Indian Journal of Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy-An International Journal

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Comparative efficacy Study of Standard Group Therapy alone Versus Standard Group Therapy in Conjunction with Sudarshan Kriya (SK) and Pranayama (P) in Reducing Stress and Anxiety among Executives


Affiliations
1 Centre for Addiction Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India
2 ept of Psychology, Annamalai University Chidambaram Tamil Nadu, India
3 Centre for Addiction Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India
4 Dept of Research and Development, Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth (VVMVP), Bangalore, India
     

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Background: Interaction among workers, conditions at a work place and individual life style, all combine to produce occupational stress and anxiety. Stress alters the behavior of the person, impairs the quality of his or her life, and adversely affects the work output. Many organizations offer group therapies or other stress relieving programs to their employees with variable degree of success. In the present work, we have studied the effect of a yogic breathing in the form of Sudarshan Kriya (SK) and Pranayama (P) in conjunction with standard group therapy and have compared the results with standard group therapy alone.

Method: Sixty software executives were selected randomly for this study. Of the sixty executives, thirty were enrolled for The Art of Living (AOL) program and learnt and practiced SK and P in addition to standard group therapy. Remaining thirty, the control group underwent standard group therapy alone. With the help of Tennessee stress scale-R (TSS-R) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), assessment was made for both the groups at base line and then one month subsequently.

Results: SK and P group had significantly more reduction in anxiety and significantly more improvement in stress coping .

Conclusion: From this pilot study it would appear that reduction in stress and anxiety and improvement in stress coping skills can be achieved better among executives when breathing processes (SK&P) are added to standard group therapy. However, longer and larger studies are required to authenticate these conclusions and also to see if these effects are sustainable over longer periods.


Keywords

Sudarshan Kriya, Occupational Stress, Anxiety
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  • Comparative efficacy Study of Standard Group Therapy alone Versus Standard Group Therapy in Conjunction with Sudarshan Kriya (SK) and Pranayama (P) in Reducing Stress and Anxiety among Executives

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Authors

A. Vedamurthachar
Centre for Addiction Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India
B. Damodaran
ept of Psychology, Annamalai University Chidambaram Tamil Nadu, India
S. Lakshmanan
Centre for Addiction Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India
Vinod Kochupillai
Dept of Research and Development, Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth (VVMVP), Bangalore, India

Abstract


Background: Interaction among workers, conditions at a work place and individual life style, all combine to produce occupational stress and anxiety. Stress alters the behavior of the person, impairs the quality of his or her life, and adversely affects the work output. Many organizations offer group therapies or other stress relieving programs to their employees with variable degree of success. In the present work, we have studied the effect of a yogic breathing in the form of Sudarshan Kriya (SK) and Pranayama (P) in conjunction with standard group therapy and have compared the results with standard group therapy alone.

Method: Sixty software executives were selected randomly for this study. Of the sixty executives, thirty were enrolled for The Art of Living (AOL) program and learnt and practiced SK and P in addition to standard group therapy. Remaining thirty, the control group underwent standard group therapy alone. With the help of Tennessee stress scale-R (TSS-R) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), assessment was made for both the groups at base line and then one month subsequently.

Results: SK and P group had significantly more reduction in anxiety and significantly more improvement in stress coping .

Conclusion: From this pilot study it would appear that reduction in stress and anxiety and improvement in stress coping skills can be achieved better among executives when breathing processes (SK&P) are added to standard group therapy. However, longer and larger studies are required to authenticate these conclusions and also to see if these effects are sustainable over longer periods.


Keywords


Sudarshan Kriya, Occupational Stress, Anxiety

References