The main goal of treating depression is to achieve full recovery and normal functioning. Despite the effectiveness of medication and psychotherapy, many patients are still unable to heal completely from this disease. The researchers tried to determine whether Hatha yoga affect the results of treatment, writes likar.info.
The study was conducted by Lisa Uebelacker, Ph. D., psychologist-researcher in the Department of psychosocial research hospital. Butler hospital Care New England and adjunct Professor of psychiatry and human behavior, Medical school of Warren Alpert at brown University.
The purpose of this study was to test the efficiency of Hatha yoga in the treatment of depression when used as a Supplement to antidepressants. Dr. Uebelacker stresses that, to date, this is the largest study of the effect of yoga on the treatment of depression.
The experiment involved people with current or recent depression who took antidepressants and continued to have clinically significant symptoms of depression. Participants were randomized into two groups, one of which held classes in Hatha yoga. Phase of the intervention lasted 10 weeks, and then participants continued to observe during the next six months. Scientists could not observe statistically significant differences between the group that practiced Hatha yoga and the control group for 10 weeks, however, when they studied the results over a certain period of time, including the three and six months after the end of yoga, we found a significant advantage in combating the symptoms of depression in the group doing yoga.
