For those of you who celebrate, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!
I ate enough to almost start mouth breathing…
Before we get into this week’s research, I don’t want you to get the impression that breathing will cure PTSD. This study examined using breathing as complementary therapy, one that could be integrated as part of a complete treatment plan for PTSD. And they found encouraging results.
(Read the Full Summary of the Study Here)
The researchers studied 25 male Vietnam veterans from Australia. They were guided through a 5-day yoga program that consisted of breathing, mobility, asanas, and group therapy. Thus, there were several components to the study beyond breathing.
After the extensive 5-day training, the participants went once a week for 1 month, then once a month for 5 more months. In between sessions, they were encouraged to practice yoga breathing for 30 minutes every day. The study lasted a total of 6 months.
The researchers examined how the program affected the patients’ CAPS (Clinician Administered PTSD Scale) score, a 30-question interview that assesses PTSD severity. Scores range from 0 to 88, with higher values indicating more severe PTSD symptoms.
The average CAPS score at the beginning of the study was 56.3. At week 6, the average score had significantly fallen to 42.1. Finally, at the end of the 6 months, the average score had dropped to 26.2.
That’s pretty amazing. And this was with no changes to the participants medication.
Because yoga breathing is simple and has essentially no negative side effects, it could potentially be incorporated into the military health care system and be a valuable complementary therapy for PTSD.
Until that happens, let’s hope more scientific studies are conducted to assess the effectiveness of breathing programs for PTSD and to provide practical guidelines for using it as a complementary therapy.
In good breath,
Nick
P.S. HHPF is a nonprofit organization making major scientific advances with breathing therapies for stress in our military and first responder populations.