Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Dec 3;19(23):16180.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192316180.

A Rapid Review Exploring the Role of Yoga in Healing Psychological Trauma

Arabella English  1 , Elizabeth McKibben  2 , Divya Sivaramakrishnan  3 , Niamh Hart  3 , Justin Richards  2 , Paul Kelly  3
Affiliations
Review

A Rapid Review Exploring the Role of Yoga in Healing Psychological Trauma

Arabella English et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The evidence regarding the benefits of yoga for treating psychological trauma is well-established; however, there is a paucity of qualitative reviews exploring this topic. The purpose of this rapid review is to gain a deeper understanding of the impact that yoga can have on people with a history of psychological trauma and to reveal barriers and facilitators to the uptake of yoga in this cohort, from a qualitative perspective. The Ovid(EMBASE), Ovid(MEDLINE), PsycINFO, PubMed, and SPORTDiscus databases were searched using key terms. The systematic search generated 148 records, and 11 peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria. The following main impacts of yoga on participants were identified: feeling an increased sense of self-compassion; feeling more centred; developing their coping skills; having a better mind-body relationship; and improving their relationships with others. The main barriers were also identified: concerns initiating yoga; time and motivational issues; and the costs and location of classes. The main facilitator was the feeling of safety generated in the trauma-informed yoga classes. This review suggests that yoga offers great potential in the field of trauma recovery. Despite this, more high-quality research with rigorous methodologies is called for to allow this field to advance.

Keywords: impact; psychological trauma; qualitative literature; rapid review; yoga.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Results of the systematic electronic search.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kessler R.C., Aguilar-Gaxiola S., Alonso J., Benjet C., Bromet E.J., Cardoso G., Degenhardt L., de Girolamo G., Dinolova R.V., Ferry F., et al. Trauma and PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. Eur. J. Psychotraumatol. 2017;8((Suppl. S5)):1353383. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2017.1353383. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pietrzak R.H., Goldstein R.B., Southwick S.M., Grant B.F. Prevalence and Axis I comorbidity of full and partial posttraumatic stress disorder in the United States: Results from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J. Anxiety Disord. 2011;25:456–465. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.11.010. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kline A.C., Cooper A.A., Rytwinksi N.K., Feeny N.C. Long-term efficacy of psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 2017;59:30–40. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.10.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. D’Andrea W., Pole N. A naturalistic study of the relation of psychotherapy process to changes in symptoms, information processing, and physiological activity in complex trauma. Psychol. Trauma Theory Res. Pract. Policy. 2012;4:438–446. doi: 10.1037/a0025067. - DOI
    1. Mikkelsen K., Stojanovska L., Polenakovic M., Bosevski M., Apostolopoulos V. Exercise and mental health. Maturitas. 2017;106:48–56. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.09.003. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources