Yoga may bring long-term benefits for people with depression

Conclusion The study will have to be interpreted in the context of other research into yoga and depression. But taken in isolation, it doesn't provide firm evidence that yoga is beneficial for depression. The findings are applicable to a very specific population group: people with moderately severe depression who took antidepressants (often alongside other psychological therapy) and had no other mental health illness. They also hadn't previously practised yoga, but must have had an interest in doing so as they responded to advertisements. This means the groups by no means represent all people with depression symptoms.  The study was set up to examine the effect on depression score at 10 weeks. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups. The main outcome in a study is usually the most reliable, as researchers recruit the number of people they need to detect a difference between groups. But in this study, researchers calculated they needed 75 people in each group, but weren't able to recruit enough. This means the study was underpowered for the main outcome, never mind any secondary outcomes. And the researchers compared yoga with general health education classes; they didn't compare yoga with usual care, including standard treatment approaches for depression.  These findings don't alter the current recommendations for the treatment of depression. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend initially co...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news