A person's daily life, relationships, and professional aspirations might be hampered by anxiety symptoms like agitation, apprehension, and sleep issues. Although many people receive relief from psychiatric medications, choosing the treatment that is most effective is a personal experience, and some people explore different coping mechanisms.
Although meditation is a well-known technique for reducing anxiety, new research indicates that it is also a helpful tool for managing stress.
The widely prescribed and well-researched anxiety medication Lexapro's generic name, escitalopram, was compared to a rigorous eight-week mindfulness meditation training that patients underwent for the first time. They discovered that both treatments were equally effective in easing crippling anxiety symptoms. (This study did not examine talk therapy, another helpful treatment for anxiety in some patients.)
The study, which was completed well before the COVID-19 pandemic when it could have been carried out in person, was published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Two randomized groups of 276 adults with untreated diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or social anxiety were created by researchers. A typical starting dose of Lexapro, 10 to 20 mg per day, was given to one group.
The other half was required to participate in eight weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction, which included two and a half hours of weekly mindfulness classes at a nearby clinic, half an hour of regular meditation homework, and a full-day retreat around weeks five or six.
Once at end of eight weeks, the participants in the study who took the medication and those who engaged in the meditation exercise were assessed using a similar clinical scale, and now both groups displayed a 20% decrease in the intensity of their symptoms.
As the director of the Georgetown University Medical Center's Anxiety Disorders Research Program and research author, Elizabeth Hoge explains, "The fact that we discovered them to be equivalent is wonderful now since that opens up a brand-new potential form of treatment."
Hoge points out that she is not advocating that meditation take the place of escitalopram because she regularly gives the medication to her patients who suffer from anxiety. She claims that her goal is to expand the range of available therapies and, in the long run, to produce data that will persuade insurance companies to pay for mindfulness-based therapy for anxiety.
How is meditation useful?
The study's stress-reduction method, known as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), was created well over four decades ago by Jon Kabat-Zinn and is centered on the vipassana meditation practices of the Buddha.
It encourages pupils to try to concentrate on what's happening right now instead of the past or just the future and trains them to concentrate mostly on breathing and focus attention on one physical area at a time to feel how it feels.
According to Hoge, it proposes a strategy for viewing unfavorable ideas without passing judgment.
She explains that an anxious person is more likely to worry about negative outcomes, such as failing an exam. According to her, this can reduce anxiety because when the thought pops up, the person can grow to perceive that as just a concept, not the facts or anything else that needed to be acted on.
MBSR has been researched as a therapy for pain, depression, and a number of other illnesses. It is frequently used to relieve stress among medical workers and in clinical settings.
Another piece of supporting data for the approach's potential is provided by the latest study.
A possible addition to the medication...
The study was well-received by academics and physicians who treat anxiety.
According to co-founder of the Center for Mindfulness & Human Potential at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and research associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin, Michael Mrazek, "It does show that both treatments are useful, and roughly equally so."
Importantly, the study demonstrates that MBSR can produce comparable results with significantly fewer adverse effects, according to Mrazek, who writes to NPR in an email.
Escitalopram's side effects might range from incontinence, the loss of sexual interest or capability, nausea, and constipation to suicidal thoughts in rare instances.
There were no patients from either group who withdrew from the experiment due to adverse effects, despite the fact that many research participants who took the medicine had side symptoms such as insomnia and nausea.
Joy Harden Bradford, a psychologist in Atlanta and host of said podcast Therapy for Black Girls, says she was "amazed but not startled" that the meditation treatment is equally effective as medication and is thrilled that a new treatment option may become more broadly accessible.
Harden Bradford warns against pitting medication against tools that promote mindfulness: "That is something I'd hate to see happen. For instance, she explains, escitalopram may significantly reduce panic attacks in a person much more quickly than waiting so long for meditation techniques to take effect.
It's important to note that those on Lexapro had higher long-term adherence to the therapies than the meditators. Only 28% of those in the MBSR group were still practicing daily meditation at 24 weeks, compared to 52% of those on medication.
Research on online resources and meditation apps will continue.
There are issues with the study. For starters, the majority of participants were unmarried, educated, white women who worked full-time jobs. Harden Bradford observes that "most can not clock out at five to make the meditation gathering at six."
However, women are more likely than men to experience anxiety problems. Furthermore, according to Mrazek, "there is ample available data that MBSR can help a wide variety of individuals, therefore there's little reason to question the generalizability."
Using an app instead of in-person instruction could help make meditation more generally accessible to those with anxiety.
The future of MBSR, according to Mrazek, must be online. "It is hoped that this study would contribute to the increased accessibility of MBSR, but it is very challenging to expand in-person sessions to reach large numbers of people. This is why I believe digital programs will play a major role in mindfulness training in the future "He claims.
Hoge underlines the importance of studying meditation inside a class while she plans future research to see if using online meditation techniques could reduce anxiety.
"I sincerely doubt that using apps will be as beneficial as receiving in-person instruction. Having a meditation instructor allows you to ask questions, "Hoge claims.
However, according to Harden Bradford, mindfulness applications can teach users "tangible skills," which might enable them to reach a wider audience. Giving someone something, according to Harden Bradford, is preferable to giving them nothing.
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