Yoga therapy may be beneficial for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder

1. Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) randomized to undergo Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) were found to have significantly improved PTSD symptoms at 3-month follow-up.

2. Improvements were found to be statistically equivalent to gold standard therapy with cognitive processing therapy (CPT)

Evidence Rating: 2 (Good)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continues to be a significant burden in mental health worldwide, especially amongst combat veterans. Although cognitive processing therapy (CPT) continues to be the gold-standard of treatment, the rising prevalence of PTSD has created the need for the exploration of further alternative treatment options, especially as CPT may not always be effective, and also often has high dropout rates. Yoga, specifically Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) has emerged as one of the therapies of interest. In this study, 131 participants were randomly assigned to either receive CPT or TCTSY over a 10-week period, and had their PTSD symptom severity monitored via the clinician administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) for the DSM-5 as well as the PTSD checklist at 2-weeks and 3-months post intervention. Both treatment groups improved over time on the CAPS-5 (mean [SD] scores at baseline: 36.73 [8.79] for TCTSY and 35.52 [7.49] for CPT; mean [SD] scores at 3 months: 24.03 [11.55] for TCTSY and 22.15 [13.56]) and the PCL-5 (mean [SD] scores at baseline: 49.62 [12.19] for TCTSY and 48.69 [13.62] for CPT; mean [SD] scores at 3 months: 36.97 [17.74] for TCTSY and 31.76 [12.47]) (P < .001 for time effects), with statistically equivalent improvement in symptoms. TCTSY emerged as an effective and acceptable treatment option, particularly for women veterans resistant to conventional evidence-based therapies. The study highlights the potential of TCTSY to improve engagement and completion rates, offering a valuable addition to PTSD treatment options.

Click to read the study in JAMA Network Open

Image: PD

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