Schizophrenia in \"Yoga Therapy for Schizophrenia,\" Bangalore

Schizophrenia

In "Yoga Therapy for Schizophrenia," Bangalore & Varambally (2012) explore a gap in the research on treatments for schizophrenia. The authors point out that pharmacological interventions and traditional psychotherapeutic techniques have remained "sub-optimal," if not totally ineffective (p. 85). A lack of meaningful progress in schizophrenia research gives rise to more nuanced and cross-disciplinary understandings of how the disease can be treated. The authors note that prior research has revealed the efficacy of yoga as a viable treatment intervention for patients suffering from anxiety and depression. Using prior research on both yoga and on schizophrenia as a foundation, the authors develop research hypothesis that suggests yoga therapy for improving client outcomes. In particular, the researchers focus on the potential of yoga therapy to curb or mitigate the expression of negative symptoms (such as amotivation, anhedonia, emotional blunting and poor insight) in patients with schizophrenia.

"Yoga Therapy for Schizophrenia" is not an experimental research design. The research design is exploratory and utilizes a meta-analytic methodology involving the use of academic databases. The authors used PubMed/Medline, EBSCO, Google Scholar, and databases housing dissertations. Searches were conducted in English only. The authors used the search terms in Boolean format as 'Yoga AND Schizophrenia' and 'Psychosis AND yoga.' Articles that met the criteria for inclusion were selected and analyzed for the results.

Primary results yielded research studies, including experimental studies, on the impact of a disciplined yoga practice condition (as an independent variable) on observable symptoms of schizophrenia, as evaluated by psychiatrists. Research does show promising results that substantiate the hypothesis that yoga practice can significantly reduce the expression of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, a large number of the studies under review took place in controlled environments in India, suggesting that the type of yoga therapies were systematic and developed over the past several thousand years by trained masters rather than being ad-hoc yoga programs. Yoga practice was defined in terms of the school of yoga, but all the trials included both asana (physical postures) and pranayama (breathing exercises). The authors note that prior research has shown that meditation has contraindications for persons with schizophrenia because some types of meditation can exacerbate psychotic symptoms. The range of research studies varied, but it is unclear whether the patients were simultaneously receiving medications in the trials. The methodologies of many of the research studies were weak and not necessarily generalizable, but the results are promising. Participants in the yoga programs demonstrated reduced social and psychological dysfunction in measurable ways.