An Investigation of the Role of Attention in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Recurrently Depressed Patients

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has been shown to be efficacious in reducing relapse rate and depressive symptoms in patients with recurrent depression. To date, little is known about the underlying cognitive mechanisms. We investigated the role of attention with the attention network test in a randomized controlled trial with 34 MBCT patients and 37 waiting-list control patients. In the MBCT group depressive symptoms and ruminative thinking decreased and mindfulness skills increased. However, no differential changes in either specific, basal components of attentional processes (alerting, orienting and executive attention) or more general attentional functioning were observed. These results seem to fit in the pattern, emerging from recent research findings, that suggests that it might be especially the second component of mindfulness as described by Bishop (Bishop et al., 2004) - a shift towards an attitude with more openness and acceptance - that mediates the efficacy of short-term mindfulness interventions.