Therapeutic Effects of Yoga on Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic, relatively common psychiatric disorder characterized as an unrealistic, excessive anxiety about two or more life circumstances for a period of six months or longer. People with GAD feel irritable and tense and have difficulty concentrating. These mental signs are coupled with physical symptoms such as shortness of breath, increased heart rate, cold clammy hands, dry mouth, nausea, diarrhoea, chills or hot flushes, muscle tension, aches and soreness. Since GAD is conceived as a stress related disorder, lessening one's response to stress by various techniques is helpful for patients to reduce their anxiety. The present study aimed to explore the therapeutic effects of yoga on GAD. The sample of the study was 50 GAD patients, both males and females, in the age range of 20 to 45 years. The sample was taken from the Holistic Medicine and Stress Research Unit, Government Medical College, Thiruananthapuram. The tools used to assess was General Anxiety Scale developed by Laiju and Sananda (2002). The Statistical techniques used for the study were two way repeated measures ANOVA and independent samples t-test. Analysis of the results indicates that the study groups showed significant reduction in general anxiety compared to the comparison group.