Evaluating the Effectiveness of Yoga Interventions in Various Settings for Depression: A Narrative Review of Clinical Studies

Abstract

Background:
Yoga is found to be beneficial in depression and the symptoms associated with depression. The present review aims to analyse the benefits of yoga on reducing the depressive symptoms.
Methods:
Search was done on electronic database on PubMed, and RCTs which measured the effect of different yogic practices on depression measured with validated tools.
Results:
18 studies including 1108 participants of age group from 18 years to 65 were included in the study. Results showed that yoga is effective in reducing the depressive symptoms with significant heterogenicity among the studies.
Conclusion:
Yoga can be a promising intervention in depression and depression associated symptoms. However, there is a need of RCT with larger sample size and improved design to confirm the efficacy.