The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in depression and serum cortisol levels in women with breast cancer and depressed women

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in depression and serum cortisol levels in women with breast cancer and depressed women.

In this clinical trial, 30 women with breast cancer who referred to Omid Hospital, Mashhad-Iran and 30 women with depression who referred to counseling clinics of Mashhad in 2020-2021 were selected by the convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to four equal groups (2 experimental groups and 2 control groups). The experimental groups received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy during eight 90-120 minute sessions per week, while the control group did not receive any intervention. Research instruments included the Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the blood samples to evaluate the cortisol levels. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, and the covariance analysis.

The results of depressed people demonstrated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective to reduce depression and serum cortisol levels within the normal laboratory range (P< 0.001). Further, the findings of breast cancer women indicated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduced depression and increased serum cortisol from low to moderate levels within the normal laboratory range (P< 0.001).

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can be effective in neurobiological mechanisms in addition to improving psychological symptoms in depressed individuals and cancer patients.