Attentional Control May Be Modifiable with Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to Prevent Suicide

Overview

Journal Behav Res Ther

Specialty Psychology

Date 2021 Oct 26

PMID 34700258

Citations 4

Authors

Megan S Chesin

John G Keilp

Anna Kline

Barbara Stanley

Catherine Myers

Miriam Latorre

Lauren M St Hill

Rachael B Miller

Arlene R King

Dianna R Boschulte

Kailyn M Rodriguez

Michael Callahan

Megan Sedita

Alejandro Interian

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To test whether Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to Prevent Suicide (MBCT-S) is associated with improvement in attentional control, an objective marker of suicide attempt.

Method: In the context of a randomized clinical trial targeting suicide risk in Veterans, computerized Stroop and emotion Stroop (E-Stroop) tasks were administered 3 times over 6-months follow-up to 135 high suicide risk Veterans. Seventy were randomized to receive MBCT-S in addition to enhanced treatment as usual (eTAU), and 65 were randomized to eTAU only. E-Stroop word types included positively- and negatively-valenced emotion, suicide, and combat-related words. Interference scores and mixed effects linear regression analyses were used.

Results: Veterans receiving MBCT-S showed a more favorable trajectory of attentional control over time, as indicated by performance on two E-Stroop tasks. Combat-stress interference scores improved over time among Veterans in MBCT-S. Interference processing time for negative affective words deteriorated over time among Veterans receiving eTAU only.

Conclusions: MBCT-S may effectively target attentional control, and in particular reduce processing time during affective interference, in high suicide risk Veterans. Future studies to replicate these findings are warranted.

Citing Articles

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