In a new study, researchers found fewer patients relapse after metacognitive therapy for depression.
The research was conducted by a team from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders worldwide. It affects both individuals and society as a whole, in the form of lost work productivity, high mortality and lower quality of life.
Unfortunately, it is typical for patients with depression to experience relapses. Research findings show that one and a half years after the end of treatment, only about 30 percent of patients are still healthy.
In the study, the team found that metacognitive therapy significantly reduces the risk of relapse.
They found that about 67 to 73% of patients were still classified recovered one year after the end of treatment.
This is a lower rate of relapse than what is found with other treatment methods.
Metacognitive therapy involves teaching patients not to respond to perseverative thoughts, which means continuously focusing on negative thoughts.
When a patient begins to ruminate on a negative thought, the patient is taught that they can make a choice whether to think about the negative thought or just register that the thought is there and move on.
By becoming aware of what happens when they start ruminating, patients learn to recognize when it is happening and then choose other alternatives.
The method is not about analyzing a patient’s worries. Blocking thoughts saps energy and solves nothing.
Patients need to let the concerns arise, but train themselves to become a passive observer, to meet their thoughts with more detached attention.
They practice seeing their thoughts as just thoughts, and not as a reflection of reality.
The patients who participated in the study received ten sessions of metacognitive therapy.
After six months, 77% of them had recovered completely from their depression diagnosis.
Between 67 and 73% were still healthy one year following treatment, according to patient questionnaire responses.
The remaining patients had seen an improvement, while for about 15% their depression remained unchanged.
The team says it seems that when patients crack the code and manage to change their thinking styles and patterns, they stay healthy.
But a lot of research still remains, especially on the long-term effects of treatment.
One author of the study is Professor Odin Hjemdal.
The study is published in Frontiers in Psychology.
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