Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Young People and Their Carers: a Mixed-Method Feasibility Study.

We aimed to evaluate whether mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was feasible and acceptable for young people, their parents and the clinicians working with them; whether a parallel course for parents was a useful addition; and whether attendance at MBCT was associated with improved outcomes. The design was a mixed-method service evaluation of an eight-session MBCT programme for young people who were recovering from depression. The course was a manualised eight-session group intervention. Both young people (n = 18) and parents (n = 21) completed validated measures before and after the course. Semi-structured interviews were completed with some group participants and clinical staff working in the service. Care records were searched for additional contact following the intervention. Qualitative data from young people, parents and clinicians suggested that MBCT was acceptable and feasible and provided strategies to cope. The parent course was reported to provide personal support to parents and helped them cope with their child's depression whilst also impacting the family, promoted shared understanding of depression and strategies to combat it and addressed intergenerational aspects of depression. Eighty-four per cent of participants attended at least 6/8 sessions, and 48% required no further intervention within the following year. Young people had statistically significant improvements across all outcome measures, whilst parents had statistically significant improvements in rumination, self-compassion and decentring.

Photoperiod alters central distribution of estrogen receptor alpha in brain regions that regulate aggression.

Testosterone or its metabolite, estrogen, regulates aggression in males of many mammalian species. Because plasma testosterone levels are typically positively correlated with both aggression and reproduction, aggression is expected to be higher when males are in reproductive condition. However, in some photoperiodic species such as Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus), males are significantly more aggressive in short day lengths when the testes are regressed and circulating testosterone concentrations are reduced. These results led to the formation of the hypothesis that aggression is modulated independently of circulating steroids in Siberian hamsters. Thus, recent studies have been designed to characterize the role of other neuroendocrine factors in modulating aggression. However, aggression may be mediated by testosterone or estrogen despite basal concentrations of these steroids by increasing sensitivity to steroids in specific brain regions. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that males housed under short days have increased expression of estrogen receptor alpha in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, medial amygdala, and central amygdala. Neural activation in response to an aggressive encounter was also examined across photoperiod.