Yoga as an Alternative and Complementary Therapy for Patients Suffering From Anxiety

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychiatric disorders plaguing the United States. Comorbidities include depression, restless leg syndrome, cancer, and hypertension. The side effects and the high-costs associated with the current pharmacological therapies necessitate exploration of alternative methods of treatment. To determine the efficacy of yoga as a treatment option a systematic review is presented here. The criteria for inclusion in this review were as follows: (a) published in the English language (b) published between the period January 2010 and May 2012, (c) include any form of yoga as a part of or an entire intervention, (d) use any quantitative study design, and (e) measure anxiety as an outcome. A total of 27 studies met these criteria. Of these, 19 demonstrated a significant reduction in state and/or trait anxiety. Limitations include a lack of theory-based approaches, subjects experiencing comorbidities, and the use of numerous instruments to measure anxiety outcomes.

Development and evaluation of an E‐health system to care for patients with bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis

“… Certain types of exercise, such as pelvic floor muscle exercise, and wearing of tight‐fitting clothes might worsen BPS/IC symptoms in some patients . Yoga can be carried out as a complementary and alternative therapy for patients with anxiety The patients are encouraged to have bathed their whole lower abdomen with warm water (40°C) more than once a day, each time lasting for 15 min.…”

A Mindfulness Curriculum: High School Students’ Experiences of Yoga in a Nova Scotia School

“…Recent research on mindfulness in K-12 settings has demonstrated positive results for students (Meiklejohn et al, 2012;Schonert-Reichl & Stewart Lawlor, 2010). More specifically, research literature has revealed that there are mental and physical benefits for those (including youth) who practise yoga (Hainsworth et al, 2014;Sharma & Haider, 2013). At the same time, Canadian educators have felt illequipped to address mental health issues with their students (Physical andHealth Education Canada, 2014a, 2014b).…”

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“…Systematic reviews of the literature investigating the effects of yoga for trauma and trauma-related mental illness is encouraging [6,[28][29][30][31]. Although the body of research is lacking in rigor as well as specificity, reviews of the literature have found yoga for trauma to be acceptable, feasible, and cost effective [6,28].…”