Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

A low mood is not usually what does the most damage. What does the damage is the second layer: noticing the low mood, concluding something about what it means, and following that thought down. A difficult morning becomes evidence that nothing has changed, which becomes evidence about the kind of person you are.

MBCT was developed specifically to catch that process early, and it combines two things that work well together — mindfulness practice and cognitive therapy.

What it teaches

The core skill is recognising a thought as a mental event rather than a report on reality. “This will never get better” is something the mind produces, reliably, in certain states. Learning to see it arriving — rather than only noticing twenty minutes later, at the bottom of the spiral — is the thing that creates a choice.

Practices tend to be short and regular rather than long and occasional: brief attention to the breath or the body, noticing where the mind went, bringing it back. The repetition is the point.

Its origins

MBCT was designed as a structured eight-week group programme, and the research supporting it — particularly for preventing depression from returning in people who have had several episodes — is based on that format.

Laura brings its practices and its stance into individual therapy rather than running the group course. That is a useful distinction to be clear about: the skills transfer well, but it is not the same intervention as the programme the studies tested.

Where it is useful

MBCT suits recurrent low mood, rumination, anxiety and stress, and people who can see the spiral happening but have not yet found a place to interrupt it. It pairs naturally with ACT, which shares much of its stance toward difficult thoughts, and with Solution-Focused Therapy, which Laura also uses.