Examining the Effects of Five-minute, Internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Simplified Emotion Focused Mindfulness on Depressive Symptoms: A randomized controlled trial (Japanese)

Objective and Methods: In order to find simple measures to reduce depressive symptoms, we examined the effects of simplified five-minute, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) and simplified emotion focused mindfulness (sEFM) exercise. Nine hundred and seventy-four people were randomly assigned to the iCBT, sEFM, or waiting list control group. Those in intervention groups did each exercise for five weeks. The main outcome measure was the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. The secondary outcome measures were PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Results: At post-intervention, there were no significant differences between the intervention groups and the control group in CES-D although the difference between the iCBT group and the control group was almost significant ( p =0.05) in favor of iCBT. In PHQ-9, there was a significant difference in favor of sEFM group compared with the control group. These results were not maintained at the six week follow-up. Conclusion: Both iCBT and sEFM have the potential to temporarily reduce depressive symptoms. In order to enhance the effects, some improvements are required such as extending the duration and combining several methodologies.