Mindfulness-Based Therapy Regulates Brain Connectivity in Major Depression.

Reports findings from a randomized, active-controlled trial examining whether mindfulness-based therapy – a clinically effective non-pharmacological treatment for depression – can regulate specific patterns of functional brain connectivity in clinically depressed patients. This study used fMRI to examine the impact of mindfulness-based therapy on brain function in MDD. Specifically, authors investigated the effects of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on resting-state functional connectivity in individuals with recurrent MDD. Patients were randomized to either a 2-week mindfulness-based therapy (consisting of three individual face-toface sessions and daily guided home practice) or a relaxation-based control intervention. The control condition mirrored the mindfulness intervention in terms of practice structure and time commitment, allowing us to specify the impact of meditative training beyond nonspecific factors such as provision of a rationale, therapist contact, and quiet rest. Before and after treatment, resting-state fMRI data were acquired. Data from 31 participants were suitable for analysis. The present report elucidates the impact of mindfulness-based therapy on functional brain organization in major depression. The authors show, using a randomized active-controlled design, that a brief, clinically effective mindfulness intervention functionally decouples top-down control regions from brain areas implicated in sensory, affective, and attentional processing. While previous work has demonstrated the clinical impact of mindfulness training, the present findings shed light on the precise neural targets, providing new insight into the specificity of this therapeutic approach.