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August 19, 2026Advanced OncologyOpen Access

Efficacy of Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for Depression and Anxiety in Individuals With Cancer: A Meta‐Analysis

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Authors

KAKenni Wojujutari AjeleEIErhabor Sunday Idemudia

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Overview

Meta-analysis reveals that cognitive behavioral and mindfulness therapies significantly reduce depression and anxiety in cancer patients, indicating durable psychological benefits across formats.

Key Points

  • To evaluate and compare the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on anxiety and depression in adults with cancer using a unified analytical framework.
  • Conducted a stratified subgroup meta-analysis of 96 randomized controlled trials including 14,937 adults with cancer.
  • Estimated standardized mean differences (SMDs) using random-effects models and performed meta-regression and subgroup analyses to evaluate intervention types, delivery formats, and moderators.
  • Overall psychological symptoms significantly decreased with CBT and MBIs combined (SMD = -0.80), with numerically larger reductions in CBT (SMD = -0.99) compared to MBIs (SMD = -0.58).
  • Differences between interventions for depression (favoring CBT numerically) and anxiety (favoring MBIs numerically) were not statistically significant.
  • Treatment benefits persisted during follow-up but attenuated over time, with larger effect sizes observed for individual CBT and digital MBIs despite substantial heterogeneity across analyses.

Cite This Study

Ajele et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a85636403308d306e2d6899https://doi.org/10.1002/adon.70004
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