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Can Yoga Cure Depression?
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Flavius
Posted 2008-05-17 4:31 PM (#107456)
Subject: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


I just have a question here...

Can yoga cure depression? I mean... is it gonna help for the people who suffer from depression?

Any comments?
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Posted 2008-05-17 6:51 PM (#107461 - in reply to #107456)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


Therapeutic issues mandate a therapeutic approach.
Presuming the student with depression is working with a highly trained, therapeutically oriented yoga teacher, I believe yoga can then assist the person to cope with depression.

It is, however, unlikely that a depressed student could just walk in off the street into any class entitled "yoga" and be "treated" for depression. So I try to steer clear of blanket statements like "yoga can cure depression". Sound yoga from the proper teacher in the proper way can surely support your body's own recovery from such things but the blanket statement is highly misleading.

Edited by purnayoga 2008-05-17 6:52 PM
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kulkarnn
Posted 2008-05-17 7:15 PM (#107464 - in reply to #107456)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


Of course. But, that depeds on Student, Teacher, Student-Teacher commitment, knowledge, experience, etc.


Flavius - 2008-05-17 4:31 PM

I just have a question here...

Can yoga cure depression? I mean... is it gonna help for the people who suffer from depression?

Any comments?
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serenaf
Posted 2008-05-18 4:05 AM (#107474 - in reply to #107456)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


Learning yoga, another way to communicate with your body and soul. I think it somehow helps the depressed student, however more proper care is much needed in this special case.
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nucleareggset
Posted 2008-05-18 10:45 AM (#107476 - in reply to #107456)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


In my experience with seven and a half years of yoga, and at least that long with dysthymia and less time with mild-moderate depression (and I must note that both of those are quite different, but share similarities to, severe depression), I'm going to be so bold as to say - no, yoga (even the full eight limbs) is not going to cure depression. Include sister schools (ayurveda, for instance) and I'm totally out of qualifications to speak, so I'm only talking about a system of yoga, in the context of a person seeking reasonable relief from symptoms in a reasonable timeframe (not 20 years, not 2 days).

I think there are two issues at play - a brain chemistry issue (not so simple as the wrong level of brain chemicals, but a very complex chemistry issue that has yet to be unraveled entirely) and a situational issue (whether the cause of the depression or an outcome of an organic depression).

I think that a well rounded yoga practice (not just asana) can certainly affect brain chemistry (if we can learn to become more content, potentially stressful situations - stressful situations produce a myriad of chemicals; pranayama can harness the parasympathetic system, for the good), and - though it may be more difficult and take more time - can affect situational issues as we develop the assurity and serenity to change or work through situations as appropriate without feeling it inappropriate.

But I don't think it's a wholesale cure - it won't change genetics, for instance. There are some people for whom it is probably totally sufficient to be tantamount to a cure. I have a friend who would describe it that way. There are some people (I would expect, from some of my worse bouts) when it's a tool to do nothing more than keep you from sinking. And there's a lot of middle ground between those ends. Both, along that whole spectrum, I really do believe that it provides a valuable tool - possibly one of the more valuable ones if practices honestly and fully - in treating depression.

Now, if we had a lifetime to cure depression, without any "life" getting in the way (work, family, society, etc.), I might change my tune to a Yes. But that is a harrowing thought to anyone with depression who isn't already suicidal.

(I should add - I don't think that pharmaceuticals are always needed in the case of depression. My psychologist was fine with that answer, but my GP was less thrilled. For full disclosure, I'm on a low dose of one now for cross treatment for fibromyalgia. I think there are a number of ways to affect brain chemistry - for me being in the PacNorthwest, getting ample LIGHT is highly valuable, so I built a sunlamp, because we don't get it naturally. And that's just one instance. I also had food intolerances to remove, work situations to adjust, and continue to adjust. Etc. Lots of cognitive therapy. I've found all of that quite helpful.)

Edited by nuclear_eggset 2008-05-18 10:49 AM
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tourist
Posted 2008-05-18 11:21 AM (#107478 - in reply to #107476)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?



Expert Yogi

Posts: 8442
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If I were keeping a list of definitive answers to regularly asked questions (and I should...), this would be one of them. Well said and thank you to all who replied.
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Flavius
Posted 2008-05-18 4:20 PM (#107492 - in reply to #107456)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


Wow, very insightful, i am impressed of you guys' words!

Actually this is for one of my friends... he really gets depressed and I heard of that during the yoga practice, people somehow meditate and relax their mind.

I just want to help him out.

Anyway, thanks to all of you!
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Posted 2008-05-20 4:08 PM (#107619 - in reply to #107456)
Subject: RE: Can Yoga Cure Depression?


Flavius - 2008-05-17 1:31 PM

I just have a question here...

Can yoga cure depression? I mean... is it gonna help for the people who suffer from depression?

Any comments?


There are as many types of depression as there are depressed people, so there is not a single answer. Depression can be temporary as in the death of a loved one, or ongoing without any apparent reason. Also, many people who are on anti-depessants are unhappy, not clinically depressed. Exercise of almost any type helps depression (by releasing seratonin), but is not a "cure." Brain chemicals are also often a result of lifestyle just as lifestyle is often a result of brain chemicals. One depressed person can practice yoga (or do another form of exercise or breathing) and achieve good results and another can change their lifestyle and get results and another may need anti-depressants and/or therapy or any combination of the above. An important part of understanding depression is that it is not only what is going on chemically, it is also our perceptions of what is going on. Do people not get depressed because they are active and involved, or are people depressed and therefore not active and involved? Either way, activity will help.

Two of the highest costs for health insurance companies today are the treatment of diabetes and depression. Both are related to so many Americans being overweight due to poor eating habits and lack of exercise.
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