Cited by 821Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsTreatment of Major DepressionAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse: An Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis From Randomized Trials

Open access
Kuyken, Willem, Warren, Fiona C., Taylor, Rod S., Whalley, Ben, Crane, Catherine, Bondolfi, Guido, Hayes, Rachel, Huijbers, Marloes +10 more·2016·JAMA Psychiatry

Abstract

IMPORTANCE: Relapse prevention in recurrent depression is a significant public health problem, and antidepressants are the current first-line treatment approach. Identifying an equally efficacious nonpharmacological intervention would be an important development. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a meta-analysis on individual patient data to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) compared with usual care and other active treatments, including antidepressants, in treating those with recurrent depression. DATA SOURCES: English-language studies published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals identified from EMBASE, PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register from the first available year to November 22, 2014. Searches were conducted from November 2010 to November 2014. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized trials of manualized MBCT for relapse prevention in recurrent depression in full or partial remission that compared MBCT with at least 1 non-MBCT treatment, including usual care. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: This was an update to a previous meta-analysis. We screened 2555 new records after removing duplicates. Abstracts were screened for full-text extraction (S.S.) and checked by another researcher (T.D.). There were no disagreements. Of the original 2555 studies, 766 were evaluated against full study inclusion criteria, and we acquired full text for 8. Of these, 4 studies were excluded, and the remaining 4 were combined with the 6 studies identified from the previous meta-analysis, yielding 10 studies for qualitative synthesis. Full patient data were not available for 1 of these studies, resulting in 9 studies with individual patient data, which were included in the quantitative synthesis. RESULTS: Of the 1258 patients included, the mean (SD) age was 47.1 (11.9) years, and 944 (75.0%) were female. A 2-stage random effects approach showed that patients receiving MBCT had a reduced risk of depressive relapse within a 60-week follow-up period compared with those who did not receive MBCT (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.58-0.82). Furthermore, comparisons with active treatments suggest a reduced risk of depressive relapse within a 60-week follow-up period (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64-0.97). Using a 1-stage approach, sociodemographic (ie, age, sex, education, and relationship status) and psychiatric (ie, age at onset and number of previous episodes of depression) variables showed no statistically significant interaction with MBCT treatment. However, there was some evidence to suggest that a greater severity of depressive symptoms prior to treatment was associated with a larger effect of MBCT compared with other treatments. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy appears efficacious as a treatment for relapse prevention for those with recurrent depression, particularly those with more pronounced residual symptoms. Recommendations are made concerning how future trials can address remaining uncertainties and improve the rigor of the field.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0076

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • An individual-patient data meta-analysis found MBCT compared with continuation of antidepressants was associated with reduced relapse or recurrence risk (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.66-0.98) over 60 weeks across four studies.

    “An individual-patient data meta-analysis found evidence that MBCT compared to continuation of antidepressant treatment was associated with a reduction in the risk of relapse or recurrence, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.77 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66 to 0.98) over 60 weeks (4 studies) (Kuyken 2016).”

    From Approaches for discontinuation versus continuation of long-term antidepressant use for depressive and anxiety disorders in adults (2021) · cites this paper as Kuyken 2016

    The Results section reports an individual-patient-data comparison of MBCT with antidepressant medication across four studies, with reduced relapse risk over 60 weeks and an HR of 0.77. The reported 95% CI is 0.60–0.98, not the claimed 0.66–0.98. (LLM, conf=0.92)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In two meta-analyses of RCTs of mindfulness-based interventions, serious adverse events occurred for ≤2% of participants and at similar rates across meditation and non-meditation control conditions.

    “In two meta-analyses of RCTs of mindfulness-based interventions, Kuyken et al. (2016) and Wong et al., (2018) reported serious (i.e., life threatening) adverse events occurring for ≤2% of participants and at similar rates across meditation and non-meditation control conditions.”

    From Prevalence of meditation-related adverse effects in a population-based sample in the United States (2022) · cites this paper as Kuyken et al. (2016)

    The Methods describe a meta-analysis of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy trials, and the Discussion’s Summary of Results says adverse events were formally recorded in 6 of 9 studies, with none attributed to MBCT. The paper does not report that serious adverse events occurred in ≤2% of participants or that their rates were similar across MBCT and control conditions; its Strengths and Limitations section says adverse events were not systematically recorded or reported. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The evidence supporting the efficacy of MBPs in the treatment of physical and psychological health challenges in some areas is strong and building.

    “The evidence supporting their ef fi cacy in the treatment of physical and psychological health challenges in some areas is strong and building (e.g. see recent meta-analyses and reviews Carlson, 2012; Khoury et al. 2013; Kuyken et al. 2016).”

    From What defines mindfulness-based programs? The warp and the weft (2017) · cites this paper as Kuyken et al. 2016

    The Discussion (Summary of Results) reports clear evidence that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces depressive relapse compared with usual care and maintenance antidepressants, supporting the claim for one psychological-health challenge. The paper does not assess physical-health challenges or mindfulness-based programs broadly, so it cannot support those parts of the sentence. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Integrating mindfulness into manualized group treatments has potential for treating depression and anxiety disorders and preventing relapse in these conditions.

    “By integrating mindfulness into manualized group treatments such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), there is potential for not only treating individuals afflicted with depression and anxiety disorders but also preventing relapse in these conditions [12–18].”

    From Emotion Regulation as a Mechanism of Mindfulness in Individual Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Depression and Anxiety Disorders (2024) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Study Selection section describes trials of manualized MBCT for relapse prevention in people with recurrent depression in full or partial remission, and the Conclusions and Relevance section reports that MBCT appears efficacious for that purpose. These passages do not support the broader claims about MBSR, treating active depression or anxiety disorders, or preventing anxiety relapse. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Mindfulness-based group interventions have revealed beneficial clinical effects on depression and anxiety disorders.

    “Moreover, while mindfulness-based group interventions have revealed beneficial clinical effects on depression and anxiety disorders [14–18, 78]”

    From Emotion Regulation as a Mechanism of Mindfulness in Individual Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Depression and Anxiety Disorders (2024) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Discussion’s Summary of Results reports that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduced depressive relapse or recurrence compared with usual care and maintenance antidepressants. The paper addresses relapse prevention in people with recurrent depression, not beneficial effects on anxiety disorders; its depression finding is also narrower than a general claim about effects on depression. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 46 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kuyken, W., Warren, F. C., Taylor, R. S., Whalley, B., Crane, C., Bondolfi, G., Hayes, R., Huijbers, M., Ma, H., Schweizer, S., Segal, Z., Speckens, A., Teasdale, J. D., Van Heeringen, K., Williams, M., Byford, S., Byng, R., & Dalgleish, T.
Affiliations
  • Warneford Hospital (GB)
  • University of Exeter (GB)
  • University of Plymouth (GB)
  • University of Geneva (CH)
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
  • MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • University Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Gent, Belgium
  • King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Kuyken, Willem
Venue
JAMA Psychiatry
Published
2016-06-01
Volume
73
Issue
6
Pages
565
ISSN
2168-622X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2338885995
Cited by
821
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 78 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 96 · 2021: 94 · 2020: 102 · 2019: 96 · 2018: 70 · 2017: 65 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
12.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • JAMA Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (acceptedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Figshare (acceptedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • PEARL (University of Plymouth) (submittedVersion)
  • Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wellcome Trust (104908/Z/14/Z, GR 067797, 104908)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (08/56/01, NF-SI-0514-10155)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, depressive relapse prevention, recurrent depression, antidepressants, usual care, non-pharmacological treatment, relapse risk, remission, treatment efficacy comparison, relapse-free survival
MeSH terms
Combined Modality Therapy, Depressive Disorder, Humans, Recurrence, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Mindfulness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review