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CLINICAL TRIAL article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1369629
This article is part of the Research Topic Women in Psychiatry 2023: Psychological Therapies View all 4 articles

Subjective experiences of an Acceptance and Mindfulness-Based Group Intervention (Feel-Good-Group) in young people with early psychosis

Provisionally accepted
Laura von Hardenberg Laura von Hardenberg 1,2Karolina Leopold Karolina Leopold 1,2*Andrea Pfennig Andrea Pfennig 1Céline Kuhn Céline Kuhn 3Michèle Kallenbach Michèle Kallenbach 2Navid Aliakbari Navid Aliakbari 2Stephanie Mehl Stephanie Mehl 3,4,5Andreas Bechdolf Andreas Bechdolf 2,6,7
  • 1 Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • 2 Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine incorporating FRITZ and soulspace, Vivantes Hospital am Urban and Vivantes Hospital im Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
  • 3 Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany
  • 4 Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Marburg, Hesse, Germany
  • 5 Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Hesse, Germany
  • 6 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
  • 7 German Center for Mental Health, Berlin (Partnersite), Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Mindfulness-based interventions are promising psychological treatment approaches that may have more substantial long-lasting intervention effects than cognitive behavioral therapy when treating individuals with early psychosis. A pilot study analyzed mindfulness-based inpatient group therapy's feasibility and potential efficacy (Feel-Good).Objective: This paper explores the subjective experiences of participants in the Feel-Good inpatient therapy group to gain insight into the possible changes brought about by the mindfulness-based intervention.Methods: A semi-structured change interview was used to examine the experience of ten participants who participated in the Feel-Good intervention and the additional qualitative assessment. The interviews were conducted 16 weeks after the Feel-Good group ended (16-week Follow-Up).Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.Results: The analysis generated five themes-one about personal changes brought about by the Feel-Good group, three about the group therapy experience, and one about wishes/modification suggestions to change and improve the Feel-Good group. The findings suggested that the Feel-Good group was perceived as very helpful, leading to numerous changes in one's overall well-being and relation to emotions. However, patients recommended a more directive therapeutic style and reduced time required for study assessments.Gathering qualitative insight from participants on the Feel-Good intervention revealed meaningful insight into patients' experience of change processes. In addition, participant suggestions help to improve the intervention and study design to increase therapy attendance rates and treatment satisfaction, potentially increasing treatment effectiveness in the future.

    Keywords: Mindfulness-based Therapy1, early psychosis2, group therapy3, inpatient treatment4, emotion regulation5, early intervention6 Subjective experiences of a Mindfulness-based Intervention (Feel-Good Study)

    Received: 12 Jan 2024; Accepted: 28 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 von Hardenberg, Leopold, Pfennig, Kuhn, Kallenbach, Aliakbari, Mehl and Bechdolf. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Karolina Leopold, Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, 01307, Lower Saxony, Germany

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