Many health-care practitioners have picked up yoga to treat people for various health issues. A recent study conducted by the University of North Carolina found that yoga shows promising benefits for improving mental health and wellbeing.
“I really wanted to know if yoga is something we should be suggesting to people who have post-traumatic stress disorder, or depression, or anxiety or various traumas. What does the evidence really say?” said Rebecca Macy, a researcher who works with violence and trauma survivors who headed up the study at the UNC School of Social Work.
Macy and her colleagues analyzed 13 literature reviews to conduct a meta-review of 185 articles published between 2000-2013. The researchers believe that there still needs to be more studies held, but yoga has the potential to improve many mental health issues.
They recommend using yoga as an intervention in addition to other “evidence-based and well-established treatments,” including psychotherapy and medication.
“Even though I do think yoga is, in general, incredibly beneficial, I also think there needs to be a whole lot more education about how to use yoga specifically to treat survivors of trauma in order to be the most effective and helpful,” said Leslie Roach, a certified yoga instructor and massage therapist who co-authored the study.
Several more studies have already been considered, including one that would examine the use of yoga within a rape crisis centre or domestic violence shelter. For now, practitioners can consider using yoga as a tool in treating those suffering from depression, anxiety or PTSD.
