Meditation for treating adults with bipolar disorder II: A multi‐city study

Abstract

There is a need to generate evidence on whether meditation's core aspect of building and nurturing calm and peace serves as a mood stabilizer for current and recurrent episodes of depression through the acute and maintenance phases of treating bipolar disorder II affected patients. A 2‐year longitudinal multi‐city randomized controlled trial experiment was conducted comprising 311 bipolar disorder II affected patients in the intervention and control group respectively across eight African and Asian cities. The Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS) was administered with the intervention and control groups that were equal at baseline. Meditation had a positive impact on the intervention group. Post intervention BDRS scores were significantly lower for patients from Asian cities, men, Hindus and Buddhists, middle class, and married patients as well as those who attended all the meditation rounds and regularly self‐practiced. Within the BDRS outcome measure, depressive symptoms were impacted the most as compared with mixed symptoms. Meditation helped alleviate guilt, depressed mood, and helplessness–hopelessness. The meditation programme can be used as a combination therapy along with pharmacological treatment to treat mood instability and depression among patients with bipolar disorder II.

Eight‐month intensive meditation‐based intervention improves refractory hallucinations and delusions and quality of life in male inpatients with schizophrenia: a randomized controlled trial

“…62 Limited trials also explored MI in other mental illness, e.g. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 63,64 posttraumatic stress disorder, 65,66 and bipolar disorder, 14,15 suggesting mild to moderate effectiveness or noninferiority when compared with waitlist controls or active controls.…”

“…12 MI has been extensively studied in depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, 13 and has also shown promise in severe mental illness such as bipolar disorder. 14,15 Notably, the safety and acceptability of MI in treatment patients with SZ spectrum disorders or psychosis have been reported in over a dozen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving more than 1300 participants. 16 Specifically, Chien et al [17][18][19][20][21] conducted multiple MI studies with Chinese patients with SZ, consistently reporting improved psychosocial functioning, insights into illness, and rehospitalization rates in patients after a 24-week, 2-hour biweekly mindfulness-based psychoeducation group program compared with a conventional psychoeducation group or treatment as usual.…”

“…Meditation‐based intervention (MI) has gained increased attention in mental health in the postpandemic era, which has posed a serious threat to global mental health 12 . MI has been extensively studied in depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, 13 and has also shown promise in severe mental illness such as bipolar disorder 14,15 . Notably, the safety and acceptability of MI in treatment patients with SZ spectrum disorders or psychosis have been reported in over a dozen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving more than 1300 participants 16 .…”

Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Bipolar Depression Rating Scale for Bipolar Disorder

“…21 It is a useful tool not only for assessing depressive symptomatology but also for evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention in the management of depressive episode of bipolar disorder. [23][24][25][26][27] The BDRS was originally written in English and has so far been successfully translated into approximately 5 languages, including Iranian, 28 Turkish, 29 Spanish, 30 Korean 31,32 and Italian. 33 All versions of the BDRS were demonstrated to be valid and reliable tools.…”