D'Silva, S., Poscablo, C., Habousha, R., Kogan, M., & Kligler, B. (2012). Mind-body medicine therapies for a range of depression severity: A systematic review. Psychosomatics, 53(5), 407–423.

To perform a systematic review of evidence related to the use of mind-body therapies to address various symptoms of depression

• Databases searched were PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Current Contents, Web of Science, and Web of Knowledge.
• Searched keywords were MeSH terms for depression, complementary therapies, mind-body therapies, biofeedback, hypnosis, autogenic training relaxation, meditation, imagery, yoga, relaxation therapy, mindfulness, and multiple terms for yoga and tai chi.
• Studies were included if they used a validated depression-scoring system and monitored for changes over time and if the study used any type of control comparison.
• Studies were excluded if they did not last at least two weeks and if they had a sample size of more than 30 participants.

• Investigators retrieved 2,864 references.
• Authors used the Scale for Assessing Scientific Quality of Investigations, modified for use in studies of complementary and alternative medicine.

• The final number of studies analyzed was 90. Eight studies included patients with cancer.
• Across studies, the size of samples included in analysis was 30–298. In studies including patients with cancer, sample size was 38–191. The total number of patients in studies that included patients with cancer was 561.
• Studies including patients with cancer involved mainly breast cancer patients.

Among studies that included patients with cancer, six studies involved yoga and one examined relaxation and guided imagery. Among the yoga studies, three showed positive results with yoga alone or in combination with other supportive therapies, two showed negative results, and the results of one were equivocal. Relaxation and guided imagery were associated with postive results. Across all studies involving various medical illnesses, 74% associated mind-body therapies with positive results.
 

Mind-body therapies appear to be effective in reducing symptoms of depression.

• Authors eliminated studies with relatively low quality scores. How these exclusions affected the final sample is unclear.
• Most studies did not include any attentional control conditions, and authors noted that attention alone could have produced positive results. (Individualized attention is often lacking in mainstream medicine.)
• Many studies involved multiple modalities, so gauging the effect of any single intervention is difficult.
• Authors used various types of instruments to measure depression. Because the level of depression involved is unclear, one cannot tell if benefit was derived by patients with clinically relevant symptoms.

The individualized attention provided to patients via mind-body therapies may be beneficial in reducing symptoms of depression.