Depression is one of the most common diagnoses which patients with mood disorders can hear every day. It is a serious condition which influences both physical and mental health. There are several causes of depression (for instance, abuse, certain medications, conflicts at home, work, school, university, etc). Basically, symptoms can vary from feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness to losing interest in activities which patients used to enjoy before and some somatic changes, such as losing or gaining weight, sleep disturbances, and so on. Nowadays, treatment for depression is very variable, and involves changes in lifestyle (both behavioral and somatic, like eating and exercising), attending psychotherapy and medication. In addition, other alternative methods, such as mindfulness meditation, yoga, and so on, are becoming more and more popular at the moment, and scientists design more studies and experiments which focus on showing the effect of such methods on treatment depression. One of the most well-known tools which are used nowadays for treatment of depression and dealing effectively with its symptoms is mindfulness meditation. The purpose of this article was to describe what depression and mindfulness meditation are, briefly present the modern therapy which is used for treatment of depression, and present the relationship between mindfulness meditation and depression. Material and methods. We analyzed 15 native and foreign resources (Internet sources, chapters from books, scientific journals, etc.) connected with the main topic of the article. Results and discussion: According to many studies it was concluded that mindfulness meditation can be used as an alternative therapy for the treatment of depression. The review of modern studies and research connected with the main topic was done, and based on this review we would like to say that using of mindfulness meditation can decrease the expression of symptoms which are associated with depression. In addition, there were noticed some changes linked to brain wave activity. Unfortunately, scientists cannot say for sure that this technique is suitable for everybody, due to the fact that all these studies were not longitudinal, and there is a chance that other factors also could influence the final outcomes. Conclusion. To sum up, we would like to say that mindfulness meditation can be used on a daily basis as a way to reduce stress, especially in cases of depression on early stages. In addition, we believe that it is highly recommended to conduct a long-term study which can show the effect of mindfulness meditation at different stages of development.
Keywords: depression, mindfulness meditation, anxiety, emotions, mood, alternative therapy
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