Effect of Integrated Yoga as an add-on therapy in adults with clinical depression – A randomized controlled trial

Background: Depression is a leading cause of disability and the conventional management has several limitations. Recent studies demonstrated the benefits of yoga in psychological disorders. Aims: To evaluate the efficacy of the Integrated Yoga Module (IYM) to standard care with added yogic education on lifestyle modification (YELM) in patients with clinical depression. Methods: A PROBE trial was conducted at a single tertiary care hospital in India. Adults aged 18 to 64 with clinical depression were randomized to either an IYM or an active control group using a computer-generated mixed block randomization sequence. Both groups received YELM in addition to standard care and the intervention group practiced IYM, for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was the reduction in depression symptoms assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and secondary outcomes involved self-compassion, brief resilience, positive and negative experiences, and quality of life, evaluated at 8 weeks. Results: The mean ± SD age of participants was 32.2 ± 10.0 and 54.3% were females. The IYM group showed statistically significant improvements in BDI-II scores β = −6.7 (95% CI [−10.8, −2.5]; p = .001), resilience β = 0.4 (95% CI [0.02, 0.80]; p = .037), physical health domain of WHOQOL - BREF β = 10.1 (95% CI [0.7, 19.5]; p = .035) and negative emotions (SPANE-N) β = 2.8 (95% CI [0.1, 5.4]; p = .037). However, no significant differences were found in SCS-SF β = −0.3 (95% CI [−0.7, 0.0]; p = .053). Conclusions: IYM as an adjunct is superior to conventional medical management in reducing symptoms and improving positive psychological resources in clinical depression.