Yogic intervention for mental disorders

Abstract

Byline: K. Deepak An upsurge in research has been reported in the field of non-pharmacological intervention in managing mental disorders. Yogic intervention as a non-pharmacological approach has been used in several research reports. The research reports published in the current issue provides significant direction in the area of depression, schizophrenia and other mental disorders. There is an attempt to develop generic models and validate the same. Specific steps are required to develop the support for developing consensus documents. There is also a need to develop a strong evidence base in the direction of clinical application and focus on basic research. There is need to develop conceptual and heuristic models for explaining the effect of yoga. During recent years, there have been a number of publications of several research reports that document the effectiveness of yoga in mental disorders. Specifically, the last decade has witnessed several studies aimed at collecting objective data to provide the basis of use of yoga as intervention procedure. [sup][1] Yogic procedures have been used for improving general well-being for ages in India. However, collecting evidence for scientific research has been a recent phenomenon. When we attempt to trace the trends in research in yoga and medicine during the last 50 years in India, from the conceptual point of view, it suggests how the research link between yoga and mental disorders has evolved. To begin with the research was only limited to investigating reduction of stress and/or improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness. For several years, the use of yoga as stress antidote has prevailed among researchers. It brought three disciplines closer namely psychology, yoga and medicine. Physiologists joined the research program later and started verifying the so called claims of yoga. [sup][2],[3] The inclusion of physiological parameters, gave a boost and platform for doing research in studying the effectiveness of yoga in certain stress related disorders such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension etc., Initially, the research focused on physiological parameters at All India Institute of Medical Sciences while National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) started working on cognitive parameters and psychiatric disorders. [sup][3] Indeed the entry of yogic intervention to neurological and psychiatric disorder was not without resistance. The author himself, experienced resistance when he carried out the first study in epilepsy and attempted to measure clinic-electroencephalographic and neuropsychological evaluation in patients. [sup][4] Except the early reports of Vahia et al . in early 70s, [sup][5] the role of yoga was hardly tried in depression as it was considered to be "mind calming procedure." Probably, people believed that it might cause depression itself. Contrary to this belief, the researchers from NIMHANS showed positive effects of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga on executive brain functions and extended the research to improve depression. [sup][6] The research in the field of neuropsychiatric illness was rightly picked up by NIMHANS and Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samasthana and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research. They have been publishing work in yoga and mental disorders and other institutions since then. [sup][3],[7] The Focus in the Current Issue The current issue of Indian Journal of Psychiatry has brought out a dedicated supplement to address the issue of yogic intervention in mental disorders. There are 14 articles published in the current issue. It is an encouraging documentation that reflects contemporary thought in the field of yogic intervention in mental disorders. All these studies presented here can be grouped in three categories, namely- studies on depression, studies on functional psychotic disorders and studies addressing related issues in geriatrics population. Indeed, there is some degree of overlap in research areas of these studies. …