Can Yoga Help Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that may occur after exposure to a traumatic event such as a natural calamity, military combat, or violence. Previous studies suggest that yoga practice can reduce stress, anxiety, depression and blood pressure. Now research reports that practicing yoga can relieve PTSD symptoms like psychological distress, anxiety and sadness. In August 2008, destructive floods in Bihar, north India, devastated millions of lives. Yoga intervention brought relief to survivors of the floods.

The Study

The randomized controlled study, published in BMC Psychiatry, investigated the effectiveness of yoga practice on survivors of a natural calamity. Researchers from the Department of Yoga Research, Patanjali Yogpeeth in India designated either a 1-week yoga practice or a non-yoga wait-list control group to 22 men (average age 32 years old) a month after a flooding calamity in Behar, India. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) assessing emotional responses, heart rate and breath rate were obtained from the participants on the first and last day of the program.

The yoga group participated in daily, one-hour long yoga classes. The control group continued their regular routine. The yoga program, called Patanjali yoga, was taught by Swami Ramdev. It included yoga poses like standing pose (tadasana), hand-to-foot pose (padahastasana), half wheel (ardhachakrasana), back-stretching (paschimottanasana), half lotus (ardha padmasana), moon (sasankasana), crocodile (makrasana), cobra pose (bhujangasana), locust (shalabhasana), shoulderstand (sarvangasana), fish (matsyasana) and relaxation (savasana). Yoga breathing was also practiced such as cleansing breath (kapalabhati) and alternate nostril breathing (nadi suddhi).

The Results

The researchers found that sadness and anxiety decreased in the yoga group. However, there was an increase in anxiety in the control group.

"Despite these limitations the present findings suggest that a week long yoga intervention can reduce self-rated sadness and may prevent an increase in anxiety in survivors of floods," the study authors write. "This may be particularly important in developing countries and in the case of survivors of recurrent disasters, where the survivors would know the outcome and hence may have specific apprehensions, for example, that aid may be delayed or inadequate, based on their earlier experiences."

The Main Point

This study is important because it suggests that yoga practice can help relieve PTSD symptoms such as anxiety and sadness. Yoga helped flood survivors cope with trauma and find relief from anxiety.

Your Thoughts

Are you a practicing yoga to help manage anxiety or chronic stress? Please share with us below.

Sources

Telles S et al. Post traumatic stress symptoms and heart rate variability in Bihar flood survivors following yoga: a randomized controlled study. BMC Psychiatry 2010 Mar 2; 10:18.

Gavalas, Elaine. The Yoga Minibook for Stress Relief. Simon & Schuster Fireside. elainegavalas.com .