Meditation therapy for anxiety disorders.
Thawatchai Krisanaprakornkit, W Krisanaprakornkit, Nawanant Piyavhatkul, M Laopaiboon
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews January 25, 2006 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.cd004998.pub2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Patients with a diagnosis of anxiety disorders, with or without comorbid psychiatric conditions |
| Measures | Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale |
| Topics | Anxiety Meditation |
| Key findings | Only two randomized trials met inclusion criteria. Transcendental meditation reduced anxiety symptoms comparably to biofeedback and relaxation therapy, while Kundalini Yoga showed no significant benefit over relaxation/mindfulness meditation for obsessive-compulsive disorder. High dropout rates (33-44%) and unreported adverse effects limit conclusions. |
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are characterised by long term worry, tension, nervousness, fidgeting and symptoms of autonomic system hyperactivity. Meditation is an age-old self regulatory strategy which is gaining more interest in mental health and psychiatry. Meditation can reduce arousal state and may ameliorate anxiety symptoms in various anxiety conditions. To investigate the effectiveness of meditation therapy in treating anxiety disorders Electronic databases searched include CCDANCTR-Studies and CCDANCTR-References, complementary and alternative medicine specific databases, Science Citation Index, Health Services/Technology Assessment Text database, and grey literature databases. Conference proceedings, book chapters and references were checked. Study authors and experts from religious/spiritual organisations were contacted. Types of studies: Randomised controlled trials. patients with a diagnosis of anxiety disorders, with or without another comorbid psychiatric condition. Types of interventions: concentrative meditation or mindfulness meditation. Comparison conditions: one or combination of 1) pharmacological therapy 2) other psychological treatment 3) other methods of meditation 4) no intervention or waiting list. Types of outcome: 1) improvement in clinical anxiety scale 2) improvement in anxiety level specified by triallists, or global improvement 3) acceptability of treatment, adverse effects 4) dropout. Data were independently extracted by two reviewers using a pre-designed data collection form. Any disagreements were discussed with a third reviewer, and the authors of the studies were contacted for further information. Two randomised controlled studies were eligible for inclusion in the review. Both studies were of moderate quality and used active control comparisons (another type of meditation, relaxation, biofeedback). Anti-anxiety drugs were used as standard treatment. The duration of trials ranged from 3 months (12 weeks) to 18 weeks. In one study transcendental meditation showed a reduction in anxiety symptoms and electromyography score comparable with electromyography-biofeedback and relaxation therapy. Another study compared Kundalini Yoga (KY), with Relaxation/Mindfulness Meditation. The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale showed no statistically significant difference between groups. The overall dropout rate in both studies was high (33-44%). Neither study reported on adverse effects of meditation. The small number of studies included in this review do not permit any conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of meditation therapy for anxiety disorders. Transcendental meditation is comparable with other kinds of relaxation therapies in reducing anxiety, and Kundalini Yoga did not show significant effectiveness in treating obsessive-compulsive disorders compared with Relaxation/Meditation. Drop out rates appear to be high, and adverse effects of meditation have not been reported. More trials are needed.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on anxiety, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 45
- Body Awareness: a phenomenological inquiry into the common ground of mind-body therapies Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2011
- Mindfulness meditation alleviates depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia: Results of a randomized clinical trial Arthritis Care & Research January 31, 2007
- The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditation Acta Neuropsychiatrica April 1, 2007
- Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Improving Health, Quality of Life, and Social Functioning in Adults Campbell Systematic Reviews 2012
- Mindfulness-based therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy for people with anxiety symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of random controlled trials Annals of Palliative Medicine July 1, 2021
and 40 more in the library
Cites 9
- Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders American Journal of Psychiatry July 1, 1992
- Stress Reduction through Mindfulness Meditation Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics February 18, 2010
- Muscle Biofeedback and Transcendental Meditation Archives of General Psychiatry 1980
- Psychiatric Problems Precipitated by Transcendental Meditation Psychological Reports October 1, 1976
- Insufficient evidence to conclude whether or not Transcendental Meditation decreases blood pressure Journal of Hypertension October 12, 2004
and 4 more in the library