An online mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) psychotherapy can have significant advantages among people in remission from depression. Online MBSR may improve emotion regulation in response to autobiographical memories, according to a pilot randomized controlled trial. Aleksandra E. Isham et al. sought to determine how an online mindfulness intervention affected emotion regulation and the recollection of daily autobiographical memories in people with debilitating psychological disorder.

Students with remitted depression with a mean age of 22.26 years (76.4% female) were included. Volunteers were randomly assigned to either a waitlist-control condition (n = 27) or an eight-week online MBSR program (n = 28). Self-reported use of five emotion management methods and non-reactivity following routine recall of voluntary and involuntary autobiographical experiences were examined at baseline and roughly 11 weeks after randomization as the primary outcome. Analyses using per-protocol (PP) and Intention-to-treat (ITT) was carried out.

In contrast to the waitlist-control condition, subjects in the MBSR condition exhibited elevation in non-reactivity regardless of memory retrieval mode (ITT: d = 1.04; PP: d = 1.58) and higher use of cognitive reappraisal in response to involuntary memories (ITT: d = 0.41; PP: d = -0.62). Analyses of secondary endpoints revealed additional benefits for trait cognitive reappraisal and trait mindfulness, along with depressive symptoms and trait thought suppression.

These findings offered early support for the use of online mindfulness training for enhancing emotion control during the recollection of autobiographical memories during depression remission.