Comparing Kundalini Yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy, and stress education for generalized anxiety disorder: Anxiety and depression symptom outcomes

Elizabeth A Hoge; Naomi M Simon; Kristin Szuhany; Benjamin Feldman; David Rosenfield; Susanne Hoeppner; Emma Jennings; Sat Bir Khalsa; Stefan G Hofmann

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115362

Comparing Kundalini Yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy, and stress education for generalized anxiety disorder: Anxiety and depression symptom outcomes

Psychiatry Res. 2023 Sep:327:115362. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115362. Epub 2023 Aug 6.

Authors

Elizabeth A Hoge¹, Naomi M Simon², Kristin Szuhany², Benjamin Feldman², David Rosenfield³, Susanne Hoeppner⁴, Emma Jennings², Sat Bir Khalsa⁵, Stefan G Hofmann⁶

Affiliations

¹ Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, 2115 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC, 20007, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New York NY 10016, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Expressway Tower 1100N, Dallas, Texas, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Richard B. Simches Research Center, 185 Cambridge St., Suite 2000, Boston MA, USA.
⁵ Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 900 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Clinical Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg, Schulstrasse 12, 35037 Marburg, Germany.

Abstract

Increasingly, individuals with anxiety disorders are seeking mind-body interventions (e.g., yoga), but their effectiveness is unclear. This report summarizes seven additional, secondary outcomes measuring anxiety and depression symptoms from a study of 226 adults with generalized anxiety disorder who were randomized to 12-week Kundalini Yoga, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) or stress education (control). At post-treatment, participants receiving CBT displayed significantly lower symptom severity, compared to those in the control group, on 6 of the 7 measures. Participants who received Yoga (vs. those in the control group) displayed lower symptom severity on 3 of the 7 measures. No significant differences were detected between participants receiving CBT vs those receiving Yoga. At the 6-month follow-up, participants from the CBT continued to display lower symptoms than the control group.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01912287.

Keywords: Cognitive-behavioral therapy; Generalized anxiety disorder; Kundalini Yoga.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Anxiety / therapy
Anxiety Disorders / therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy*
Depression / therapy
Humans
Yoga*

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01912287

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data

Grants and funding