Yoga helps with mental disorders

Yoga is a promising approach in the complementary treatment of mental disorders. Psychologists from Jena came to this conclusion, who evaluated in a meta-analysis how effective body-oriented yoga can be.

Doing yoga once a week can help to significantly improve the quality of life of people with sudden cardiac arrhythmias. (Picture: GTeam / Fotolia.com)

In their Meta-Analsye, the researchers looked at more than 2,600 specialist publications and evaluated 25 studies that met their quality standards. In total, about 1300 subjects were involved, mainly from the USA and India.

Many patients suffered from schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and other disorders or were substance-dependent. They all did yoga exercises - in groups and under the guidance of a yoga teacher. In most studies, yoga training was complementary to drug treatment and / or other therapeutic interventions.

Overall, there was a significant effect on alleviating the symptoms of the disorder through yoga. Yoga proved to be slightly more effective than sport or attention control. As an adjunct to medication, yoga was about as effective as standard psychotherapeutic treatment.

Scientists conclude that body-centered yoga is a complementary treatment option for mental disorders, as it can reduce symptoms and improve well-being and quality of life. Further studies are desirable. The study can be found here.