Effects of Mindfulness Training on Memories of Personal Past Events
Condition: Depression; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
MeSH terms: Depression
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of participation in an online
      Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on everyday memories of personal past
      events in individuals with depression vulnerability. Previous research has demonstrated that
      individuals with depression experience various difficulties when thinking about personal past
      events, such as more intense negative emotions, difficulties in regulating their emotions,
      and difficulties in recalling highly contextualized and detailed events. Some of these
      difficulties may continue following recovery from depression and as such may constitute a
      vulnerability for recurring depression. Other studies have found that mindfulness-based
      interventions (MBIs) may influence how people experience and regulate their emotions, and
      certain aspects of how people remember personal past events. Therefore, it is possible that
      MBIs may also influence how individuals with depression vulnerability emotionally process
      memories of personal past events. In the present study participants with a history of
      depression were allocated to either an 8-week online MBSR condition where participants were
      introduced to and engaged in different mindfulness practices, or a waitlist-control
      condition, where participants did not receive any active training or treatment. In order to
      assess the effects of the MBSR program on everyday memories of personal past events
      participants were asked to complete a memory diary in which participants recorded both
      spontaneously arising and word-cued memories of personal past events in everyday life, before
      and after participating in the MBSR program or the waitlist-control condition. The
      investigators hypothesized that participants in the MBSR condition would report reduced
      difficulties related to memories of personal past events compared to the waitlist-control
      group, including how participants emotionally process these memories. The investigators
      predicted that these effects would be greater for spontaneously occurring memories than for
      voluntary memories, since previous research comparing individuals with different levels of
      mindfulness skills suggests that mindfulness may be especially beneficial for influencing
      emotion regulation in response to memories that come to mind spontaneously.
    

Detailed description: 
      PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

      I. Determine the effects of an online, self-directed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
      (MBSR) program on emotion regulation in response to everyday involuntary and voluntary
      (word-cued) autobiographical memories in individuals with a history of depression

      SECONDARY AND EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:

      I. Determine whether an online, self-directed MBSR program performs similar to MBIs in
      previous studies in terms of effects on depression symptoms, trait mindfulness, and trait
      emotion regulation; and whether the effects of this program are similar for trait and state
      measures of emotion regulation.

      II. Determine the effects of an online, self-directed MBSR program on additional aspects of
      involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories in individuals with a history of
      depression, including memory specificity, centrality, and emotional experience in response to
      the memories.

      PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT:

      Participant recruitment was done as part of a larger research project on mindfulness and
      autobiographical memory in depression vulnerability, which recruited both individuals with
      and without a depression history. The outlined study uses data from a sample of remitted
      depressed participants.

      STUDY OUTLINE:

      Participants were randomly allocated to either an 8-week active MBSR condition, or a
      waitlist-control condition. Participants in both conditions received information about mental
      health support organizations and student support options on campus following enrollment in
      the study.

      Participants assigned to the active MBSR intervention participated in an 8-week,
      self-directed MBSR program which is freely available online (www.palousemindfulness.com).
      This MBSR program consists of a guided body scan in week 1, guided sitting meditation in week
      2, mindful yoga practices in week 3 and 4, meditation on difficult emotions in week 5,
      visualization meditation in week 6, lovingkindness meditation in week 7, and a silent
      meditation in week 8. Most mindfulness practices are planned to last approximately 30 minutes
      and participants are encouraged to engage in a mindfulness practice daily or as often as
      possible. In weeks 2 - 8 participants could choose to alternate the practice introduced each
      week with practices from previous weeks. In addition to the formal mindfulness practices
      described above, the MBSR program encourages participants to employ mindfulness in their
      daily lives and gives access to educative readings and videos related to the weekly
      mindfulness practices. Participants in the active intervention had immediate access to all
      MBSR practices on the website but were asked to complete the practices sequentially and in
      the order described above over a period of eight weeks.

      Participants in the waitlist-control condition did not receive any intervention during the
      trial, but were given a link to the MBSR program after completing the study.

      In order to determine the effects of the MBSR program on everyday autobiographical memories,
      all participants recorded everyday involuntary and voluntary (word-cued) autobiographical
      memories in a naturalistic memory diary, and rated the memories along several dimensions,
      including emotion regulation, emotional experience, memory specificity, and centrality.
      Participants also completed self-report measures of depression symptoms, trait mindfulness,
      trait emotion regulation, personal past events, and intervention adherence.

      HYPOTHESES PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

      I. The investigators hypothesized that participants in the MBSR condition would show
      decreased memory suppression, expressive suppression, brooding, and reflection, and increased
      cognitive reappraisal and non-reactivity in response to autobiographical memories compared to
      the waitlist-control group. The investigators predicted that these effects would be greater
      for involuntary than for voluntary memories, since previous research on trait mindfulness and
      emotion regulation in response to autobiographical memories suggests that mindfulness skills
      may be especially beneficial for influencing emotion regulation in response to memories that
      come to mind involuntarily.
    

Intervention name(s): Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participation in an 8-week MBSR program consisting of pre-recorded mindfulness practices, including a guided body scan in week 1, guided sitting meditation in week 2, mindful yoga practices in week 3 and 4, meditation on difficult emotions in week 5, visualization meditation in week 6, lovingkindness meditation in week 7, and a silent meditation in week 8. Most practices last approximately 30 minutes and participants were encouraged to engage in a mindfulness practice daily or as often as possible. In weeks 2 - 8 participants could choose to alternate the practice introduced each week with practices from previous weeks. Participants had immediate access to all practices but were asked to complete them sequentially and in the order described above over a period of eight weeks. The MBSR program also encourages participants to employ mindfulness in their daily lives, and gives access to educative readings and videos related to the weekly mindfulness practices.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Randomized waitlist-controlled
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Depression vulnerability; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; Randomised controlled trial; Waitlist control