Yoga in Psychotherapy: Best Practices for Treating Anxiety and Depression

Abstract

Many psychotherapy clients are using complementary and alternative therapies, most commonly mind-body therapies such as Yoga, to deal with depression, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, and chronic pain. The prevalence of anxiety and depression coupled with the increased use of Yoga for psychiatric and medical problems underscores the need for an increased understanding as it relates to the effectiveness and value of Yoga as an adjunct to psychotherapy in session-based counselling and psychotherapy. Yoga appears to be an effective clinical intervention for anxiety and depression. This thesis addresses the empirical research on Yoga as an effective, complementary, clinical intervention for anxiety and depression based on examination of studies published from 1979 to 2011. This thesis uses a best practices approach to identify potential best practices and to analyze and synthesize a representative sample of best practices. This study offers a foundation for a clinical protocol for integrating Yoga and psychotherapy to the profession of psychotherapy in order to be disseminated and tested more formally.