Stress Management in Depressive Disorder: Resilience Training vs. Yoga: Biological, Epigenetic, and Brain Correlates

Summary

The aim of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effects of a Resilience and Stress Management Intervention Program (RASMUS) compared with yoga on stress perception, coping strategies, depressive symptoms, anxiety, resilience and quality of life in people diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) in the short and long term.

In addition to psychological factors, biological parameters will be examined to define biomarkers involved in stress response. In the optional neuroimaging part, the effects of the planned interventions on the structure, metabolism and function of the brain will be investigated. The epigenetic part, which is also optional, will examine the effects of the planned interventions on the histone modifications.

Conditions

• Major Depressive Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

RASMUS Resilience Training

RASMUS stands for "Resilience through mindfulness, self-compassion and self-care" and is a German-language 10-week group resilience program with one training unit per week. The main content of the RASMUS is based on seven resilience factors, i.e. acceptance, optimism, taking responsibility, solution orientation, future orientation, role clarity, and network orientation including the aspects of mindfulness, self-compassion, and self-care. RASMUS has been tested and certified according to the German Prevention Standard. The Central Prevention Test Center has awarded the seal of approval for the areas of exercise, nutrition, stress management/relaxation, and addictive substance consumption. Accordingly, this training program has been certified as a prevention course that is recognized by the German statutory health insurance companies. Furthermore, RASMUS can and is already offered as a (group) online course.

OTHER

Body-oriented Yoga

Body-oriented Yoga following the Ashtanga style will be held by certified yoga teacher parallel to the experimental one hour per week 10 times. Each yoga session will start with the proper warming up of the whole body with some stretching exercises (20 min). The main part will last about 30 minutes and consist of dynamic and active yoga sequencing containing sun salutation with a mix of exercises. A relaxation phase with controlled breathing and meditation-elements will finish the class (10 min). Each exercise has different complexity levels of implementation and will be adapted to the performance abilities of each participant.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Innsbruck

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Medical University Innsbruck

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Alex Hofer, Dr. · Medical University Innsbruck

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-04-01

Primary Completion

2028-04-01

Completion

2028-04-01

Countries

• Austria

Study Locations