Mindfulness and Reactivity in Cardiovascular Disorders People: v.1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mindfulness and Reactivity in People with Depression and Cardiovascular Disorder: A Laboratory Study
IRAS ID
185248
Contact name
Modi Alsubaie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Exeter
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
15/NE/0373, REC Reference
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research has highlighted a possible association between psychological conditions like depression and anxiety and the development and progression of cardiovascular disorders like stroke and heart disease. One common factor put forward to explain the overlap between psychological conditions and cardiovascular disorders is a heightened stress response (changes in feelings, thoughts and bodily responses when under pressure or threat). Helping individuals to better manage their stress response, we may therefore be able to help manage depression/anxiety and also reduce risk for cardiovascular disorders
Mindfulness interventions have shown promising effects in reducing how strongly individuals respond to negative stressful situations in people with depression (Britton et al., 2012) and anxiety (Goldin & Gross, 2010). They also reduce how strong a cardiovascular response (e.g. an increase in blood pressure and heart rate) healthy individual’s show in response to stressful everyday tasks (Burg et al., 2012; Ditto et al., 2006). It is therefore plausible that mindfulness training may help individuals suffering from combined depression/anxiety and cardiovascular disease cope better with stress.
To test this possibility, in this laboratory study, we will assess how people with depression and cardiovascular disease feel, think and respond in the body when undergoing a stressful task (thinking about the causes, meanings and consequences of their cardiovascular disease). We will compare individuals who have been through a mindfulness programme to those who have not, to see if mindfulness training improves stress management. We will ask all participants to complete the stressor task and then a brief mindfulness exercise to attempt to manage their stress response. We will examine if those who have previously undergone mindfulness training are better able to use the mindfulness exercise to reduce their stress levels.
The inclusion criteria in this study will be adults suffering from cardiovascular disorders (heart conditions or stroke), who have history of depression (major depressive disorder, minor depression or dysthymia) and/or low grade depressive symptoms (minor depression) with or without anxiety, half of whom have completed an eight week mindfulness course, whilst the rest have not. The exclusion criteria will be people suffering from current depression, co-morbid diagnoses of current substance dependence or abuse, organic brain damage, current or past psychosis, persistent antisocial behaviour, persistent self-injury or formal concurrent psychotherapy.
The participants will complete a 45- minute experiment that includes: completing self-report questionnaires about their thoughts and mood, engaging in a stress task (three minutes thinking about their cardiovascular disease) and rating how they think and feel during this,and completing a mindfulness exercise (three minutes focusing on the breath) and rating how they think and feel during this. Throughout we will record how people are responding in the body (using safe and comfortable, non-invasive monitoring equipment), particularly focusing on how fast their hearts are beating and how high their blood pressure is.The study will take place in the laboratory of the Mood Disorders Centre (MDC) at the University of Exeter.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0336
Date of REC Opinion
21 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion