ArticleBrain sciences2023
Breathwork Interventions for Adults with Clinically Diagnosed Anxiety Disorders: A Scoping Review.
Article in Brain sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of mind-body exercise intervention on anxiety among women: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Examining the Effectiveness of Breathwork to Improve Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing While Reducing Anxiety, Depression, Stress, and Insomnia in Paramedicine Students: A Single-Blind Randomised Controlled Trial.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2026Trial
- A semi-randomised control trial assessing psychophysiological effects of breathwork and cold immersion.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Trial
- A 14-week structured breathing program: an investigation into its impact on psychological health parameters in university students.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- High ventilation breathwork as a non-pharmacological model for inducing psychedelic-like states: expert evaluations of therapeutic potential and risk.Npj mental health research · 2026Article
- Slow Deep Breathing Effects on the Human Consciousness-10-Second Breathing Rhythm Synchronizes Slow Cortical Potentials.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2026Article
- Who can hold their breath? understanding individual patient's needs and screening for deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) suitability in rural cancer care: a retrospective evaluation.Technical innovations & patient support in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Exploring the benefits of altered states of consciousness and reduced experiential avoidance for mental well-being: insights from a global study on high ventilation breathwork.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Molecules, meaning, and physiology: disentangling the active ingredients of psychedelic therapeutics.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Breathwork for Chronic Stress and Mental Health: Does Choosing a Specific Technique Matter?Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The A52 Breath Method: A Narrative Review of Breathwork for Mental Health and Stress Resilience.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Review
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Depression-The Vicious Mental Cycle.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Observational Study on Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Breathing Control for Reducing Dental Anxiety in Children.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Observational
- Decreased COCommunications psychology · 2025Article
- Does Inspiratory Threshold Loading and Visual Tasking Affect Visual Attention Accuracy?Physical therapy · 2025Article
- Epigenetic Echoes: Bridging Nature, Nurture, and Healing Across Generations.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Exploring the Diagnostic Potential of Video-Based Breathing Control Training: A Sonographic Evaluation of Abdominal Organ Measures.International journal of general medicine · 2025Article
- Sensing, feeling and regulating: investigating the association of focal brain damage with voluntary respiratory and motor control.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Dynamic mechanisms that couple the brain and breathing to the external environment.Communications biology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are the most common group of mental disorders, but they are often underrecognized and undertreated in primary care. Dysfunctional breathing is a hallmark of anxiety disorders; however, mainstays of treatments do not tackle breathing in patients suffering anxiety. This scoping review aims to identify the nature and extent of the available research literature on the efficacy of breathwork interventions for adults with clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders using the DSM-5 classification system. Using the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews, a search of PubMed, Embase, and Scopus was conducted using terms related to anxiety disorders and breathwork interventions. Only clinical studies using breathwork (without the combination of other interventions) and performed on adult patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder using the DSM-5 classification system were included. From 1081 articles identified across three databases, sixteen were included for the review. A range of breathwork interventions yielded significant improvements in anxiety symptoms in patients clinically diagnosed with anxiety disorders. The results around the role of hyperventilation in treatment of anxiety were contradictory in few of the examined studies. This evidence-based review supports the clinical utility of breathwork interventions and discusses effective treatment options and protocols that are feasible and accessible to patients suffering anxiety. Current gaps in knowledge for future research directions have also been identified.
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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.