Adjunctive yoga v. health education for persistent major depression: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background The objective of this study was to determine whether hatha yoga is an efficacious adjunctive intervention for individuals with continued depressive symptoms despite antidepressant treatment. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial of weekly yoga classes (n = 63) vs. health education classes (Healthy Living Workshop, or HLW; n = 59) in individuals with elevated depression symptoms and antidepressant medication use. HLW served as an attention-control group. The intervention period was 10 weeks, with follow-up assessments 3 and 6 months afterwards. The primary outcome was depression symptom severity assessed by blind rater at 10 weeks. Secondary outcomes included depression symptoms over the entire intervention and follow-up periods, social and role functioning, general health perceptions, pain, and physical functioning. Results At 10 weeks, we did not find a statistically significant difference between groups in depression symptoms (b=−0.82, SE=0.88, p=0.36). However, over the entire intervention and follow-up period, when controlling for baseline, yoga participants showed lower levels of depression than HLW participants (b = −1.38, SE = 0.57, p = 0.02). Fifty-one percent of yoga participants demonstrated a response (≥ 50% reduction in depression symptoms) at 6 month-follow-up, compared to 31% of HLW participants (OR = 2.31; p = 0.04). Yoga participants showed significantly better social and role functioning and general health perceptions over time. Conclusions Although we did not see a difference in depression symptoms at the end of the intervention period, yoga participants showed fewer depression symptoms over the entire follow-up period. Benefits of yoga may accumulate over time.

Hatha yoga for acute, chronic and/or treatment-resistant mood and anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The mean age was 36.6 years (SD 9.1; range 22.1–50.4). The studies were performed in the United States [ 35 , 79 – 82 , 86 – 90 ], India [ 78 , 83 – 85 , 91 , 92 ], Sweden [ 93 ], and Germany [ 94 ].…”

“…We found one study in patients with a chronic major depressive disorder (dysthymia, double depression, and major depressive disorder; defined as having experienced symptoms for over two years, without significant remission of two months or more [ 87 ]), one study in which almost two thirds of the sample had chronic major depression (defined as reporting symptoms over the past two years with absence of remission over two months [ 90 ]), one study in patients with treatment-resistant psychoneurosis or depression (defined as absence of response to conventional treatments, without defining these treatments [ 85 ]) and one study in which the majority of patients (58.33%) had a chronic generalized anxiety disorder (defined as 3–5 years of symptoms [ 83 ]). In one study the sample was described as chronically depressed using the definition of being depressed at least from the onset of pregnancy [ 80 ].…”

Perceptions of hatha yoga amongst persistently depressed individuals enrolled in a trial of yoga for depression

“…Please see [5] for information about study procedures and CONSORT chart. Briefly, participants were recruited from multiple community sites.…”

“…We recently completed a study of 10 weeks of hatha yoga vs. 10 weeks of health education classes as adjunctive interventions for people taking antidepressants who continued to have persistent depressive symptoms(n = 122) [5]. Briefly, we found that although the difference between groups on depression severity was not statistically significant at the end of the 10 week intervention period, differences between groups were statistically significant over the 6-month follow-up time period, favoring yoga.…”

A developmental‐based motivational intervention to reduce alcohol and marijuana use among non‐treatment‐seeking young adults: a randomized controlled trial

“…A Health Education intervention served as the control condition . The duration and timing of these five sessions was identical to the EA condition.…”