Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces clinical symptoms, but do not change frontal alpha asymmetry in people with major depression disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has demonstrated to be successful in the reduction of relapse rates in patients with recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD). Little is known if MBCT is effective for treating individuals with current MDD episode and about underlying psychophysiological mechanisms of symptoms reduction. The aim of the present study was to assess effects of MBCT on depressed individuals in terms of reduction of depressive and anxiety symptoms and to evaluate if this therapeutic improvement would be reflected on neurophysiological level by shift in frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). PARTICIPANTS: We studied 20 individuals with current MDD. DESIGN: Participants were randomly assigned either to waiting list or 8-week MBCT. Before and after the treatment we have assessed depression, anxiety, and FAA in resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) - an indicator of approach vs. withdrawal-related response dispositions and a vulnerability factor of MDD. RESULTS: In line with previous findings, reduction of depressive and anxiety symptoms, but no change in mean values of FAA in MBCT group was found. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide a support for the beneficial effects of MBCT in current MDD treatment, however, they do not support the hypothesis on alpha asymmetry change as a neural correlate of MDD improvement.

Whether, when, and how is spirituality related to well-being? Moving beyond single occasion questionnaires to understanding daily process.

Prior research suggests that spirituality is positively related to well-being. Nevertheless, within-person variability in spirituality has yet to be addressed. Do people experience greater spirituality on some days versus others? Does daily spirituality predict daily well-being? Do within-person relationships between spirituality and well-being vary as a function of trait spirituality? The authors examined such questions using a daily diary study with 87 participants who provided reports of their daily spirituality and well-being for a total of 1,239 days. They found that daily spirituality was positively related to meaning in life, self-esteem, and positive affect, and the link from daily spirituality to both self-esteem and positive affect was fully mediated by meaning in life. Moreover, within-person relationships between daily spirituality and self-esteem and meaning in life were stronger for people higher in trait spirituality. Lagged analyses found positive relationships between present day spirituality and next day's meaning in life; there was no evidence for meaning in life as a predictor of the next day's spirituality. When focusing on affect, for people higher in trait spirituality, greater negative affect (and lower positive affect) predicted greater spirituality the next day. These results provide new insights into how spirituality operates as a fluctuating experience in daily life.