Accessibility Statement Skip Navigation
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Webcasts
  • Data Privacy
  • Français
  • my CNW 
    • Login
    • Register
  • Client Login 
    • Online Member Centre
    • Next Gen Communications Cloud
    • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • Sign Up
  • Send a Release
Return to PR Newswire homepage
  • News
  • Products
  • Contact
When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type.

Searching for your content...

No results found. Please change your search terms and try again.
Advanced Search
  • News in Focus
      • Browse News Releases

      • All News Releases
      • All Public Company
      • News Releases Overview

      • Multimedia Gallery

      • All Multimedia
      • All Photos
      • All Videos
      • Multimedia Gallery Overview

      • Trending Topics

      • All Trending Topics
  • Business
      • Auto & Transportation

      • All Automotive & Transportation
      • Aerospace, Defense
      • Air Freight
      • Airlines & Aviation
      • Automotive
      • Maritime & Shipbuilding
      • Railroads and Intermodal Transportation
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
      • Travel
      • Trucking and Road Transportation
      • Auto & Transportation Overview

      • View All Auto & Transportation

      • Business Technology

      • All Business Technology
      • Blockchain
      • Broadcast Tech
      • Computer & Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Components
      • Electronic Design Automation
      • Financial Technology
      • High Tech Security
      • Internet Technology
      • Nanotechnology
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Semiconductors
      • Business Technology Overview

      • View All Business Technology

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • All Entertain­ment & Media
      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • Entertain­ment & Media Overview

      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Financial Services & Investing

      • All Financial Services & Investing
      • Accounting News & Issues
      • Acquisitions, Mergers and Takeovers
      • Banking & Financial Services
      • Bankruptcy
      • Bond & Stock Ratings
      • Conference Call Announcements
      • Contracts
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Dividends
      • Earnings
      • Earnings Forecasts & Projections
      • Financing Agreements
      • Insurance
      • Investments Opinions
      • Joint Ventures
      • Mutual Funds
      • Private Placement
      • Real Estate
      • Restructuring & Recapitalization
      • Sales Reports
      • Shareholder Activism
      • Shareholder Meetings
      • Stock Offering
      • Stock Split
      • Venture Capital
      • Financial Services & Investing Overview

      • View All Financial Services & Investing

      • General Business

      • All General Business
      • Awards
      • Commercial Real Estate
      • Corporate Expansion
      • Earnings
      • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
      • Human Resource & Workforce Management
      • Licensing
      • New Products & Services
      • Obituaries
      • Outsourcing Businesses
      • Personnel Announcements
      • Real Estate Transactions
      • Residential Real Estate
      • Small Business Services
      • Socially Responsible Investing
      • Surveys, Polls and Research
      • Trade Show News
      • General Business Overview

      • View All General Business

  • Science & Tech
      • Consumer Technology

      • All Consumer Technology
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud Computing/Internet of Things
      • Computer Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Consumer Electronics
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Gaming
      • Financial Technology
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Multimedia & Internet
      • Peripherals
      • Social Media
      • STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Wireless Communications
      • Consumer Technology Overview

      • View All Consumer Technology

      • Energy & Natural Resources

      • All Energy
      • Alternative Energies
      • Chemical
      • Electrical Utilities
      • Gas
      • General Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Oil & Energy
      • Oil and Gas Discoveries
      • Utilities
      • Water Utilities
      • Energy & Natural Resources Overview

      • View All Energy & Natural Resources

      • Environ­ment

      • All Environ­ment
      • Conservation & Recycling
      • Environmental Issues
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Products & Services
      • Green Technology
      • Natural Disasters
      • Environ­ment Overview

      • View All Environ­ment

      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Agriculture
      • Chemical
      • Construction & Building
      • General Manufacturing
      • HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning)
      • Machinery
      • Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Paper, Forest Products & Containers
      • Precious Metals
      • Textiles
      • Tobacco
      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing Overview

      • View All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Telecomm­unications

      • All Telecomm­unications
      • Carriers and Services
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Telecommunications Equipment
      • Telecommunications Industry
      • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
      • Wireless Communications
      • Telecomm­unications Overview

      • View All Telecomm­unications

  • Lifestyle & Health
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      • All Consumer Products & Retail
      • Animals & Pets
      • Beers, Wines and Spirits
      • Beverages
      • Bridal Services
      • Cannabis
      • Cosmetics and Personal Care
      • Fashion
      • Food & Beverages
      • Furniture and Furnishings
      • Home Improvement
      • Household, Consumer & Cosmetics
      • Household Products
      • Jewelry
      • Non-Alcoholic Beverages
      • Office Products
      • Organic Food
      • Product Recalls
      • Restaurants
      • Retail
      • Supermarkets
      • Toys
      • Consumer Products & Retail Overview

      • View All Consumer Products & Retail

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • All Entertain­ment & Media
      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • Entertain­ment & Media Overview

      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Health

      • All Health
      • Biometrics
      • Biotechnology
      • Clinical Trials & Medical Discoveries
      • Dentistry
      • FDA Approval
      • Fitness/Wellness
      • Health Care & Hospitals
      • Health Insurance
      • Infection Control
      • International Medical Approval
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Pharmaceuticals
      • Mental Health
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Supplementary Medicine
      • Health Overview

      • View All Health

      • Sports

      • All Sports
      • General Sports
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Sporting Events
      • Sports Equipment & Accessories
      • Sports Overview

      • View All Sports

      • Travel

      • All Travel
      • Amusement Parks and Tourist Attractions
      • Gambling & Casinos
      • Hotels and Resorts
      • Leisure & Tourism
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Passenger Aviation
      • Travel Industry
      • Travel Overview

      • View All Travel

  • Policy & Public Interest
      • Policy & Public Interest

      • All Policy & Public Interest
      • Advocacy Group Opinion
      • Animal Welfare
      • Canadian Federal Government
      • Canadian Municipal Government
      • Canadian Provincial Government
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Domestic Policy
      • Economic News, Trends, Analysis
      • Education
      • Environmental
      • European Government
      • FDA Approval
      • Federal and State Legislation
      • Federal Executive Branch & Agency
      • Foreign Policy & International Affairs
      • Homeland Security
      • Labor & Union
      • Legal Issues
      • Natural Disasters
      • Not For Profit
      • Patent Law
      • Public Safety
      • Trade Policy
      • Policy & Public Interest Overview

      • View All Policy & Public Interest

  • People & Culture
      • People & Culture

      • All People & Culture
      • Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American
      • African American
      • Asian American
      • Children
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Hispanic
      • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual
      • Men's Interest
      • People with Disabilities
      • Religion
      • Senior Citizens
      • Veterans
      • Women
      • People & Culture Overview

      • View All People & Culture

  • Advanced Search
  • Overview
  • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • Monitoring
  • Distribution
  • Multimedia
  • Guaranteed Paid Placement
  • AI Tools
  • IR
  • Become a Client
  • Request a Demo
  • Editorial Bureaus
  • Partnerships
  • General Enquiries
  • Media
  • Worldwide Offices
  • Hamburger menu
  • Cision Canada
  • Send a Release
  • FR
    • Phone

    • 877-269-7890 from 8 AM - 10 PM ET

    • ALL CONTACT INFO
    • Contact Cision

      877-269-7890
      from 8 AM - 10 PM ET

  • Send a Release
  • Sign Up
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Webcasts
  • GDPR
  • News in Focus
    • Browse All News
    • Multimedia Gallery
    • Trending Topics
  • Business
    • Auto & Transportation
    • Business Technology
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Financial Services & Investing
    • General Business
  • Science & Tech
    • Consumer Technology
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Environ­ment
    • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
    • Telecomm­unications
  • Lifestyle & Health
    • Consumer Products & Retail
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Health
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Policy & Public Interest
    • Policy & Public Interest
  • People & Culture
    • People & Culture
  • Send a Release
  • Sign Up
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Webcasts
  • GDPR
  • Overview
  • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • Monitoring
  • Distribution
  • Multimedia
  • Guaranteed Paid Placement
  • AI Tools
  • IR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign Up
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Webcasts
  • GDPR
  • Become a Client
  • Request a Demo
  • Editorial Bureaus
  • Partnerships
  • General Enquiries
  • Media
  • Worldwide Offices
  • Send a Release
  • Sign Up
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Webcasts
  • GDPR

Mindfulness-based depression therapy reduces health care visits


News provided by

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Aug 21, 2014, 09:00 ET

Share this article

Share toX

Share this article

Share toX

Speed
Speed
Quality
Quality

TORONTO, Aug. 21, 2014 /CNW/ - A mindfulness-based therapy for depression has the added benefit of reducing health-care visits among patients who often see their family doctors, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and  the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).

The research showed that frequent health service users who received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy showed a significant reduction in non-mental health care visits over a one-year period, compared with those who received other types of group therapy.

The study was published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

The mindfulness therapy group had one fewer non-mental health visit per year, for every two individuals treated with this therapy – which translates into a reduction of nearly 2,500 visits to primary care physicians, emergency departments or non-psychiatric specialists in Ontario over eight years. 

"We speculate that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has elements that could help people who are high health-care utilizers manage their distress without needing to go to a doctor," says Dr. Paul Kurdyak, lead author and Director of Health Systems Research at CAMH and Lead of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Program at ICES. 

Senior author Dr. Zindel Segal, who developed mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, says, "the goal of this therapy is to treat depression or anxiety so this unintended effect is striking, particularly as there is limited evidence on interventions that effectively reduce high health care use." Dr. Segal is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and a Senior Scientist with CAMH's Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute.  

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is a structured form of psychotherapy that combines elements of cognitive-behaviour therapy with mindfulness meditation. It is delivered in a group setting for eight weekly sessions. The therapy was originally developed to prevent relapse of symptoms among people with recurring depression, as an alternative to ongoing medication treatment. It has been proven effective in multiple studies, and has been applied to other conditions such as anxiety and chronic pain. 

To conduct their study, researchers identified 10,633 individuals who received group-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy between 2003 and 2010, based on billing records from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). The therapy was delivered by 24 specially trained psychiatrists or family doctors. Among these patients, 4,851 (46 per cent) were considered high health service users, having more than five visits to a primary care physician, emergency department or other specialist in a year.

For comparison, researchers identified 29,795 who received group therapy, such as cognitive-behaviour or interpersonal psychotherapy, without a mindfulness component, and who were matched for age, sex and neighbourhood income; 13,274 of these controls were high service users. For both groups, non-mental health care visits were examined one year before the therapy, and one year after it ended.

"Primary care physicians play a large role in managing patients with distress, and they often report feeling overwhelmed and unable to effectively deal with cases of medically unexplained symptoms," says Dr. Kurdyak. "This study shows the potential of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to help both patients and their doctors."

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in its field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit www.camh.ca. 

Video with caption: "Mindfulness-based depression therapy reduces health care visits". Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20140821_C3452_VIDEO_EN_5004.mp4&posterurl=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.newswire.ca%2Fimages%2F20140821_C3452_VIDEO_EN_5004.jpg&order=1&jdd=20140821&cnum=C3452

SOURCE: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Media Contact: Kate Richards, Media Relations, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), (416) 535-8501 ext. 36015, [email protected]

Modal title

Organization Profile

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

    Also from this source

  • CAMH Foundation Appoints Anne-Marie Newton as President & CEO

  • CAMH announces Waverley House Secure Care & Recovery Building

  • CAMH announces the Temerty Discovery Centre

Contact Cision

  • 866-245-2317
    from 8 AM - 10 PM ET
  • Become a Client
  • Request a Demo
  • Editorial Bureaus
  • Partnerships
  • General Enquiries
  • Media

Products

  • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • Media Monitoring
  • Content Distribution
  • Multimedia Distribution
  • Measurement & Analytics
  • Investor Relations

About

  • About Cision Canada
  • About Cision
  • Media Partners
  • Careers
  • Accessibility Statement
  • APAC
  • APAC - Simplified Chinese
  • APAC - Traditional Chinese
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Czech
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Israel
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
  • Middle East - Arabic
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • United States
  • Vietnam

My Services

  • All News Releases
  • Online Member Centre
  • Next Gen Communications Cloud
  • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • my CNW

Do not sell or share my personal information:

  • Submit via [email protected] 
  • Call Privacy toll-free: 877-297-8921

Contact Cision

Products

About

My Services
  • All News Releases
  • Online Member Centre
  • Next Gen Communications Cloud
  • Cision Communications Cloud
  • my CNW
877-269-7890
from 8 AM - 10 PM ET
  • Terms of Use
  • Information Security Policy
  • Site Map
  • Cookie Settings
  • Accessibility Statement
Copyright © 2025 CNW Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved. A Cision company.