Effects of Qigong on Depression: A Systemic Review

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Abstract

Physical exercises and relaxation have been found to be beneficial for depression. However, there is little evidence on the use of Qigong, a mind-body practice integrating gentle exercise and relaxation, in the management of depression. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effects of Qigong on depression. The paper examined clinical trials measuring the effect of Qigong on depression within six large-scale medical research databases (PubMed, Medline, ProQuest, Science Direct, EMBASE, and PsycInfo) till October 2011. Key words “Qigong,” “depression,” and “mood” were used. Ten studies were identified as original randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies investigating the effect of Qigong on depression as primary ( n = 2) or secondary outcome ( n = 8). Four studies reported positive results of the Qigong treatment on depression; two reported that Qigong effect on depression was as effective as physical exercise. One study reported that Qigong was comparable to a conventional rehabilitation program, but the remaining three studies found no benefits of Qigong on depression. While the evidence suggests the potential effects of Qigong in the treatment of depression, the review of the literature shows inconclusive results. Further research using rigorous study designs is necessary to investigate the effectiveness of Qigong in depression.

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Most cited references 45

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A comprehensive review of health benefits of qigong and tai chi.

Roger Jahnke, Linda Larkey, Carol Rogers … (2010)

Research examining psychological and physiological benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi is growing rapidly. The many practices described as Qigong or Tai Chi have similar theoretical roots, proposed mechanisms of action, and expected benefits. Research trials and reviews, however, treat them as separate targets of examination. This review examines the evidence for achieving outcomes from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of both. The key words Tai Chi, Taiji, Tai Chi Chuan, and Qigong were entered into electronic search engines for the Cumulative Index for Allied Health and Nursing (CINAHL), psychological literature (PsycINFO), PubMed, Cochrane database, and Google Scholar. STUDY INCLUSION CRITERIA: RCTs reporting on the results of Qigong or Tai Chi interventions and published in peer-reviewed journals from 1993 to 2007. Country, type and duration of activity, number/type of subjects, control conditions, and reported outcomes were recorded for each study. Outcomes related to Qigong and Tai Chi practice were identified and evaluated. Seventy-seven articles met the inclusion criteria. The nine outcome category groupings that emerged were bone density (n = 4), cardiopulmonary effects (n = 19), physical function (n = 16), falls and related risk factors (n = 23), quality of life (n = 17), self-efficacy (n = 8), patient-reported outcomes (n = 13), psychological symptoms (n = 27), and immune function (n = 6). Research has demonstrated consistent, significant results for a number of health benefits in RCTs, evidencing progress toward recognizing the similarity and equivalence of Qigong and Tai Chi.

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Effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction in mood, breast- and endocrine-related quality of life, and well-being in stage 0 to III breast cancer: a randomized, controlled trial.

Caroline J Hoffman, Steven Ersser, Jane Hopkinson … (2012)

To assess the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for mood, breast- and endocrine-specific quality of life, and well-being after hospital treatment in women with stage 0 to III breast cancer. A randomized, wait-listed, controlled trial was carried out in 229 women after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy for breast cancer. Patients were randomly assigned to the 8-week MBSR program or standard care. Profile of Mood States (POMS; primary outcome), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Endocrine Symptoms (FACT-ES) scales and the WHO five-item well-being questionnaire (WHO-5) evaluated mood, quality of life, and well-being at weeks 0, 8, and 12. For each outcome measure, a repeated-measures analysis of variance model, which incorporated week 0 measurements as a covariate, was used to compare treatment groups at 8 and 12 weeks. There were statistically significant improvements in outcome in the experimental group compared with control group at both 8 and 12 weeks (except as indicated) for POMS total mood disturbance (and its subscales of anxiety, depression [8 weeks only], anger [12 weeks only], vigor, fatigue, and confusion [8 weeks only]), FACT-B, FACT-ES, (and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy subscales of physical, social [8 weeks only], emotional, and functional well-being), and WHO-5. MSBR improved mood, breast- and endocrine-related quality of life, and well-being more effectively than standard care in women with stage 0 to III breast cancer, and these results persisted at three months. To our knowledge, this study provided novel evidence that MBSR can help alleviate long-term emotional and physical adverse effects of medical treatments, including endocrine treatments. MBSR is recommended to support survivors of breast cancer.

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Definition and epidemiology of treatment-resistant depression.

Rebecca K Davidson, Natália Fava (1996)

Our results suggest that between 29% and 46% of depressed patients fail to respond fully with antidepressant treatment of adequate dose and duration. In particular, although partial response appears to occur in 12% to 15% of the depressed patients studied, nonresponse is observed in 19% to 34% of this population. The prevalence of treatment-resistant depression derived from studies using ITT analysis is likely to be an overestimate of the actual occurrence of the phenomenon, as these rates also reflect the outcome of patients who were treated inadequately or were intolerant to the treatment. On the other hand, data derived from studies using completer analysis are likely to generate under-estimates of the prevalence of this phenomenon, as patients may have dropped out before completion of the study due to lack of efficacy. One could, therefore, guess that the actual rates of treatment resistance in the clinical population of depressed patients probably lie between these two types of estimates. From an epidemiologic point of view, because the prevalence of depression has been estimated to vary from 2.6% to 5.5% in men and from 6.0% to 11.8% in women, one must conclude that treatment-resistant depression is a very common clinical problem that is likely to affect more than one third of depressed patients. In summary, treatment-resistant depression patients can be defined as those who fail to respond to standard doses (i.e., significantly superior to placebo in double-blind studies) of antidepressants administered continuously for at least 6 weeks. Additional requirements of this operational definition are an accurate diagnosis of depressive disorder, patient compliance with the treatment, the use of valid outcome measures, and therapeutic range of antidepressant blood levels for the tricyclic antidepressants. Finally, symptomatic improvement that is equal or greater than 25% and less than 50% qualifies as partial response, and less than 25% symptomatic improvement is complete nonresponse.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Evid Based Complement Alternat Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Evid Based Complement Alternat Med

Journal ID (publisher-id): ECAM

Title: Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM

Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Corporation

ISSN (Print): 1741-427X

ISSN (Electronic): 1741-4288

Publication date (Print): 2013

Publication date (Electronic): 4 March 2013

Publication date PMC-release: 4 March 2013

Volume: 2013

Electronic Location Identifier: 134737

Affiliations

¹Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA

²Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Edward Ford Building A27, Fisher Road, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia

³Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture, Moxibustion & Meridian Research Centre, 1672 Yuseongdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-811, Republic of Korea

⁴Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA

Author notes

*Byeongsang Oh: boh1@ 123456partners.org

Academic Editor: Ching Lan

Article

DOI: 10.1155/2013/134737

PMC ID: 3603628

PubMed ID: 23533461

SO-VID: e8257724-6dcd-4f6f-bf12-122253d050de

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 19 November 2012

Date revision received : 25 January 2013

Date accepted : 29 January 2013

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