BMC psychiatry
February 14, 2025
Maud Schepers, Paul Lagerweij, Dirk Geurts et al.
2 citations
Internalizing problems like worrying, anxiety, and low mood are increasingly common in youth and may signal early-stage mental illness. This randomized controlled trial will test whether a mindfulness-based program called Learning to Offset Stress, added to usual care, reduces internalizing symptoms in 155 help-seeking youth aged 16–25. The program combines mindfulness exercises with mindful physical activity and yoga over eight weekly sessions. Assessments occur at baseline, end of treatment, and at two and six months after treatment. The primary outcome is the level of internalizing problems measured by the Adult Self Report questionnaire. Secondary outcomes include self-compassion, rumination, experiential avoidance, and well-being, along with brain imaging and cognitive tasks. The trial aims to clarify how early mindfulness intervention may alter symptom development and mental illness progression.
medRxiv
February 7, 2025
Jakub Vohryzek, Anne Maj van der Velden, Willem Kuyken et al.
1 citation
preprint
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) alters brain network dynamics during depressive rumination in people with recurrent depression. In a randomized trial, 27 patients received MBCT plus treatment as usual, while 21 received treatment as usual alone. Using fMRI, researchers analyzed brain substates during an induced rumination state before and after treatment. MBCT changed the probability of a specific 'Salience-somatomotor' brain substate occurring during rumination, compared to the control group. These dynamic network changes were linked to reduced depressive symptoms after treatment and at three months follow-up, suggesting a candidate brain mechanism for how mindfulness training improves clinical outcomes.
Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science
May 14, 2026
Anne Maj van der Velden, Jakub Vohryzek, Paulina Clara Dagnino et al.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) alters brain network dynamics during depressive rumination in people with recurrent depression. In a randomized controlled trial with 48 participants, those who received MBCT plus treatment as usual showed changes in the occurrence frequency of a 'salience-somatomotor' brain state during rumination compared to those receiving treatment as usual alone. These neural changes were linked to reduced rumination after treatment and fewer depressive symptoms three months later. The findings suggest that MBCT may work by modifying how the brain's somatosensory and salience networks interact during rumination, offering clues about the brain mechanisms underlying treatment response.