Efficacy of yoga for depressed postpartum women: A randomized controlled trial.


Author: Buttner MM1, Brock RL2, O'Hara MW2, Stuart S3.

Affiliation: 1VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH), VA San Diego Healthcare System, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA 92161, USA. Electronic address: Melissa.Buttner@va.gov. 2Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. 3Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Conference/Journal: Complement Ther Clin Pract.
Date published: 2015 Apr 1
Other:
  Pages: S1744-3881(15)00025-0.   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2015.03.003   ,  Word Count: 160  
    

BACKGROUND:

Up to 20% of women experience postpartum depression (PPD). PPD is associated with anxiety and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Efficacious treatments are critical; many women with PPD prefer complementary therapies. Thus, the current study examined yoga as a complementary therapy for PPD.

METHODS:

Fifty-seven postpartum women with scores ≥12 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were randomly assigned to a yoga (N = 28) or wait-list control (N = 29) group. The yoga intervention consisted of 16 classes over 8 weeks. Outcomes were depression, anxiety, and HRQOL.

RESULTS:

The yoga group experienced significantly greater rate of improvement in depression, anxiety, and HRQOL, relative to the control group with moderate to large effects. Reliable Change Index analyses revealed that 78% of women in the yoga group experienced clinically significant change.

CONCLUSION:

These findings support yoga as a promising complementary therapy for PPD, and warrant large-scale replication studies.

TRIAL REGISTRATION:

http://clinicaltrials.gov/NCT02213601.

Published by Elsevier Ltd.

KEYWORDS:

Complementary therapy; Postpartum depression; Randomized controlled trial; Yoga

PMID: 25886805