A biobehavioural approach to understand how mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces dispositional negative self-bias in recurrent depression

Negative self-bias is a detrimental vulnerability factor of recurrent depression. Here we examine the potential of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to reduce this bias by assessing self-report and psychophysiological responses to a previously validated self-compassion exercise in individuals with recurrent depression. One group (n= 25) received eight sessions of MBCT between two assessments (2.5 – 3 months apart). The second group was an untreated control group (n = 25) tested at similar intervals.Our results indicate that, when the MBCT group engaged in the self-compassion exercise after MBCT, they showed reduced physiological arousal and enhanced parasympathetic activity whereas no changes were observed in the control group. Interestingly, self-reported state self-compassion after the exercise increased in both groups at both timepoints, but only in the MBCT group the overall levels of state and dispositional self-compassion were increased significantly. This suggests that MBCT reduces both strategic (self-report) and automatic (psychophysiological) negative self-bias.