ReviewJournal of physical activity & health2016
Evidence Map of Yoga for Depression, Anxiety, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
Review in Journal of physical activity & health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Physical Therapies for Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness: An Umbrella and Mapping Systematic Review with Meta-meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Pooled it
- Multidimensional analyses of the effect of exercise on women with depression: A meta-analysis.Medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Immediate Psychosocial Impact on Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- The Effects of Meditation, Yoga, and Mindfulness on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Tertiary Education Students: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- A systematic review of randomized trials of mind-body interventions for PTSD.Journal of clinical psychology · 2018Pooled it
- What is an evidence map? A systematic review of published evidence maps and their definitions, methods, and products.Systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Findings from a pilot study of Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga versus cognitive processing therapy for PTSD related to military sexual trauma among women Veterans.Complementary therapies in medicine · 2022Trial
- Neuro-molecular mediators of yoga intervention in females with prediabetes: A randomized controlled trial.iScience · 2026Article
- Advancing Whole-Person Health through Informatics: A Narrative Review of Knowledge Resources for Complementary and Integrative Health.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Review
- Effects of the Mindful Somatic Psychoeducation Program on the Mental Health of Unmarried Mothers: A Randomized Control Trial.Psychiatry investigation · 2025Article
- Physical Therapies for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness: A Protocol for an Umbrella and Mapping Systematic Review with Meta-Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Systematic review protocol of yoga therapy as a modality in occupational therapy practice for adults experiencing mood disorders.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Randomized controlled trial investigating the role of yoga at workplace in improving fatigue, burnout, pain, strength, and quality of life among blue-collar workers.Journal of education and health promotion · 2024Article
- Telehealth Complementary and Integrative Health Therapies During COVID-19 at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2023Article
- Yoga v. health education for attentional processes relevant to major depressive disorder.Mindfulness · 2021Article
- Evidence map on the contributions of traditional, complementary and integrative medicines for health care in times of COVID-19.Integrative medicine research · 2020Review
- A faith-based mind-body intervention to improve psychosocial well-being among rural adults.Translational behavioral medicine · 2020Article
- Clinical Practice Guidelines for Yoga and Other Alternative Therapies for Patients with Mental Disorders.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2020Article
- Complementary and Integrated Health Approaches: What Do Veterans Use and Want.Journal of general internal medicine · 2019Article
- [Yoga for mental disorders].Der Nervenarzt · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study describes evidence of yoga's effectiveness for depressive disorders, general anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults. We also address adverse events associated with yoga.
methodsWe searched multiple electronic databases for systematic reviews (SRs) published between 2008 and July 2014, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) not identified in eligible SRs, and ongoing RCTs registered with ClincalTrials.gov.
resultsWe identified 1 SR on depression, 1 for adverse events, and 3 addressing multiple conditions. The high-quality depression SR included 12 RCTs (n = 619) that showed improved short-term depressive symptoms (standardized mean difference, -0.69, 95% confidence interval, -0.99 to -0.39), but there was substantial variability (I2 = 86%) and a high risk of bias for 9 studies. Three SRs addressing multiple conditions identified 4 nonrandomized studies (n = 174) for GAD/PD and 1 RCT (n = 8) and 2 nonrandomized studies (n = 22) for PTSD. We separately found 1 RCT (n = 13) for GAD and 2 RCTs (n = 102) for PTSD. Collectively, these studies were inconclusive for the effectiveness of yoga in treating GAD/PD and PTSD. The high-quality SR for adverse events included 37 primary reports (n = 76) in which inversion postures were most often implicated. We found 5 ongoing trials (3 for PTSD).
conclusionsYoga may improve short-term depressive symptoms, but evidence for GAD, PD, and PTSD remain inconclusive.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.