Research at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice

Research participants needed

Researchers from Centre for Mindfulness and School of Psychology, Bangor University, are currently conducting studies which investigate changes in brain functioning associated with mindfulness practice. The main focus of the current project is on attention processing and emotion regulation relevant to well-being using brain wave methodology (EEG). We are looking for research participants both new to and experienced in mindfulness practice. If you are interested in this research and would like to learn more, please contact Dr. Dusana Dorjee (d.dorjee@bangor.ac.uk or 01248-388842).

Staying Well After Depression

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Mindfulness in Schools – Ph.D. opportunity

Early research on MBCT

The development of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) took place collaboratively between Mark Williams, John Teasdale and Zindel Segal in Bangor and Cambridge, UK and Toronto, Canada. The first randomized trial of MBCT was published in 2000 (Teasdale et al.). This was shortly followed by a further randomized control trial (Ma & Teasdale, 2004) replicating the result that MBCT approximately halves the expected relapse rate in recovered patients with three or more episodes of depression over a year long follow-up period.

On the basis of these first two randomized controlled trials of MBCT the approach was recommended in 2004 by the UK’s best practice advisory board for the NHS – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE 2004) - as a treatment of choice for preventing future depression in those individuals who have experienced three or more episodes.

Overview of current research

In 2001 Professor Mark Williams was awarded a Wellcome Trust Programme Grant based at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, to investigate psychological mechanisms in suicidal behaviour. The Wellcome Research involves several projects centred around the concept of cognitive reactivity (the way in which small mood changes may induce large and catastrophic patterns of negative thinking), and how our memory for past events sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails to switch off this type of thinking.

In the second phase of this Wellcome funded work Mark Williams and his Oxford team are collaborating with the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) and Professor Ian Russell and the North Wales Organisation for Randomised Controlled trials in Health (NWORTH) in the conduct of a clinical trial ―Staying Well After Depression examining the effectiveness of MBCT in comparison to another relapse prevention treatment.

‘Staying Well After Depression’ trial - Research Questions

1. What effects do the two psychological interventions under investigation have on the risk of relapse to Major Depression in recurrently depressed patients, and on the incidence of suicidal symptoms in those with a history of suicidality who relapse?

2. What are the mediators and moderators of treatment outcome?

Plan

Aim: This study aims to compare the effectiveness of two psychological treatments for people who have been depressed several times in the past.

How: By comparing the benefits of two treatments to a wait-for-treatment condition. The treatments are:

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): a treatment which combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy techniques. Two out of every five people will receive MBCT immediately.
Cognitive Psycho-Education (CPE): a group based adaptation of cognitive therapy. Two out of every five people will receive CPE immediately.
Wait-for-treatment: One out of every five people will be asked to wait about 15 months before receiving treatment. This is in order to see what naturally happens when people just carry on with their other treatments as usual (if they are receiving any). After this waiting period participants are able to choose which treatment they would like to receive.

Other mindfulness research at Bangor University

Qualitative and quantative studies examining the processes of change and the impact of the MBCT training on those in receipt of a cancer diagnosis, or affected by cancer in the familu (various funding NHS Trust R7D and MWRC 2003- 5; Gwynedd Haematology & Cancer Relief Fund 2002-3; Drapers Company 2001-4; Unfunded Masters supervision for Bath University 2005-6.) Ingram,L., Morrison,V., Soulsby,J.G., Bartley, T., & Stuart, N. (2006) Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer Patients: a qualitative evaluation. BPS Division of Health psychology Annual Conference, Essex, September.
Investigation of issues relating to the implementation of MBCT in a primary care setting. Funded by Wales in Primary Care (Mental Health). Rebecca Crane Sholto Radford, Eluned Gold, Gareth Owen.
Mindfulness-Based Support for Multiply Stressed Parents of Children with Autism and/or Intellectual Disabilities. A PhD studentship funded by a Welsh Assembly Government Social Care Studentship Award. Richard Hastings, Leah Jones.
An exploration of the feasibility and impact of an individual mindfulness intervention for people with an acquired brain injury and reduced self-awareness. Frances Vaughan, Oliver Turnbull
Development of a scale to assess mindfulness-based teacher competency – the Mindfulness-Based Interventions Teacher Rating Scale (MBI-TRS). Rebecca Crane, Judith Soulsby, Willem Kuyken, Catrin Eames, Mark Williams
The psychometric properties of the MBI-TRS – a pilot study funded by a British Academy grant. Catrin Eames, Rebecca Crane, Willem Kuyken
Mechanisms of mindfulness: Changes in attention, emotion and language processing as a result of mindfulness training an EEG study on the undergraduates taking the mindfulness module. Dusana Dorjee, Guillaume Thierry, Rebecca Crane, Catrin Eames, Níall Lally
Evaluation of MBSR classes for the general public delivered in North Wales. Catrin Eames, Rebecca Crane, Sholto Radford, Judith Soulsby. Filippo Varese, Richard Bentall, Alisa Udachina, Val Morrison.
Undergraduate students to research delivery of MBCT in a primary care setting and implementation issues, under the supervision of Sholto Radford
A service evaluation of a mindfulness-based intervention for parents living in a disadvantaged rural area. Catrin Eames, Eluned Gold, Sophie Pratt.
Investigating the role of the CMRP in implementing mindfulness-based interventions across the UK. Catrin Eames
Turning towards difficult experience in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teaching. A qualitative study using heuristic methodology. Dh. Taravajra, Rebecca Crane, Margaret Kerr.
Evaluation of a therapy group for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (MSc): Paul Woodcraft, Supervised by Catrin Eames.

Completed Master’s Theses

Crane, R. (2004). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Teacher training and development unpublished dissertation, Bangor University, UK.
Chaskalson, M., (2005) Mindfulness as Cognitive Training a Contribution from Early Buddhist Thought, unpublished dissertation, Bangor University, UK.

References

Crane, R., Kuyken, W., Hastings, R., Rothwell, N., Williams, J.M.G., (2010) Training in the UK for clinicians delivering mindfulness-based interventions: Learning from the UK experience, Mindfulness 1:74–86.
Crane, R., Soulsby, J. G., Kuyken, W., Eames, C., & Williams, J. M.G. (in press). Mindfulness-based interventions — Teacher rating scale and manual.
Gold, E., et al. Journal of Child and Family Studies, Volume 19, Number 2, 184-189,DOI: 10.1007/s10826-009-9344-0. Original paper, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Primary School Teachers
Teasdale, J. D., Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., Ridgeway, V. A., Soulsby, J. M., & Lau, M. A. (2000). Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 615–623.
National Institute for Clinical Excellence. (2004). Depression: Management of depression in primary and secondary care (Clinical Guideline No. 23). www.nice.org.uk/CG023NICEguideline
Williams, J.M.G., Russell, I.T., Crane, C., Russell D., Whitaker, C., Duggan, D., Barnhofer, T., Fennell, M.J.V., Crane, R. & Silverton, S. (2010) The Staying Well After Depression Study: Trial Design and Protocol, BMC Psychiatry. 10, 23