Yoga as an Alternative and Complementary Therapy for Patients Suffering From Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychiatric disorders plaguing the United States. Comorbidities include depression, restless leg syndrome, cancer, and hypertension. The side effects and the high-costs associated with the current pharmacological therapies necessitate exploration of alternative methods of treatment. To determine the efficacy of yoga as a treatment option a systematic review is presented here. The criteria for inclusion in this review were as follows: ( a) published in the English language ( b) published between the period January 2010 and May 2012, ( c) include any form of yoga as a part of or an entire intervention, ( d) use any quantitative study design, and ( e) measure anxiety as an outcome. A total of 27 studies met these criteria. Of these, 19 demonstrated a significant reduction in state and/or trait anxiety. Limitations include a lack of theory-based approaches, subjects experiencing comorbidities, and the use of numerous instruments to measure anxiety outcomes.