Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania found that a breathing-based meditation practice known as Sudarshan Kriya yoga helped alleviate severe depression in people who did not fully respond to antidepressant treatments.
The study bolsters the science behind the use of controlled yogic breathing to help battle depression.
The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and was conducted by Anup Sharma et al.
More than half of the 41 million Americans who take antidepressants do not fully respond.
Add-on therapies are often prescribed to enhance the effects of the drugs in these patients, but they typically offer limited additional benefits and come with side effects that can curb use, prolonging the depressive episode.
What’s more, patients who don’t fully respond to antidepressants are especially at risk of relapse.
In the study, researchers found a big improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms in 25 people with major depressive disorder (MDD) who participated in the breathing technique compared to medicated patients who did not partake.
After two months, the yoga group cut its mean Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) score by several points, while the control group showed no improvements.
HDRS is the most widely used clinician-administered depression assessment that scores mood, interest in activities, energy, suicidal thoughts, and feelings of guilt, among other symptoms.
The team says that yogic breathing may be a promising, lower-cost therapy that could potentially serve as an effective, non-drug approach for patients battling this disease.
The meditation technique, which is practiced in both a group setting and at home, includes a series of sequential, rhythm-specific breathing exercises that bring people into a deep, restful, and meditative state: slow and calm breaths alternated with fast and stimulating breaths.
The team says Sudarshan Kriya yoga gives people an active method to experience a deep meditative state that’s easy to learn and incorporate in diverse settings.
If you care about depression, please read studies about therapy that can effectively treat pain, depression and anxiety, and this depression drug can save COVID-19 patients.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about 10 ways you can overcome depression, and results showing 10 easy self-care tips for depression you need to know.
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