A Breathing-based Meditation Intervention for Patients with Major Depressive Disorder Following Inadequate Response to Antidepressants: A Randomized Pilot Study
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry January 1, 2017 Anup Sharma, M. Barrett, A. Cucchiara et al.
For patients with major depressive disorder who had not responded adequately to antidepressants, adding Sudarshan Kriya yoga (SKY) for 8 weeks led to significantly greater reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms compared with remaining on a waitlist. The SKY group showed an average decrease of nearly 10 points on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, while the waitlist group showed almost no change. Anxiety scores also improved substantially more with SKY. No adverse events occurred. The results suggest SKY may be a feasible and beneficial adjunctive treatment for this difficult-to-treat population.