBCT may offer a therapeutic avenue for addressing attentional deficits in BD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of MBCT on electroencephalography (EEG) measures of brain activity and activation in euthymic BD patients.
- To assess changes in attentional readiness and processing of non-relevant information following an 8-week MBCT intervention.
Main Methods:
- 12 euthymic BD patients and 9 controls underwent EEG (band frequency and event-related potential analysis) during resting states and a continuous performance task.
- EEG recordings were repeated after the BD group completed an 8-week MBCT intervention.
Main Results:
- BD patients exhibited reduced theta band power, increased beta band power, and lower theta/beta ratios in frontal and cingulate cortices during resting states (eyes closed).
- Following MBCT, BD patients showed decreased beta band power over the right frontal cortex.
- BD patients displayed a significant P300-like waveform during cue presentation, which was attenuated post-MBCT.
Conclusions:
- Individuals with BD demonstrate impaired attentional readiness and heightened processing of non-relevant information.
- MBCT intervention in BD patients led to improved attentional readiness.
- MBCT attenuated the processing of non-relevant information during attentional tasks in BD patients.
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01:30Bipolar Disorder
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01:25Cognitive Therapy
Cognitive therapy, pioneered by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s, is a structured approach to addressing psychological distress by focusing on the influence of thoughts on emotions and behaviors. All cognitive therapies involve the basic assumption that human beings have control over their feelings, and that how individuals feel about something depends on how they think about it. Unlike psychoanalytic methods that delve into unconscious processes or humanistic approaches emphasizing...