Effect of Integrated Yoga as an add-on therapy in adults with clinical depression - A randomized controlled trial

Depression is a leading cause of disability and the conventional management has several limitations. Recent studies demonstrated the benefits of yoga in psychological disorders.

To evaluate the efficacy of the Integrated Yoga Module (IYM) to standard care with added yogic education on lifestyle modification (YELM) in patients with clinical depression.

A PROBE trial was conducted at a single tertiary care hospital in India. Adults aged 18 to 64 with clinical depression were randomized to either an IYM or an active control group using a computer-generated mixed block randomization sequence. Both groups received YELM in addition to standard care and the intervention group practiced IYM, for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was the reduction in depression symptoms assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and secondary outcomes involved self-compassion, brief resilience, positive and negative experiences, and quality of life, evaluated at 8 weeks.

The mean ± SD age of participants was 32.2 ± 10.0 and 54.3% were females. The IYM group showed statistically significant improvements in BDI-II scores β = -6.7 (95% CI [-10.8, -2.5]; p = .001), resilience β = 0.4 (95% CI [0.02, 0.80]; p = .037), physical health domain of WHOQOL - BREF β = 10.1 (95% CI [0.7, 19.5]; p = .035) and negative emotions (SPANE-N) β = 2.8 (95% CI [0.1, 5.4]; p = .037). However, no significant differences were found in SCS-SF β = -0.3 (95% CI [-0.7, 0.0]; p = .053).

IYM as an adjunct is superior to conventional medical management in reducing symptoms and improving positive psychological resources in clinical depression.