Multi-dimensional modulations of ? and ? cortical dynamics following mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in Major Depressive Disorder
To illuminate candidate neural working mechanisms of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in the treatment of recurrent depressive disorder, parallel to the potential interplays between modulations in electro-cortical dynamics and depressive symptom severity and self-compassionate experience. Linear and nonlinear ? and ? EEG oscillatory dynamics were examined concomitant to an affective Go/NoGo paradigm, pre-to-post MBCT or natural wait-list, in 51 recurrent depressive patients. Specific EEG variables investigated were; (1) induced event-related (de-) synchronisation (ERD/ERS), (2) evoked power, and (3) inter-/intra-hemispheric coherence. Secondary clinical measures included depressive severity and experiences of self-compassion. MBCT significantly downregulated ? and ? power, reflecting increased cortical excitability. Enhanced ?-desynchronisation/ERD was observed for negative material opposed to attenuated ?-ERD towards positively valenced stimuli, suggesting activation of neural networks usually hypoactive in depression, related to positive emotion regulation. MBCT-related increase in left-intra-hemispheric ?-coherence of the fronto-parietal circuit aligned with these synchronisation dynamics. Ameliorated depressive severity and increased self-compassionate experience pre-to-post MBCT correlated with ?-ERD change. The multi-dimensional neural mechanisms of MBCT pertain to task-specific linear and non-linear neural synchronisation and connectivity network dynamics. We propose MBCT-related modulations in differing cortical oscillatory bands have discrete excitatory (enacting positive emotionality) and inhibitory (disengaging from negative material) effects, where mediation in the ? and ? bands relates to the former.
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (mbct) erd/ers major depressive disorder (mdd) oscillatory eeg ?-band coherence ?-band eeg power