Mindfulness vs. fantasizing: which keeps depression away?
NCT ID NCT06145984
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study looks at how mindfulness and fantasizing affect repetitive negative thinking in 100 adults whose depression is in remission. Participants will try both techniques and researchers will measure changes in thinking patterns, heart activity, and brain waves. The goal is to understand how these mental exercises might reduce the risk of depression relapse.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Mindfulness training and fantasizing exercises
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could reveal how simple mental exercises like mindfulness or fantasizing help prevent depression relapse.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-stage mechanistic study, not a treatment trial. Results may not lead to a proven prevention method.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 100 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jun 2020
- Expected to finish
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Sep 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 60 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: In order to be eligible to participate in this study, all participants must meet all the following criteria: * Participants should be between 18 and 60 years old. Participants should not exceed 60 years of age in order to minimize aging-related decline in information processing; * Participants should display normal intelligence (IQ\>85, as assessed with the Dutch Adult Reading Test and/or having finished an education on at least vocational level) in order to assure sufficient task comprehension. Participants in the remitted Major Depressive Disorder group should meet the following criteria to make sure that participants are at high risk of depressive relapse and currently show no clinically relevant severity of depressive symptoms: * Remitted participants should have experienced at least two depressive episodes, according to criteria defined by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, version 5 (DSM-5), experienced in past ten years; * Remitted participants should score 21 or lower on the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-SR30), indicative of the absence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms. Exclusion Criteria: Furthermore, individuals who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study: * Fulfilling criteria for any current DSM-5 diagnosis as objectified with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5); * Daily use of anti-depressive medication, benzodiazepines, methylphenidate, beta blockers or other medication potentially influencing electrocardiogram currently or in the last four weeks; * Recent engagement (defined as in their last episode, or as one year prior to inclusion in case the last episode was more than a year before inclusion) in preventive cognitive therapy including the positive fantasizing technique and/or have recent experiences (defined as daily practice in the past two years for at least two weeks) with mindfulness, meditation, or mindful yoga. This criterion prevents underestimation of true effects of mindfulness and/or positive fantasizing and maximizes treatment effects; * Participation in another clinical intervention study at the moment of inclusion in the study to prevent overlapping intervention effects. Individuals for the Never-Depressed control group who additionally meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation of this study: * Presence of symptoms of depression according to the IDS-SR30 (score \> 13), to make sure participants are not currently experiencing clinically relevant depressive symptoms; * Any life-time psychopathology of any disorder as objectified with the SCID-5.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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University Medical Center Groningen
RECRUITINGGroningen, Provincie Groningen, 9713 AV, Netherlands
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