Frontiers publishes systematic review on the effects of yoga on major psychiatric disorders
Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.
Published in the open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, on January 25th, 2013, the review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems.
Yoga in popular culture
Yoga is a popular exercise and is practiced by 15.8 million adults in the United States alone, according to a survey by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau, and its holistic goal of promoting psychical and mental health is widely held in popular belief.
“However, yoga has become such a cultural phenomenon that it has become difficult for physicians and patients to differentiate legitimate claims from hype,” wrote the authors in their study. “Our goal was to examine whether the evidence matched the promise.”
Benefits of the exercise were found for all mental health illnesses included in the review, except for eating disorders and cognition problems as the evidence for these was conflicting or lacking.
Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center, US, and author of the study, explained that the emerging scientific evidence in support of the 5,000 year old Indian practice on psychiatric disorders is “highly promising” and showed that yoga may not only help to improve symptoms, but also may have an ancillary role in the prevention of stress-related mental illnesses.
According to Stephen Cope, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, hatha yoga’s postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief or anger are stored. “Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing,” he says. “These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being.” Yoga students may also benefit from their relationship with the yoga instructor, Cope said, which can provide a “container” or a safe place for investigating, expressing and resolving emotional issues. The instructor’s encouraging and accepting words may also help students defeat self-limiting notions.
Not all mental health practitioners are convinced of yoga’s healing powers, but many agree it can be helpful when combined with more traditional treatments. Zindel Segal, Ph.D., a University of Toronto psychiatry professor, recently studied SRRP when used in conjunction with cognitive therapy. He asked 145 people who were at risk for depression to undergo cognitive therapy either alone or with the SRRP. Segal found that after eight weeks of treatment, those participants who received both types of therapy were much less likely to relapse into depression. “This means that people can learn about their emotions not just by writing down their thoughts, which is what cognitive therapy is all about, but also by paying attention to the way their emotions are expressed in their bodies,” he says. “Both approaches allow people to observe their experience without judgment, an important first step in stepping out of depression.”
While yoga’s therapeutic capabilities are still under scientific scrutiny, Smith isn’t waiting for more proof. Having lost her grandmother to depression- she was one of many bipolar sufferers who take their own life due to the disease- Smith is determined not to let the disorder get the best of her. Since 1994, she has practiced and taught hatha yoga to depression sufferers- passing on what she believes has literally saved her life.
The review found evidence from biomarker studies showing that yoga influences key elements of the human body thought to play a role in mental health in similar ways to that of antidepressants and psychotherapy. One study found that the exercise affects neurotransmitters, inflammation, oxidative stress, lipids, growth factors and second messengers.
Yoga is no longer a traditional fitness workout. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans) not only has a 45-minute yoga package to treat psychiatric disorders like depression and schizophrenia, but has started comparing its curative effects with general medicine.
Doctors at Nimhans say their studies reveal evidence of biological changes in the body brought about by yoga. They prescribe yoga therapy along with medication in major ailments, while using yoga therapy alone for less serious disorders.
Unmet need among mental health patients
Depression alone affects more than 350 million people globally and is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On World Mental Health Day last year, the WHO called for improved access to treatments.
While there has been an increase in the number of medications available for mental health disorders, many of which can be life saving for patients, there remains “a considerable unmet need,” according to Dr. Meera Balasubramaniam, lead author of the study, who is also based at Duke University, US.
When you hear the word “depression”, probably the first thing that will come to your mind is sadness. And yes, you thought right. Depression is a state of sadness. However, it is not to be confused with major depression, which is a mental condition characterized by a severe state of sadness or melancholy that has reached the point of hindering a person from functioning well socially.
While simple depression (or a depressed mood) may only last for a short time and can be treated easily, major depression can last for a longer time and treatment can vary from person to person. Major depression is also more dangerous because not only does it disrupt your social functions, but it has more serious symptoms such as:
Being fatigued physically and mentally
Change in appetite
Feeling of intense fear or melancholy
Irritability
Loss of interest in usual activities
Changes in sleeping patterns (e.g. insomnia, excessive sleep, or loss of REM sleep)
Trouble in decision-making or in concentrating
Feelings of guilt, hopelessness, or helplessness
Delusions or hallucinations
Recurring thoughts of suicide or death
Poor compliance and relapse as well as treatment resistance are growing problems, and medications are expensive and can leave patients with significant side effects.