Autobiographical memory style and clinical outcomes following mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT): An individual patient data meta-analysis

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/s98a6
• Publication Date: 2021-05-25T08:31:29Z
• Authors: Caitlin Hitchcock; Judita Rudokaite; Christina Haag; Shivam Patel; Alicia Smith; Isla Kuhn; Françoise Jermann; S Helen; Willem Kuyken; J Mark G Williams; Edward R Watkins; Claudi Bockting; Catherine Crane; David Fisher; Tim Dalgleish
• Keywords: Depressive Disorder, Major; Cogntive therapy; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Individual patient data meta-analysis; Memory, Episodic; 05 social sciences; 150; 610; Treatment response; info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/616.89; 3. Good health; Treatment Outcome; Humans; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Autobiographical memory; Mindfulness; Depressive Disorder, Major / psychology

The ability to retrieve specific, single-incident autobiographical memories has been consistently posited as a predictor of recurrent depression. Elucidating the role of autobiographical memory specificity in patient-response to depressive treatments may improve treatment efficacy and facilitate use of science-driven interventions. We used recent methodological advances in individual patient data meta-analysis to determine a) whether memory specificity is improved following mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), relative to control interventions, and b) whether pre-treatment memory specificity moderates treatment response. All bar one study evaluated MBCT for relapse prevention. Our initial analysis therefore focussed on MBCT datasets only(n=708), then were repeated including the additional dataset(n=880). Memory specificity increased from baseline to post-treatment. This effect did not differ between MBCT and Control interventions. There was no evidence that baseline memory specificity predicted treatment response in terms of symptom-levels, or risk of relapse. Findings raise important questions regarding the role of memory specificity in depressive treatments.