1 327 133 ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFICACY OF SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) IN MELANCHOLIA: A RANDOMIZED COMPARISON WITH ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT) AND IMIPRAMINE. BACKGROUND: SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) IS A PROCEDURE THAT INVOLVES ESSENTIALLY RHYTHMIC HYPERVENTILATION AT DIFFERENT RATES OF BREATHING. THE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFICACY OF SKY WAS DEMONSTRATED IN DYSTHYMIA IN A PROSPECTIVE, OPEN CLINICAL TRIAL. THIS STUDY COMPARED THE RELATIVE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFICACY OF SKY IN MELANCHOLIA WITH TWO OF THE CURRENT STANDARD TREATMENTS, ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT) AND IMIPRAMINE (IMN). METHODS: CONSENTING, UNTREATED MELANCHOLIC DEPRESSIVES (N=45) WERE HOSPITALIZED AND RANDOMIZED EQUALLY INTO THREE TREATMENT GROUPS. THEY WERE ASSESSED AT RECRUITMENT AND WEEKLY THEREAFTER FOR FOUR WEEKS. RESULTS: SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN THE TOTAL SCORES ON BECK DEPRESSION INVENTORY (BDI) AND HAMILTON RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSION (HRSD) OCCURRED ON SUCCESSIVE OCCASIONS IN ALL THREE GROUPS. THE GROUPS, HOWEVER, DID NOT DIFFER. SIGNIFICANT INTERACTION BETWEEN THE GROUPS AND OCCASION OF ASSESSMENT OCCURRED. AT WEEK THREE, THE SKY GROUP HAD HIGHER SCORES THAN THE ECT GROUP BUT WAS NOT DIFFERENT FROM THE IMN GROUP. REMISSION (TOTAL HRSD SCORE OF SEVEN OR LESS) RATES AT THE END OF THE TRIAL WERE 93, 73 AND 67% IN THE ECT, IMN AND SKY GROUPS, RESPECTIVELY. NO CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT SIDE EFFECTS WERE OBSERVED. DISCUSSION: WITHIN THE LIMITATIONS OF THE DESIGN (LACK OF DOUBLE BLIND CONDITIONS), IT CAN BE CONCLUDED THAT, ALTHOUGH INFERIOR TO ECT, SKY CAN BE A POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE TO DRUGS IN MELANCHOLIA AS A FIRST LINE TREATMENT. 2000 2 1542 35 KRIYA YOGA IN PATIENTS WITH DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS: A PILOT STUDY. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES DESPITE THE EASY ACCEPTABILITY AND HOLISTIC NATURE OF KRIYA YOGA, THERE ARE NO STUDIES EVALUATING THE ROLE OF KRIYA YOGA INTERVENTION ON DEPRESSION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE CURRENT STUDY WAS TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY AND EFFECT OF ADJUNCTIVE KRIYA YOGA ON DEPRESSION. METHODS PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER WHO OPTED FOR KRIYA YOGA WERE RECRUITED INTO THE INTERVENTION GROUP (ADJUNCTIVE KRIYA YOGA) AND THOSE ON PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION ALONE WERE ENROLLED INTO THE CONTROL GROUP. THE HAMILTON DEPRESSION RATING SCALE (HDRS) MEASUREMENTS WERE RECORDED AT BASELINE, END OF 2, 4, AND 8 WEEKS. RESULTS HDRS SCORES OF THE INTERVENTION GROUP ( N = 29) WERE FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESSER THAN THAT OF THE CONTROL GROUP ( N = 52) BY THE END OF 2, 4, AND 8 WEEKS. THE REMISSION RATE WAS ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER IN THE INTERVENTION GROUP. CONCLUSION KRIYA YOGA INTERVENTION WAS FOUND TO BE FEASIBLE, AS WELL AS IMPROVED THE SEVERITY OF DEPRESSION. 2021 3 325 59 ANTI-ANXIETY EFFICACY OF SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA IN GENERAL ANXIETY DISORDER: A MULTICOMPONENT, YOGA BASED, BREATH INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER WITH OR WITHOUT COMORBIDITIES. BACKGROUND: SURDASHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) IS A PROCEDURE THAT IN VARIOUS STUDIES, HAS SHOWN EVIDENCES OF EFFICACY IN ALLEVIATING DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY DISORDERS, BUT IN EUROPE AND USA IT HAS NOT BEEN STUDIED YET ON A CAUCASIAN POPULATION AS AN ADJUNCT THERAPY FOR PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS. METHODS: THE STUDY INVOLVED A SAMPLE OF CONSENTING WOMEN AND MEN (N = 69) WHO RECEIVED SKY THERAPY FOR A SIX-MONTH TIME PERIOD. THEY WERE ASSESSED AT RECRUITMENT, AFTER TWO WEEKS, AFTER THREE MONTHS AND AFTER SIX MONTHS USING HAMILTON RATING SCALE FOR ANXIETY (HRSA), HAMILTON RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSION (HRSD), ZUNG SELF-RATING ANXIETY SCALE (ZSAS), ZUNG SELF-RATING DEPRESSION SCALE (ZSDS) AND SYMPTOM CHECKLIST-90 (SCL-90). RESULTS: ALL THE ANALYSES HAVE SHOWN THAT SKY THERAPY SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES THE SCORES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. THIS IS PLAIN, ESPECIALLY AFTER THE INITIAL SKY TREATMENT, WHICH IS FOLLOWED BY A LONG PLATEAU PHASE THAT SEEMS TO VERGE ON NO ANXIETY/DEPRESSION SCORES. IT WAS FOUND THAT SKY EFFECTS LEAD TO A SIGNIFICANT CONVERGENCE BETWEEN THE SELF-ASSESSMENT (ZUNG SELF-RATING SCALE) AND HETERO-ASSESSMENT (HAMILTON RATING SCALE). LIMITATIONS: THE STUDY SHOULD BE REPLICATED ON A LARGER CLINICAL SAMPLE IN A CONTROLLED TRIAL TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SKY PROTOCOL. CONCLUSIONS: PARTICIPATION IN SKY ADJUNCT THERAPY TEN DAYS INTENSE WORKSHOP AND FOLLOW-UPS, COUPLED WITH DAILY INDIVIDUAL AND INDEPENDENT PRACTICE OF A SIMPLIFIED PROTOCOL OF BREATHING TECHNIQUES (30 MIN), CAN LEAD TO SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN LEVELS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. 2015 4 99 45 A PATIENT WITH ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY-RESISTANT MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER WITH A FULL RESPONSE TO HEATED YOGA: A CASE REPORT. DEPRESSION REMAINS DIFFICULT TO TREAT AS A RESULT OF LESS THAN OPTIMAL EFFICACY AND TROUBLESOME SIDE EFFECTS OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS. THE AUTHORS PRESENT THE CASE OF A PATIENT WITH TREATMENT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION WITH MELANCHOLIC FEATURES WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN UNRESPONSIVE TO ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT) PLUS AN ANTIDEPRESSANT REGIMEN BUT WHOSE CONDITION FULLY REMITTED WITH THE ADDITION OF A STANDARDIZED FORM OF HEATED HATHA YOGA (HY; BIKRAM YOGA) PRACTICED IN A ROOM HEATED TO 105 DEGREES F. THE PATIENT WAS A 28-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WHO UNDERWENT 8 WEEKS OF HY AS PART OF A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF HY FOR DEPRESSION WHILE CONTINUING HER ANTIDEPRESSANT TREATMENT. THE PATIENT WAS ASKED TO ATTEND A MINIMUM OF 2 WEEKLY, 90-MINUTE HY CLASSES. AFTER 8 WEEKS (12 CLASSES IN TOTAL), THE PATIENT NO LONGER MET THE CRITERIA FOR A MAJOR DEPRESSIVE EPISODE WITH MELANCHOLIC FEATURES, PER MINI-INTERNATIONAL NEUROPSYCHIATRIC INTERVIEW (MINI) CRITERIA. HER DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS HAD IMPROVED DRAMATICALLY, WITH INVENTORY OF DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMATOLOGY, CLINICIAN-RATED (IDS-C30), AND HAMILTON DEPRESSION RATING SCALE (HAM-D28) SCORES DECREASING FROM 28 AT BASELINE TO 3, AND FROM 28 AT BASELINE TO 4, RESPECTIVELY, INDICATING REMISSION. THIS PATIENT'S ECT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION REMITTED WITH THE ADDITION OF HY TO HER ANTIDEPRESSANT REGIMEN. BECAUSE OF HER YOUTH AND ATHLETICISM, THIS PATIENT WAS LIKELY WELL SUITED TO THIS RIGOROUS FORM OF YOGA. FURTHER RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO EXPLORE HY AS A POTENTIAL INTERVENTION FOR TREATMENT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION. 2021 5 326 53 ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFICACY AND HORMONAL EFFECTS OF SUDARSHANA KRIYA YOGA (SKY) IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS. BACKGROUND: SUDARSHANA KRIYA YOGA (SKY) HAS DEMONSTRABLE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECTS. SKY WAS TESTED FOR THIS EFFECT IN INPATIENTS OF ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE. METHODS: FOLLOWING A WEEK OF DETOXIFICATION MANAGEMENT CONSENTING SUBJECTS (N=60) WERE EQUALLY RANDOMIZED TO RECEIVE SKY THERAPY OR NOT (CONTROLS) FOR A TWO-WEEK STUDY. SKY THERAPY INCLUDED ALTERNATE DAY PRACTICE OF SPECIFIED BREATHING EXERCISE UNDER SUPERVISION OF A TRAINED THERAPIST. SUBJECTS COMPLETED THE BECK DEPRESSION INVENTORY (BDI) BEFORE AND AFTER THE TWO WEEKS OF THIS INTERVENTION. MORNING PLASMA CORTISOL, ACTH AND PROLACTIN TOO WERE MEASURED BEFORE AND AT THE END OF TWO WEEKS. RESULTS: IN BOTH GROUPS REDUCTIONS IN BDI SCORES OCCURRED BUT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE SO IN SKY GROUP. LIKEWISE, IN BOTH GROUPS PLASMA CORTISOL AS WELL AS ACTH FELL AFTER TWO WEEKS BUT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE SO IN SKY GROUP. REDUCTION IN BDI SCORES CORRELATED WITH THAT IN CORTISOL IN SKY BUT NOT IN CONTROL GROUP. LIMITATIONS: ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECTS OF SKY WERE DEMONSTRATED IN EARLY ABSTINENCE THAT ALSO HAD SUBSTANTIAL SPONTANEOUS IMPROVEMENT. IT IS NOT KNOWN IF THIS EFFECT CONTRIBUTES TO SUSTAINED ABSTINENCE. CONCLUSION: RESULTS EXTEND THE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECTS OF SKY IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE SUBJECTS. REDUCTION IN STRESS-HORMONE LEVELS (CORTISOL AND ACTH) ALONG WITH BDI REDUCTIONS POSSIBLY SUPPORT A BIOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF SKY IN PRODUCING BENEFICIAL EFFECTS. 2006 6 555 43 CORTISOL AND ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECTS OF YOGA. CONTEXT: HYPERCORTISOLEMIA IS WELL-KNOWN IN DEPRESSION AND YOGA HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED EARLIER TO REDUCE THE PARAMETERS OF STRESS, INCLUDING CORTISOL LEVELS. AIM: WE AIMED TO FIND THE ROLE OF YOGA AS AN ANTIDEPRESSANT AS WELL AS ITS ACTION ON LOWERING THE SERUM CORTISOL LEVELS. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: AN OPEN-LABELED STUDY CONSISTING OF THREE GROUPS (YOGA ALONE, YOGA ALONG WITH ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATION AND ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATION ALONE) WAS CONDUCTED AT A TERTIARY CARE PSYCHIATRY HOSPITAL. METHODOLOGY: OUT-PATIENT DEPRESSIVES WHO WERE NOT SUICIDAL WERE OFFERED YOGA AS A POSSIBLE ANTIDEPRESSANT THERAPY. A VALIDATED YOGA MODULE WAS USED AS THERAPY TAUGHT OVER A MONTH AND TO BE PRACTICED AT HOME DAILY. PATIENTS WERE FREE TO CHOOSE THE DRUGS IF THEIR PSYCHIATRIST ADVISED. PATIENTS (N=54) WERE RATED ON HAMILTON DEPRESSION RATING SCALE (HDRS) WITH SERUM CORTISOL MEASUREMENTS AT BASELINE AND AFTER 3 MONTHS. IN 54 PATIENTS, ASSESSMENTS AND BLOOD TEST RESULTS WERE BOTH AVAILABLE. 19 EACH RECEIVED YOGA ALONE OR WITH DRUGS AND 16 RECEIVED DRUGS ONLY. HEALTHY COMPARISON SUBJECTS (N=18) TOO UNDERWENT MORNING CORTISOL MEASUREMENTS ONCE. RESULTS: SERUM CORTISOL WAS HIGHER IN DEPRESSIVES COMPARED WITH CONTROLS. IN THE TOTAL SAMPLE, THE CORTISOL LEVEL DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY AT THE END OF TREATMENT. MORE PATIENTS IN THE YOGA GROUPS HAD A DROP IN CORTISOL LEVELS AS COMPARED TO DRUG-ONLY GROUP. IN THE YOGA-ONLY GROUP, THE CORTISOL DROP CORRELATED WITH THE DROP IN HDRS SCORE (ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECT). CONCLUSION: THE FINDINGS SUPPORT THAT YOGA MAY ACT AT THE LEVEL OF THE HYPOTHALAMUS BY ITS 'ANTI-STRESS' EFFECTS (REDUCING THE CORTISOL), TO BRING ABOUT RELIEF IN DEPRESSION. 2013 7 2010 40 SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA IMPROVES CARDIAC AUTONOMIC CONTROL IN PATIENTS WITH ANXIETY-DEPRESSION DISORDERS. BACKGROUND: SEVERAL STUDIES HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT ADJUVANT THERAPIES AS EXERCISE AND BREATHING TRAINING ARE EFFECTIVE IN IMPROVING CARDIAC AUTONOMIC CONTROL (CAC) IN PATIENTS WITH AFFECTIVE SPECTRUM DISORDERS. HOWEVER, THE EFFECTS OF SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) ON AUTONOMIC FUNCTION IN THIS POPULATION IS UNKNOWN. OUR OBJECTIVE WAS TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT SKY TRAINING IMPROVES CAC AND CARDIORESPIRATORY COUPLING IN PATIENTS WITH ANXIETY AND/OR DEPRESSION DISORDERS. METHODS: FORTY-SIX PATIENTS WITH A DIAGNOSIS OF ANXIETY AND/OR DEPRESSION DISORDERS (DSM-IV) WERE CONSECUTIVELY ENROLLED AND DIVIDED IN TWO GROUPS: 1) CONVENTIONAL THERAPY (CONTROL) AND 2) CONVENTIONAL THERAPY ASSOCIATED WITH SKY (TREATMENT) FOR 15 DAYS. ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION LEVELS WERE DETERMINED USING QUANTITATIVE QUESTIONNAIRES. FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF CAC AND CARDIORESPIRATORY COUPLING, CARDIORESPIRATORY TRACES WERE ANALYZED USING MONOVARIATE AND BIVARIATE AUTOREGRESSIVE SPECTRAL ANALYSIS, RESPECTIVELY. RESULTS: AFTER 15-DAYS, WE OBSERVED A REDUCTION OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION LEVELS ONLY IN TREATMENT GROUP. MOREOVER, SYMPATHETIC MODULATION AND CAC WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER WHILE PARASYMPATHETIC MODULATION AND CARDIORESPIRATORY COUPLING WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN THE TREATMENT COMPARED TO CONTROL GROUP. CONCLUSIONS: INTENSIVE BREATHING TRAINING USING SKY APPROACH IMPROVES ANXIETY AND/OR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS AS WELL AS CAC AND CARDIORESPIRATORY COUPLING. THESE FINDING SUGGEST THAT THE SKY TRAINING MAY BE A USEFUL NON-PHARMACOLOGICAL INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE SYMPTOMS AND REDUCE CARDIOVASCULAR RISK IN PATIENTS WITH ANXIETY/DEPRESSION DISORDERS. 2017 8 91 47 A MULTICOMPONENT YOGA-BASED, BREATH INTERVENTION PROGRAM AS AN ADJUNCTIVE TREATMENT IN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER WITH OR WITHOUT COMORBIDITIES. OBJECTIVES: THE AIM OF THIS STUDY IS TO EVALUATE THE EFFICACY AND TOLERABILITY OF SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) COURSE IN GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD) OUTPATIENTS, WHO AFTER EIGHT WEEKS OF AN APPROPRIATE DOSE OF TRADITIONAL THERAPY HAD NOT YET ACHIEVED REMISSION. SUBJECTS: THE ADULT PARTICIPANTS (18-65 YEARS) WERE OUTPATIENTS WITH A PRIMARY DIAGNOSIS OF GAD WITH OR WITHOUT COMORBIDITIES ON THE MINI-INTERNATIONAL NEUROPSYCHIATRIC INTERVIEW (MINI). PARTICIPANTS HAD A MINIMUM OF EIGHT WEEKS STANDARD TREATMENT WITH AN APPROPRIATE DOSE OF A STANDARD PRESCRIPTION ANXIOLYTIC, A CLINICIAN GLOBAL IMPRESSION-SEVERITY (CGI-S) SCORE OF 5-7, A HAMILTON ANXIETY SCALE (HAM-A) TOTAL SCORE >/=20 INCLUDING A SCORE OF >2 ON THE ANXIOUS MOOD AND TENSION ITEMS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: FORTY-ONE PATIENTS WERE ENROLLED IN AN OPEN-LABEL TRIAL OF THE SKY COURSE AS AN ADJUNCT TO STANDARD TREATMENT OF GAD AT THE START CLINIC FOR MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS, A TERTIARY CARE MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDER CLINIC IN TORONTO. THE SKY COURSE WAS ADMINISTERED OVER FIVE DAYS (22 H TOTAL). SUBJECTS WERE ENCOURAGED TO PRACTICE THE YOGA BREATHING TECHNIQUES AT HOME FOR 20 MIN PER DAY AFTER THE COURSE AND WERE OFFERED GROUP PRACTICE SESSIONS FOR 2 H ONCE A WEEK LED BY CERTIFIED YOGA INSTRUCTORS. THE PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE WAS THE MEAN CHANGE FROM PRE-TREATMENT ON THE HAM-A SCALE. PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES WERE OBTAINED AT BASELINE AND FOUR WEEKS AFTER COMPLETING THE INTERVENTION. RESULTS: THIRTY-ONE PATIENTS COMPLETED THE PROGRAM (MEAN AGE 42.6 +/- 13.3 YEARS). AMONG COMPLETERS, SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS OCCURRED IN THE PRE- AND POST-INTERVENTION MEAN HAM-A TOTAL SCORE (T=4.59; P<0.01) AND PSYCHIC SUBSCALE (T=5.00; P