Abstract
Background: Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga are recognized as the most popular complementary approaches for alleviating musculoskeletal pain, improving sleep quality, and reducing blood pressure. The therapeutic effects of these meditative movements for treating major depressive disorder (MDD) is yet to be determined. Therefore, we examined whether meditative movements (Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga) are effective for treating MDD. Seven electronic databases (SPORTDiscus, PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang) were used to search relevant articles. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) using Tai Chi, Qigong or Yoga as intervention for MDD were considered for the meta-analysis (standardized mean difference: SMD). Results: Meta-analysis on 15 fair-to-high quality RCTs showed a significant benefit in favor of meditative movement on depression severity (SMD = −0.56, 95% CI −0.76 to −0.37, p < 0.001, I2 = 35.76%) and on anxiety severity (SMD = −0.46, 95% CI −0.71 to −0.21, p < 0.001, I2 = 1.17%). Meditative movement interventions showed significantly improved treatment remission rate (OR = 6.7, 95% CI 2.38 to 18.86, p < 0.001) and response rate (OR = 5.2, 95% CI 1.73 to 15.59, p < 0.001) over passive controls. Conclusions: Emphasizing the therapeutic effects of meditative movements for treating MDD is critical because it may provide a useful alternative to existing mainstream treatments (drug therapy and psychotherapy) for MDD. Given the fact that meditative movements are safe and easily accessible, clinicians may consider recommending meditative movements for symptomatic management in this population.
Highlights
Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga are recognized as the most popular complementary approaches for alleviating musculoskeletal pain, improving sleep quality, and reducing blood pressure
Med. 2018, 7, 195 (OR/AND) for search based on three search levels: (i) Tai Chi/Taiji, Yoga, Qigong, mind-body exercise, meditative exercise, meditative movement odd ratio (OR) mindful exercise; AND (ii) major depressive disorder, major depression, unipolar depression, OR clinical depression; AND (iii) randomized or randomized controlled trial
Thirty-one full-text articles were assessed according to the pre-determined inclusion criteria, leading to a final number of 16 eligible Randomized controlled trials (RCT)
Summary
Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga are recognized as the most popular complementary approaches for alleviating musculoskeletal pain, improving sleep quality, and reducing blood pressure. The therapeutic effects of these meditative movements for treating major depressive disorder (MDD) is yet to be determined. We examined whether meditative movements (Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga) are effective for treating MDD. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) using Tai Chi, Qigong or Yoga as intervention for MDD were considered for the meta-analysis (standardized mean difference: SMD). The incremental economic burden was attributed to direct costs (e.g., inpatient stay, outpatients visits, rehabilitation, and medications) (45%), loss of productivity (50%), and suicide-related costs (5%) [3]. Such substantial costs challenge the national healthcare system, and place a burden on families of patients with MDD
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