Taking a Deep Breath: Yoga May Help Women With PTSD Practicing yoga once or twice a week could go a long way in alleviating post-traumatic stress disorder in women Veterans, according to a pilot study conducted recently by researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston. The study is available online at wileyonlinelibrary and is also scheduled for publication in the Journal of Traumatic Stress. Just Breathe “With yoga, you’re concentrating on doing the physical pose, and on your breathing,” said Dr. Karen Mitchell, a researcher at the VA’s National Center for PTSD and the study’s lead author. “This can have a calming effect. Increased mind-body awareness also might reduce PTSD symptoms. “Yoga’s also a bit of a workout,” she added. “It’s a form of exercise, so it can make you physically feel better as well. We know that exercise, in general, can help with depression and anxiety.” Thirty-eight women participated in Mitchell’s study. All were experiencing PTSD symptoms. Twenty of the women participated in 12 yoga sessions, either once per week for 12 weeks, or twice a week for six weeks. Each session lasted 75 minutes. The remaining 18 women served as a control group. “Yoga participants reported a lessening of their PTSD symptoms,” Mitchell reported. “One of the strongest effects was a decrease in ‘re-experiencing.’ This means the traumatic event wasn’t replaying itself in their mind quite as much… “They also showed a decrease in what we call hyper-arousal symptoms; that is, being hyper-vigilant, hyper-aware of your surroundings; hyper-sensitive to loud noises or other stimuli. In other words, they reported being less wired, less jumpy.” An Unexpected Turn of Events Mitchell said she and her fellow researchers weren’t terribly surprised by the calming effect yoga had on the 20 women who participated in yoga classes. What surprised them was what happened with the control group ––the 18 women who didn’t do any yoga at all. “Interestingly, this group also reported a lessening of their symptoms,” Mitchell said. “That was an eye-opener. W e weren’t really expecting that.” Women in the control group simply came to the VA once a week to fill out short questionnaires about how they were feeling. Were their PTSD symptoms getting worse? Better? Staying the same? “Apparently, just filling out the questionnaire made them more aware of how they were feeling,” Mitchell said, “and perhaps encouraged them to try look at life a little differently, a little more positively. Plus, coming here to the VA and filling out the questionnaires, in the company of other women in the control group, may have been an uplifting experiencing in and of itself. “Sometimes just getting out of the house can help a lot,” she continued. “People with PTSD can tend to isolate, so any healthy change in your routine can sometimes make a noticeable difference in how you feel about life, and yourself.” A Little Empathy Goes a Long Way Mitchell said women in the control group may also have enjoyed interacting routinely with members of her research team. “We may have provided them with a very positive experience while they were here filling out their questionnaires,” she observed. “Hopefully, participants picked up on a lot of warmth and empathy from us, as well as our gratitude for their participation in the study.” The psychologist was quick to point out that research is in its infancy when it comes to yoga and its effect on PTSD and other mental health conditions. “We need more rigorous and randomized controlled trials involving a lot more participants,” she said. “But from what we learned in this pilot study, I think it’s worth pursuing. If it helps you with your PTSD, if it helps you get better, it’s definitely worth trying.” For more information on PTSD, visit the VA National Center for PTSD Website at ptsd.va.gov.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 12:09:06 +0000