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
. 2023 Jul 21;23(1):258.
doi: 10.1186/s12906-023-04074-w.

Management of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms by yoga: an overview

Nina Laplaud  1 , Anaïck Perrochon  1   2 , Matthieu Gallou-Guyot  2 , Maarten Moens  3   4   5   6   7 , Lisa Goudman  3   4   5   6   8 , Romain David  9   10 , Philippe Rigoard  10   11   12 , Maxime Billot  13
Affiliations
Review

Management of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms by yoga: an overview

Nina Laplaud et al. BMC Complement Med Ther. .

Abstract

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur after trauma. While PTSD management strategies include first-line pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, mind-body therapies, such as yoga, are applied in the PTSD population. This overview aimed to summarize the effectiveness of yoga interventions on PTSD symptoms in adults in a systematic review (SR) including randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Method: We searched for SR with or without meta-analysis of RCTs involving adults with PTSD diagnosis or trauma history. The search was conducted until April 2022, through six databases (Cochrane Database, MEDLINE (Pubmed), Scopus, Embase, CINHAL and PEDro). The primary outcome was the evolution of PTSD symptoms throughout the intervention. Secondary outcomes included follow-up, safety, adherence, and cost of the intervention. Two authors independently performed the selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment with the AMSTAR 2 tool and overlap calculation. This overview is a qualitative summary of the results obtained in the selected studies.

Results: Eleven SRs were analyzed, of which 8 included meta-analyses. The overlap between studies was considered very high (corrected covered area of 21%). Fifty-nine RCTs involving 4434 participants were included. Yoga had a significant small-to-moderate effect-size on PTSD symptom decrease in 7 SRs and non-significant effects in 1 SR with meta-analysis. All SR without meta-analysis found beneficial effects of yoga on PTSD. Secondary outcomes were not sufficiently assessed to provide clear evidence. Results should be interpreted with caution as 1 SR was rated as at moderate risk of bias, 3 as low and 7 as critically low.

Conclusions: While yoga therapy seems promising for decreasing PTSD symptoms, future research should standardize yoga therapy duration/frequency/type and consider long-term efficacy to better delineate yoga therapy efficacy in PTSD patients.

Keywords: Complementary and alternative approach; Meditation; Mindfulness; Mind–body therapies; PTSD; Physical activity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association, Crocq M-A, Guelfi J-D, et al. DSM-5—Manuel diagnostique et statistique des troubles mentaux. American Psychiatric Association. 5e édition. Issy-les-Moulineaux: Elsevier Masson; 2015.
    1. Kessler RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Benjet C, Bromet EJ, Cardoso G, et al. Trauma and PTSD in the who world mental health surveys. Eur J Psychotraumatology. 2017;8:1353383. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2017.1353383. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rosenbaum S, Vancampfort D, Steel Z, Newby J, Ward PB, Stubbs B. Physical activity in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Res. 2015;230:130–136. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.10.017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Watson P. PTSD as a public mental health priority. Curr Psychiatr Rep. 2019;21:61. doi: 10.1007/s11920-019-1032-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Psychological Association. Clinical practice guideline for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adults. Adopted as APA Policy February 24, 2017. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline.