Yoga Breath Program and Client-Centered Exposure for Relief of PTSD in Tsunami Victims

Controlled Trial of Yoga Breath Based Group Intervention and Client-Centered Exposure Treatment for Relief of Traumatic Stress and Depression in Tsunami Victims

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, India, The Art of Living Foundation, India: International Association for Human Values

Study hypothesis: that a standardized course of Eastern practices (Breath Water Sound Course -BWS) will significantly relieve PTSD and depression in tsunami victims. Further, that a client-centered exposure treatment (Traumatic Incident Reduction- TIR) would provide additional, significant relief of PTSD and depression in tsunami victims. 180 tsunami victims in Southern India will be divided into three groups: those that only receive BWS course, those that receive the BWS course and TIR and a wait-list control. They will be pretested with the PCL-17 (PTSD scale), the Beck Depression Inventory and the General Health Questionaire. These scales will also be administered post-service as well as five weeks post pre-testing and at three and six month intervals.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, disaster mental health, yoga, Breathwork, exposure treatments

That the BWS course and TIR will provide significant reduction in scores on the PCL-C, a standardized measure of PTSD symptoms.

improvement in PCL-C scores will occur in one week and persist for the duration of the study: 6 months

That the BWS course and TIR will provide significant relief from clinical depression as measured on BDI.

Inclusion Criteria: Tsunami witness, tsunami victim, and/or lost loved one or property. Ages 18-70 Willing to participate for the entire length of this research study. Exclusion Criteria: Drug addiction, notwithstanding alcohol or tobacco. Schizophrenia or other severe pre-existing mental illness Severe physical disability or illness that would prevent study completion.

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Brown RP, Gerbarg PL. Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: part I-neurophysiologic model. J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Feb;11(1):189-201. doi: 10.1089/acm.2005.11.189. Erratum In: J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Apr;11(2):383-4.