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Information for Doctors and Medical Specialists

Mindfulness integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT): Fact Sheet for General Practice

 

How do we manage the 1 in 3 people with risk factors for or experiencing mild mental illness?

 

MiCBT informs our therapy with individual patients because it addresses the psychological processes that underlie many mental health conditions. When patients acquire some mindfulness towards their unhelpful thinking and their emotions they can be guided to manage their reactivity towards life’s challenges and their difficulties. MiCBT is designed to be a transdiagnostic therapeutic approach (see evidence base below). We offer individual focussed psychological therapy (Medicare rebates available with medical referral) as well as group training programs – see below

 

 

 

 

MiCBT is an 8-week mindfulness program integrated with CBT that is beneficial for people with pre-clinical or clinical mental illness – delivered within individual therapy or as a group program:

  • Level 1 evidence for effectiveness including for anxiety, depression, PTSD, pain, and stress.
  • Sustained benefits shown for at least six months post treatment.
  • Medicare rebate for eligible patients in individual therapy.
  • Online group program provides an alternative cost-effective option.

MiCBT improves mental wellbeing through developing self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills:

  • MiCBT is differentiated by its strong emphasis on awareness of both thinking patterns and the co-arising body sensations that comprise emotions as well as on acceptance and non-reactivity. The theory and tools taught in MiCBT facilitate enduring behaviour change.
  • Mindful and compassionate exposure to challenging emotions and associated body sensation breaks the pattern of unhelpful reactive thoughts and behaviours.
  • Four stages that start with internal awareness and flows to practical ways to engage with others (see figure).

MiCBT in:
– Individual therapy – patients learn the MiCBT skills and use the framework to explore isses and behaviours that are maintaining disorders.

– Group programs – for some patients learning MiCBT in a group format works well – sometimes as an adjunct to other treatments.

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Evidence base:

Here is the link to our  research on the effectiveness of MiCBT  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360967318

Additional research on the use of MiCBT in various clinical settings:

  • reducing substance addiction compared to established treatment (Wickham, 2013)
  • sports-anxiety and pessimism and increasing flow in competitive athletes (Scott‐Hamilton et al., 2016)DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2015-0020
  • improved gene expression (IncRNA)  in women with perinatal depression who received training in MiCBT (Wang et al., 2021)https://doi.org/10.1002/jcla.23890

  • Investment for client:
    • Two-hour group sessions online – Evening classes –  6pm to 8pm AEST  – Day classes – 12-2pm AEST
    • Daily meditation practice 
    • $450 (concession/financial hardship fees available).
  • Start dates: See home page

There has been a huge increase in the amount of research into Mindfulness-based therapies – with fewer than 20 papers published by 1992 and by 16,581 by 2021. Researchers have studied the effectiveness of Mindfulness-based interventions, how to measure the outcomes of learning mindfulness and what happens in the brains of those who practice mindfulness meditation.

This is a very exciting period in psychological therapies which not only address mental health but are also moving developing resilience and thriving.

Research has shown benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for a range of problems:

  • chronic pain and psoriasis, (Kabat-Zinn, 1982, 1984 1985, 1986,1998)
  • cancer (Campbell et al., 2012, Smith et al., 2004, Speca, 2000)
  • diabetes (Van Son, 2011, Sohrabi et al 2020)
  • substance abuse (Chiesa & Serretti, 2013, Alfonso et al, 2011)
  • anxiety (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002, 2009)
  • eating disorders (Kristeller & Hasllett, 1999, Kristeller, 2003, 2013)
  • relationship enhancement (Carson, 2004)
  • depression (Galante, 2012)
  • functional relationships in families (Bogels and Emerson, 2019)
  •  chronic pain (Cayoun, Simmons & Shires, 2020)
  • sleep quality, anxiety and fatigue in multiple sclerosis (Pouyanfard et al, 2019)
  • perinatal depression (Wang et al., 2021)
  • MiCBT for anxiety, stress and depression (Francis 2022)

Research into brain changes with Mindfulness meditation

Various areas of the brain have been shown to be impacted by mindfulness meditation; for example:

  • brain regions for attention, interoception and sensory processing including the prefrontal cortex and the right anterior insula were found to be thicker in long-term meditators than in non-meditators (Lazar, 2005).
  • decreases in amygdala grey matter density were reported after an 8-week mindfulness intervention (Holzel et al., 2010).
  • changes in stress were associated with decreases in right basolateral amygdala gray matter density (Holzel et al., 2010).
  • increased gray matter changes in the left hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction and the cerebellum following 8-week MBSR program (Holzel et al., 2011).
  • impact on the hippocampal area in a study comparing highly experienced meditators with a control group (Luders et al. 2013).
  • Mindfulness-based interventions associated with increased insular cortex activity impacting awareness of internal reactions ‘in-the-moment’. (Young et al, 2018).
  • EEG study with meditators indicating that meditation is associated with increased integration of brain networks and this may underpin beneficial effects including improved cognition (Lutterveld et al., 2017)

Ready to refer a patient?

Contact us now to see if a thearputic appointment with Dr. Sarah Francis could be the next step in their mental health care.

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