Encouraged by Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Segal, Williams, and Teasdale (2002) combined MBSR with cognitive therapy, creating a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program for the prevention of relapse in previously depressed people who were not currently in a depressive episode when they entered the program. MBCT consists of 8 weekly group sessions that, like MBSR, teach body-scan and formal meditation to participants who are required to complete daily homework assignments between sessions. Initial studies have suggested that MBCT helps prevent future episodes of depression among people with three or more previous episodes of depression (Teasdale et al., 2000; Ma & Teasdale, 2004).
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