Comparing Meditation versus Medicine for Patients with Anxiety Disorders

What was the research about?People with anxiety disorders may feel fear, worry, or nervousness.These feelings can make doing daily activities hard.Certain medicines can help reduce anxiety, but people may have side effects or other problems taking them.Meditation can also help reduce anxiety.In this project, the research team compared two treatments for patients with anxiety disorders:• Mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR.MBSR is a type of meditation.Patients took an MBSR course for eight weeks.They learned about different forms of MBSR and how to practice meditation.They also received guided practice sessions on meditation for home use.• Escitalopram, a medicine for anxiety.Doctors prescribed this medicine for eight weeks.Patients took 10 milligrams (mg) per day by mouth during week one.Doctors increased the dose to 20 mg per day during week two if the patient didn't have bad side effects.