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Johannes Michalak

Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany.

3 papers in the library · 12 citations · publishing 2021-2026

Papers

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depressive Disorders: Enhancing Access and Tailoring Interventions in Diverse Settings.

Advances in experimental medicine and biology January 1, 2024 Marie Drüge, Lisa Guthardt, Elisa Haller et al. 8 citations

Depressive disorders impose a heavy societal burden due to their high prevalence and impact on relationships, emotions, and motivation. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the gold standard treatment for major depression, while mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) effectively prevents relapse and can be integrated into individual therapy. Various delivery modes, including therapist-guided digital CBT, blended therapy, and digitalized MBIs, offer efficacious supplements to face-to-face therapy, improving accessibility. This chapter reviews the principles and evidence for CBT and MBCT and different delivery modes for depressive disorders in adults, discussing integration opportunities and challenges, along with practice implications and future research recommendations.

Reduced Jumping to Conclusion Bias after Experimentally Induced Enhancement of Subjective Body Boundaries in Psychosis.

Psychopathology January 1, 2021 Naomi Lyons, Detlef E Dietrich, Johannes Graser et al. 3 citations

A disturbed sense of self, particularly feeling disconnected from one's own body (disembodiment), may contribute to delusions in psychosis. In a randomized experiment, 73 patients with psychosis either performed a 10-minute guided self-massage to enhance bodily boundary awareness or massaged a fabric ring. Those who did the self-massage showed a reduced tendency to jump to conclusions (an average of 4.11 pieces of evidence before deciding versus 2.43 in the control group, a moderate effect). However, there was no significant difference in explicit paranoid beliefs. The findings suggest that improving the sense of bodily boundaries can reduce an implicit bias linked to delusional thinking, supporting the idea that disembodiment plays a role in psychotic symptoms.

Efficacy and Moderators of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Difficult-to-Treat Depression: A Systematic Review and Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics June 12, 2026 Thorsten Barnhofer, Maria Niemi, Johannes Michalak et al. 1 citation

For adults with difficult-to-treat depression—those who have not responded to prior treatments, have treatment-resistant depression, or have a chronic course—mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is likely superior to usual care, reducing depressive symptoms by a standardized mean difference of -0.40 at post-treatment and -0.41 at medium-term follow-up. There was a 92% and 85% probability, respectively, that these benefits exceeded a minimal important difference. However, MBCT did not show clear superiority over other active psychosocial interventions, and no robust moderators of outcome were identified across baseline severity, chronicity, or comorbidity.