Yogic Breathing Helps Fight Major Depression

Controlled breathing practices show trol improvement in patients who do not me respond to antidepressants.

Philadelphia: “A breathing-based meditation practice known as Sudarshan Kriya helped alleviate severe depression in people who did not fully respond to anti-depressant treatments”, reports a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. This came up by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. The study bolsters the science behind the use of controlled yogic breathing to help battle depression.

In a pilot study led by Neuropsychiatrist Anup Sharma, MD, PhD, a significant improvement was noticed in depression and anxiety level in medicated patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who participated in the breathing technique as opposed to medicated patients who did not participate. After two months, the yoga group cut its mean Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) score by several points, whilst the control group showed no improvement.

HDRS is the most widely used clinical depression assessment that scores moods, activity involvement, energy levels , suicidal tendencies, feelings of guilt, etc.