According to the American Daily Science website reported on May 25th, Albert Young, the first author of the research report and the clinical and research project of depression in the psychiatric department of the hospital, said: "Although some previous studies have shown that Tai Chi may help to treat anxiety and depression, in most cases, it is used as an auxiliary means to treat other diseases, not for depressed patients. It is of great significance to discover that Tai Chi may be effective in the treatment of depression, because patients in China group agree with this sport culturally, and they are often unwilling to receive conventional psychiatric treatment. "
According to the report, participants were recruited through advertisements, and the researchers decided whether they could participate in the study after face-to-face communication with them and evaluation of their general health status and depressive symptoms. The selection criteria include: fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese, an adult in China, diagnosed with mild or moderate depression, no other mental history, no recent practice of Tai Chi or other physical and mental therapy, and no treatment for other mental diseases at that time.
Participants were randomly divided into three groups: the first group received Tai Chi therapy; The second group actively participated in educational courses, including discussing stress, mental health and depression; There is also a third group that passively "waits" and is repeatedly evaluated only during and after the study.
According to the report, Tai Chi therapy is practiced twice a week in 12 weeks, during which participants will learn and practice some basic Tai Chi movements. They practice Tai Chi at home three times a week and record the practice process. Participants in the second group attend classes twice a week for 12 weeks. After the initial research stage, the members of the second and third groups can attend Tai Chi classes for free, which was told to them at the beginning of the research.
Of the 50 participants who successfully passed 12 weeks, 17 was in the Taiji group, 14 was in the education group, and 19 was in the waiting group. After 12 weeks, the depression symptoms in Taiji group were significantly improved compared with those in the other two groups. After 24 weeks of follow-up, the depressive symptoms in Taiji group continued to improve, which was significantly different from that in the waiting group.
Yang said: "If this research result is confirmed in larger-scale studies in other places, it shows that it is very likely to become an important method for China patients and Chinese patients who seldom go to mental health institutions to treat depression, which may help solve the problem of shortage of mental health doctors. We should also study whether Tai Ji Chuan will have similar effects on people of other races and nationalities and find out which aspects of Tai Ji Chuan have these beneficial effects. "