"Like walking into an empty room": effects of eurythmy therapy on stress perception in comparison with a sports intervention from the subjects' perspective-a qualitative study.

B Berger,J Kanitz,M Bertram,G Seifert,K Pretzer

doi:10.1155/2015/856107

Abstract

Background. Stress and health-related quality of life are important constructs used in treatment evaluation today. This study is based on a randomised controlled trial examining the stress-reducing effect of eurythmy therapy in comparison with step aerobics in 106 healthy but stressed subjects. The aim of the analysis was to characterise changes in the subjective perceptions of the participants. Methods. Interviews were conducted with 76 healthy adults, 36 (f = 31/m = 5) from the eurythmy group and 40 (f = 28/m = 12) from the step aerobics group both analysed by content analysis and phenomenologically. Results. The following categories were identified for the eurythmy therapy group: enabling a productive therapeutic response, emergence of a new perceptual space, reevaluation of the accustomed perception, and emergence of new options for action. Step aerobics places increased physical and intellectual demands. These are perceived differently as pleasant and relaxing, insufficiently challenging and/or boring, and too challenging and thus experienced as stress-enhancing. Conclusion. The qualitative results provided revealing insights into the profound effects of and subjective assignments of meaning to external and internal stress factors. Processes of mental reinterpretation leading to stress reduction can be stimulated by physical procedures such as eurythmy therapy.

Highlights

Stress and health-related quality of life are important constructs used in treatment evaluation today
Eurythmy therapy (EYT) is a treatment method used in anthroposophical medicine in which patients are taught exercises which integrate cognitive, emotional and volitional elements
The qualitative interviews show that the participants did perceive effects of the interventions. Both the step aerobics group and the eurythmy therapy group reported feeling relaxed as a result of the intervention

Summary

Introduction

Stress and health-related quality of life are important constructs used in treatment evaluation today. This study is based on a randomised controlled trial examining the stress-reducing effect of eurythmy therapy in comparison with step aerobics in 106 healthy but stressed subjects. Step aerobics places increased physical and intellectual demands These are perceived differently as pleasant and relaxing, insufficiently challenging and/or boring, and too challenging and experienced as stress-enhancing. The two methods mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT), in particular, have been increasingly employed as therapeutic techniques and increasingly examined for their stress-reducing effects. The systematic review of randomised controlled studies conducted by Fjorback et al in 2011 comes to the conclusion that MBSR can increase mental health and reduce stress symptoms as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression and can be recommended as intervention for medical disease management [1]. A connection between internal and external activity can be experienced

Methods

Results

Conclusion