Relaxation Therapy for Depression: An Updated Meta-analysis.

Abstract

We conducted this updated meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of relaxation therapy for depression. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL for randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of relaxation therapy in patients with depression. Finally, 14 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The efficacy of the intervention was evaluated using depression scale scores. We found that there was no significant difference between the effects of relaxation therapy and psychotherapy on decreasing self-rated depressive symptoms (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.11 to 0.48). In addition, eight trials compared relaxation therapy with no treatment, waiting list, or minimal treatment and showed that the relaxation group reported lower levels of self-reported depression scores postintervention (SMD = -0.57; 95% CI, -0.98 to -0.15). Therefore, this meta-analysis showed that relaxation might reduce depressive symptoms, and the effect is not worse than that of psychotherapy.