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Tai chi: Reduces Depression in Chinese-Americans

Tai chitai chi

A recent study done with tai chi in Chinese-American had amazing results. An article published by Science Daily explains this study in detail. I have summed up the main points in this blog.

“A 12-week program of instruction and practice of the Chinese martial art tai chi led to significantly reduced symptoms of depression in Chinese Americans not receiving any other treatments.”

It is important to note that the patients in this study had mild to moderate depression.

Dr. Albert Yeung, MD, ScD, of the Depression Clinical and Research Program in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry commented:

While some previous studies have suggested that tai chi may be useful in treating anxiety and depression, most have used it as a supplement to treatment for other medical conditions, rather than patients with depression.

Finding that tai chi can be effective is particularly significant because it is culturally accepted by this group of patients who tend to avoid conventional psychiatric treatment.

Eligible participants had the following characteristics:

  • Chinese-American adults fluent in either Cantonese or Mandarin.
  • No history of other psychiatric disorders
  • no recent practice of tai chi or other mind-body interventions
  • no current use of other psychiatric treatments

The were randomly divided in three groups: (50 participants in total)

  1. Tai chi intervention
  2. Active control group that participated in educational sessions that included discussions on stress, mental health and depression
  3. Passive control “waitlist” group that returned for repeat assessments during and after the study period.

Results: 

The tai chi group had significantly great improvement in depression symptoms than either of the control groups.

Concluding remarks: 

If these findings are confirmed in larger studies at other sites, that would indicate that this martial art could be a primary depression treatment for Chinese and Chinese American patients, who rarely take advantage of mental health services, and may also help address the shortage of the mental health practitioners. -Dr. Yeung

Future Projections: 

We also should investigate whether tai chi can have similar results for individuals from other racial and ethnic groups and determine which of the many components of this martial art might be responsible for these beneficial effects.

Stay tuned for more blog posts about recent studies in alternative medicine here at Absorb Health.

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