Stacia is a Registered Hatha Yoga Instructor (RYT 200 hour) through Yoga Alliance.
She
trained
through Camelrock Yoga Center in Fallbrook, California in 2003 and
has maintained her certification through
annual continuing education. Stacia has
taught yoga at fitness centers, Yoga Schools and through
corporations since
2003. She incorporates her yoga experience in her therapy with people
who struggle
with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Stacia specializes
in teaching yoga for
stress management
and fitness to absolute beginners who never thought they would
be capable
of practicing yoga. She
makes it approachable, fun, and practical for all clients. |
Yoga for Anxiety and Depression
Studies suggest that this practice modulates the stress response.
 By Harvard Health Publications
Since the 1970s, meditation and other stress-reduction techniques have been studied as
possible treatments
for depression and anxiety.
One
such practice, yoga,
has received less
attention in the medical literature,
though
it has become increasingly popular in recent decades.
One
national survey estimated, for example,
that
about
7.5% of U.S.
adults
had tried yoga at least
once, and that nearly 4% practiced yoga in the
previous year.
Yoga classes can vary from gentle and accommodating
to strenuous and challenging; the choice of style tends
to be
based on physical ability and personal preference. Hatha yoga, the most common type
of yoga
practiced
in the
United States,
combines three elements: physical poses, called asanas; controlled breathing practiced in
conjunction with asanas; and a short
period of deep relaxation or meditation.
Many of the studies evaluating yoga's therapeutic benefits have been small and poorly
designed. However, a
2004 analysis
found that, in recent decades, an increasing number
have been randomized controlled trials—the
most rigorous standard for
proving efficacy.
Available reviews of a wide range of yoga practices suggest they can reduce the impact of exaggerated stress
responses and
may be helpful for both anxiety and depression. In this
respect, yoga functions like other
self-soothing techniques, such as
meditation, relaxation,
exercise, or even socializing with friends.
Taming the stress response
By reducing perceived stress and anxiety, yoga appears to modulate stress response
systems.
This, in turn,
decreases
physiological arousal—for example, reducing the
heart rate, lowering
blood pressure, and easing
respiration. There is also
evidence
that yoga practices help increase
heart rate variability, an indicator of the
body's
ability
to respond to stress
more flexibly.
A small but intriguing study further characterizes the effect of yoga on the stress
response. In 2008,
researchers
at the
University of Utah presented preliminary
results from a study of varied participants'
responses to pain. They
note that people
who have
a poorly regulated response to stress are also
more sensitive to pain.
Their subjects
were 12 experienced yoga
practitioners, 14 people with
fibromyalgia
(a condition
many researchers consider a
stress-related illness that is characterized
by
hypersensitivity
to pain), and 16 healthy volunteers.
When the three groups were subjected to more or less painful thumbnail pressure,
the participants
with
fibromyalgia—as expected—perceived pain at lower pressure
levels compared with the other subjects.
Functional MRIs showed they also had
the greatest activity in areas of the brain
associated with the pain
response. In
contrast,
the yoga practitioners had the highest pain
tolerance and lowest
pain-related
brain
activity
during the MRI. The study underscores the value of
techniques, such as
yoga,
that can help a
person
regulate their stress and,
therefore, pain
responses. |
Improved mood and functioning
Questions remain about exactly how yoga works to improve mood, but preliminary evidence
suggests
its benefit is similar to that of exercise and relaxation techniques.
In a German study published in 2005, 24 women who described themselves as
"emotionally distressed"
took two 90-minute yoga classes a week for three months.
Women in a control
group maintained their
normal activities and were asked not to
begin an exercise or
stress-reduction program during the study
period.
Though not formally diagnosed with depression, all participants had experienced emotional
distress for at
least half of the previous 90 days. They were also one standard deviation
above
the population norm in
scores for perceived stress (measured by the Cohen Perceived
Stress Scale), anxiety (measured using the
Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and
depression (scored with the Profile of Mood States and the
Center for Epidemiological Studies
Depression Scale, or CES-D).
At the end of three months, women in the yoga group reported improvements in perceived
stress,
depression,
anxiety, energy, fatigue, and well-being. Depression scores improved
by 50%,
anxiety
scores by 30%, and overall
well-being scores by 65%. Initial complaints
of headaches,
back pain,
and poor sleep quality also resolved much
more
often in the yoga
group than in the
control group.
One uncontrolled, descriptive 2005 study examined the effects of a single yoga class for
inpatients
at a New
Hampshire psychiatric hospital. The 113 participants included patients
with bipolar
disorder, major depression,
and schizophrenia. After the class, average levels
of tension, anxiety,
depression, anger, hostility, and fatigue
dropped significantly, as
measured
by the Profile of
Mood
States, a standard 65-item questionnaire that
participants answered
on their own before
and after
the class. Patients who chose to participate in additional
classes experienced similar short-term
positive effects.
Further controlled trials of yoga practice have demonstrated improvements in mood and
quality
of
life for the elderly,
people caring for patients with dementia, breast cancer
survivors,
and
patients with
epilepsy.
Benefits of controlled breathing
A type of controlled breathing with roots in traditional yoga shows promise in
providing relief for depression. The program, called Sudarshan Kriya yoga (SKY),
involves
several types of cyclical
breathing patterns, ranging from slow and calming
to rapid
and stimulating, and is taught by the
nonprofit Art of Living Foundation.
One study compared 30 minutes of SKY breathing, done six days a week, to
bilateral electroconvulsive therapy and the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine in
45 people hospitalized for depression. After four weeks of treatment, 93% of
those receiving electroconvulsive therapy, 73% of those taking imipramine, and
67% of
those using
the breathing technique had achieved remission.
Another study examined the effects of SKY on depressive symptoms in 60
alcohol-dependent men.
After a week of a standard detoxification program at
a mental
health center in Bangalore, India, participants were randomly
assigned to two weeks
of SKY
or a standard alcoholism treatment control.
After the full three weeks, scores
on a standard depression inventory dropped
75% in the SKY group,
as compared
with
60% in the standard treatment group.
Levels of two stress hormones, cortisol
and corticotropin, also dropped in the
SKY group, but not in the control group. The authors suggest that
SKY might
be a beneficial treatment for depression in the early stages
of recovery from
alcoholism. |
Potential help for PTSD
Since evidence suggests that yoga can tone down maladaptive nervous system arousal,
researchers
are
exploring
whether or not yoga can be a helpful practice for patients with
post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
One randomized controlled study examined the effects of yoga and a breathing program in
disabled
Australian
Vietnam veterans diagnosed with severe PTSD. The veterans were
heavy daily drinkers,
and all were taking at
least one antidepressant. The five-day course
included breathing techniques
(see above), yoga asanas,
education
about stress reduction,
and guided meditation. Participants were
evaluated at the beginning of the
study using the
Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), which
ranks symptom severity on an
80-point
scale.
Six weeks after the study began, the yoga and breathing group had dropped their CAPS
scores from
averages of 57
(moderate to severe symptoms) to 42 (mild to moderate).
These
improvements persisted
at a six-month follow-up.
The control group, consisting
of
veterans
on a waiting list, showed no
improvement.
About 20% of war veterans who served in Afghanistan or Iraq suffer from PTSD, according to
one
estimate.
Experts treating this population suggest that yoga can be a useful addition to
the
treatment
program.
Researchers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., are offering a
yogic method of
deep relaxation to veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dr. Kristie Gore, a psychologist
at
Walter Reed, says the military hopes that yoga-based
treatments will be more acceptable to the soldiers
and less
stigmatizing than traditional
psychotherapy. The center
now uses yoga and yogic relaxation in
post-deployment
PTSD
awareness courses, and plans to conduct a controlled trial of their effectiveness in
the future.
Cautions and encouragement
Although many forms of yoga practice are safe, some are strenuous and may not be
appropriate
for
everyone.
In particular, elderly patients or those with mobility problems
may want to check first with
a clinician before
choosing yoga as a treatment option.
But for many patients dealing with depression, anxiety, or stress, yoga may be a very
appealing way to
better manage symptoms. Indeed, the scientific study of yoga
demonstrates that mental and physical
health are not just closely allied, but are
essentially
equivalent. The evidence is growing that yoga
practice
is a relatively low-risk,
high-yield
approach to improving overall health.
Brown RP, et al. "Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing in the Treatment of Stress, Anxiety, and
Depression: Part I — Neurophysiologic Model," Journal of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine (Feb. 2005): Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 189–201.
Brown RP, et al. "Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing in the Treatment of Stress, Anxiety, and
Depression: Part II — Clinical Applications and Guidelines," Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine (Aug. 2005): Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 711–17.
Janakiramaiah N, et al. "Antidepressant Efficacy of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) in
Melancholia: A Randomized Comparison with Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and
Imipramine," Journal of Affective Disorders (Jan.–March 2000): Vol. 57, No. 1–3, pp. 255–59.
Khalsa SB. "Yoga as a Therapeutic Intervention: A Bibliometric Analysis of Published
Research Studies," Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (July 2004): Vol. 48,
No. 3, pp. 269–85.
Kirkwood G, et al. "Yoga for Anxiety: A Systematic Review of the Research," British
Journal of Sports Medicine (Dec. 2005): Vol. 39, No. 12, pp. 884–91.
Pilkington K, et al. "Yoga for Depression: The Research Evidence," Journal of Affective
Disorders (Dec. 2005): Vol. 89, No. 1–3, pp. 13–24.
Saper RB, et al. "Prevalence and Patterns of Adult Yoga Use in the United States:
Results of a National Survey," Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine
(March–April 2004): Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 44–49. |
