Effect of juggling therapy on anxiety disorders in female patients

Abstract

AimsThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of juggling therapy for anxiety disorder patients.Design and MethodSubjects were 17 female outpatients who met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders. Subjects were treated with standard psychotherapy, medication and counseling for 6 months. For the last 3 months of treatment, subjects were randomized into either a non-juggling group (n = 9) or a juggling therapy group (juggling group: n = 8). The juggling group gradually acquired juggling skills by practicing juggling beanbags (otedama in Japan) with both hands. The therapeutic effect was evaluated using scores of psychological testing (STAI: State and Trate Anxiety Inventry, POMS: Profile of Mood Status) and of ADL (FAI: Franchay Activity Index) collected before treatment, 3 months after treatment (before juggling therapy), and at the end of both treatments.ResultsAfter 6 months, an analysis of variance revealed that scores on the state anxiety, trait anxiety subscales of STAI and tension-anxiety (T-A) score of POMS were significantly lower in the juggling group than in the non-juggling group (p < 0.01). Depression, anger-hostility scores of POMS were improved more than non-jugglers. In the juggling group, activity scores on the vigor subscale of POMS and FAI score were significantly higher than those in the non juggling group (p < 0.01). Other mood scores of POMS did not differ between the two groups.ConclusionThese findings suggest that juggling therapy may be effective for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Juggling-Exposure Therapy: An Innovation in Trauma Treatment

“…Continuing to juggle after the therapy may provide benefit in reducing ongoing anxiety, consistent with the results of Nakahara et al (2007), who found a reduction in trait anxiety from learning to juggle over a 6-month period. Some impediments to learning juggling are perfectionism, excessive task-outcome focus, and not allowing for a learning curve.…”

Effect of the Juggling-Based Motor Learning Physical Activity on Well-Being in Elderly: A Pre–Post Study with a Special Training Protocol

“…An additional strength of the J-BMLP may be that case study research has shown that juggling as a form of therapy also has a beneficial effect on treating refractory PTSD symptoms [ 51 ]. In addition, other studies have noted that regular juggling can also effectively reduce anxiety [ 52 ]. There is a suggestion that the temporal lobe of the brain is involved in generating panic attacks [ 53 ], so movement information and physical movement itself may be an important part of controlling this problem.…”

Effect of a juggling-based physical activity on postural stability, reaction time, and attention focus in older adults: a randomized crossover study

“…Although this form of exercise seems demanding, research confirms that older people are fit enough to master juggling exercises [11,34]. One of the positive aspects of taking up this form of exercise is the growing evidence indicating that juggling improves the well-being of exercisers [34,[36][37][38]. In addition, our previous research showed that this form of exercise is attractive to older people [34].…”

“…Bonferroni post hoc analysis of RMS VX showed statistically significantly higher values for POST NJP versus the other time points (PRE JP -POST NJP: MD=-. 37 Participants were characterized by shorter response time between POST JP and the other time points, especially for SRT, VSRT, CRT, VCRT, DT and COG T . Additionally, changes in selected cognitive abilities in both conditions from PRE to POST measurements showed an advantage of JP (Fig.…”