Based on Jon Kabat-Zinn's Cognitive Therapy program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, MCBT includes simple breathing meditations and yoga stretches to help participants become more aware of the present moment, including getting in touch with moment-to-moment changes in the mind and the body.
This approach to depression aims to reduce relapse and recurrence for those who are vulnerable to episodes of depression.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MCBT) is a sophisticated integration of skills developed using mindfulness training and principles of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
MBCT also includes basic education about depression, and exercises from cognitive therapy that show the links between thinking and feeling and how best participants can respond when depression threatens to overwhelm them.
While these more structured exercises make MBCT different from the way mindfulness meditation is normally taught, the approach seeks to remain true to the insight meditation tradition that has been taught for two and a half thousand years.
