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This study aims to assess the impact of Isha Kriya, a freely available guided meditation, on mental health - specifically anxiety and depression.
In 2019, over 15% of the population experienced symptoms of anxiety. This was highest amongst 18-29-year-olds. Amongst these adults, 9.5% experienced mild, 3.4% experienced moderate, and 2.7% experienced severe symptoms of anxiety. About 1 in 6 adults is expected to suffer from depression at some point in their lives. Due to the pandemic, rates of anxiety and depression increased significantly. In December 2020, 42% of people surveyed by the US Census Bureau had symptoms associated with anxiety or depression. This is compared to 11% of adults having similar symptoms from Jan-June 2019. The rapidly diminishing mental health in the general population, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, has raised the concern for an emerging new pandemic: the mental health pandemic. Mental health leaders and organizations are urging the federal and state authorities to make mental health a top priority and allocate resources to areas including early identification and prevention, establishing integrated health and mental health care to ensure "whole-person" well-being, assuring evidence-based standards of prevention, treatment and care.
Meditation has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms associated with anxiety and depression. A recent study using a meditation called Isha Kriya showed improved perceived stress amongst operating room professionals in one sitting. Isha Kriya is a simple meditation practice (15minutes) that can be done by anyone over 12 years of age. It is offered free globally via in-person sessions, online webinars, and online videos. A meditation which is available electronically and freely could be an attractive option to include in prevention and treatment strategies for anxiety and depression. Furthermore, such intervention is easily scalable and accessible to everyone with access to the internet and if found effective, can be a valuable resource for addressing disparities in access to mental health resources in minority and underserved populations. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of this meditation on reducing symptoms associated with anxiety and depression over 6 weeks.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study Group | Participants signed up for the webinar will be learning and practicing the "Isha Kriya" practice (meditation for beginners) taught by the Isha Foundation. |
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| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance | The weekly compliance questionnaire is a tool which helps the participants to keep a track of their activities each week. This enables the study team to measure compliance and protocol adherence by the participants by collecting information on their routine activity practiced and its frequency. | Changes from baseline to 6 weeks |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| PROMIS - Anxiety Short Form | PROMIS - Anxiety Short Form1 is an 8 item validated instrument that assesses severity of anxiety. Participants are asked on a scale of 1 (Never) to 5 (Always) on the frequency of occurrence of each negative experience. Overall score is computed based on sum from individual responses. | Changes from baseline to 6 weeks |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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Participants will be recruited from a pool of healthy volunteers who sign up for a webinar where they learn the "Isha Kriya" practice. Isha Foundation has developed the Isha Kriya practice and conducts online Isha Kriya webinars (Meditation for Beginners). This webinar is routinely conducted by Isha Foundation.
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| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Sepideh Hariri, PhD | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center | Boston | Massachusetts | 02215 | United States |
| PubMed Identifier | Type | Citation | Retractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 33054928 | Background | Terlizzi EP, Villarroel MA. Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Adults: United States, 2019. NCHS Data Brief. 2020 Sep;(378):1-8. | |
| 15939837 | Background | Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;62(6):593-602. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593. |
| Label | URL |
|---|---|
| Related Info | View source |
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D001008 | Anxiety Disorders |
| D003863 | Depression |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D001523 | Mental Disorders |
| D001526 | Behavioral Symptoms |
| D001519 | Behavior |
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| Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) | PROMIS - Anxiety Short Form is an 8 item validated instrument that assesses severity of anxiety. Participants are asked on a scale of 1 (Never) to 5 (Always) on the frequency of occurrence of each negative experience. Overall score is computed based on sum from individual responses. | Changes from baseline to 6 weeks |
| 33536600 | Background | Abbott A. COVID's mental-health toll: how scientists are tracking a surge in depression. Nature. 2021 Feb;590(7845):194-195. doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00175-z. No abstract available. |
| 31083878 | Background | Saeed SA, Cunningham K, Bloch RM. Depression and Anxiety Disorders: Benefits of Exercise, Yoga, and Meditation. Am Fam Physician. 2019 May 15;99(10):620-627. |
| 20387774 | Background | Saeed SA, Antonacci DJ, Bloch RM. Exercise, yoga, and meditation for depressive and anxiety disorders. Am Fam Physician. 2010 Apr 15;81(8):981-6. |
| 31717682 | Background | Gonzalez-Valero G, Zurita-Ortega F, Ubago-Jimenez JL, Puertas-Molero P. Use of Meditation and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for the Treatment of Stress, Depression and Anxiety in Students. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Nov 10;16(22):4394. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16224394. |
| 32665843 | Background | Rangasamy V, Thampi Susheela A, Mueller A, F H Chang T, Sadhasivam S, Subramaniam B. The effect of a one-time 15-minute guided meditation (Isha Kriya) on stress and mood disturbances among operating room professionals: a prospective interventional pilot study. F1000Res. 2019 Mar 26;8:335. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.18446.1. eCollection 2019. |
| 36213913 | Derived | Hariri S, Vishnubhotla RV, Reed PU, Rayapuraju A, Orui H, Balachundhar P, Sadhasivam S, Subramaniam B. Online guided meditation training (Isha Kriya) improves self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression within 2 weeks of practice-An observational study. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 23;13:944973. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.944973. eCollection 2022. |