Effects of a yoga breath intervention alone and in combination with an exposure therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in survivors of the 2004 South-East Asia tsunami.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the effect of a yoga breath program alone and followed by a trauma reduction exposure technique on post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami.


METHODS
In this non-randomized study, 183 tsunami survivors who scored 50 or above on the Post-traumatic Checklist-17 (PCL-17) were assigned by camps to one of three groups: yoga breath intervention, yoga breath intervention followed by 3-8 h of trauma reduction exposure technique or 6-week wait list. Measures for post-traumatic stress disorder (PCL-17) and depression (BDI-21) were performed at baseline and at 6, 12 and 24 weeks. Data were analyzed using anova and mixed effects regression.


RESULTS
The effect of treatment vs. control was significant at 6 weeks (F(2,178) = 279.616, P < 0.001): mean PCL-17 declined by 42.5 +/- 10.0 SD with yoga breath, 39.2 +/- 17.2 with Yoga breath + exposure and 4.6 +/- 13.2 in the control.


CONCLUSIONS
Yoga breath-based interventions may help relieve psychological distress following mass disasters.
Descilo
T
T
The Trauma Resolution Center of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
Vedamurtachar
A
A
Gerbarg
P L
PL
Nagaraja
D
D
Gangadhar
B N
BN
Damodaran
B
B
Adelson
B
B
Braslow
L H
LH
Marcus
S
S
Brown
R P
RP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D057192:Tsunamis; D015013:Yoga / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult