Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for adults with intellectual disabilities: an evaluation of the effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
A short, picture-rich mindfulness group cuts anxiety and depression in adults with mild-moderate ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Doughty et al. (2015) ran a 9-week mindfulness group for adults with mild or moderate intellectual disability.
They met once a week and practiced short breathing and kindness exercises.
Staff helped adapt the words and pictures so everyone could join in.
What they found
After the group, people said they felt less anxious and less sad.
Six weeks later the good feelings were still there.
How this fits with other research
Howlin et al. (2006) and Boudreau et al. (2015) also ran small groups for adults with ID and saw drops in depression. H et al. adds mindfulness to the list of tools that work.
Li et al. (2023) looked at 25 studies where parents used CBT or mindfulness. They found big stress cuts for carers, while H et al. shows the same idea helps the adults themselves.
Edwards et al. (2007) taught one-person mindfulness to cut aggression. H et al. shows the same idea works in a group to lift mood.
Why it matters
You now have a low-cost, nine-week script you can copy. Run it during lunch breaks or after day program. Keep sessions short, use big pictures, and let staff sit in. Track mood with simple smiley-face scales. If numbers dip, you have evidence the plan works.
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Start session one: five slow breaths with a glitter jar.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective in the treatment of a range of health and psychological disorders in adults and young people without intellectual disabilities (ID). Clinical studies are emerging reporting on the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions as a stand-alone treatment for common clinical disorders in adults with ID. METHOD: This paper aims to evaluate the efficacy of an innovative structured mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) group programme adapted for adults with ID with a diagnosis of either recurrent depression, anxiety or both clinical conditions and a history of deliberate self-harm behaviour. Two groups ran consecutively consisting of a total of fifteen participants and seven carers. All participants were recorded as having either a borderline, mild, or moderate ID. The group programme ran over a period of 9 weeks with a follow-up session at 6 weeks post group intervention. Outcome measures included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and two sub-scales from the Self-Compassion Scale administered at baseline, post therapy and at 6-week follow-up. RESULTS: The evaluation showed that participants reported an improvement in their experience of depression, anxiety, self-compassion and compassion for others. The most significant impact was in the reduced levels of anxiety reported. Improvements across all outcomes were maintained at 6-week follow-up. CONCLUSION: The results of the evaluation suggest that people with intellectual disabilities benefit from a structured MBCT group intervention and the results are maintained at 6-week follow-up.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2015 · doi:10.1111/jir.12082