Get rid of drugs if you are serious about meditation. A US study proves it
Anxiety, depression, panic attacks: a new study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Escitalopram for the Treatment of Adults With Anxiety Disorders”, has proven that meditation works on par with a standard treatment drug, Lexapro.
A data finally tested, for some taken for granted for others revolutionary since the drug can have side effects in patients, such as sexual dysfunction, nausea, headache. Those under treatment do not always agree to take the medicine. Lhe ancient practice of meditation, on the other hand, has no side effects, proving that it is always better to give more importance to personal care than feed the consumer. Previous studies had shown that mindfulness works better than any medical treatment by reducing anxiety, depression and other mental problems. But this is the first study to test it against a psychiatric drug.
In Italy it is estimated that 6 million people suffer from anxiety and panic disorders. In the United States, anxiety disorders affect 40 percent of U.S. women and more than one in four men.
The study tested a widely used awareness program that includes 2.5 hours of weekly classes and 45 minutes of daily home practice. Participants were randomly assigned to the program or daily use of Lexapro used for depression and anxiety.
After two months, anxiety measured on a severity scale decreased by approximately 30% in both groups and continued to decrease over the next four months.
According to US research, global anxiety rates have recently increased in the population, related to concerns for the pandemic, rising cost of living, political and racial unrest, climate change and financial uncertainties.
Those who know the ancient technique of meditation, widespread in all religious disciplines but not only, know that the goal of the practice is to focus only on what is happening in the precise moment that you are living, making the intrusions of the mind flow. . Sessions often begin with breathing exercises and then with a “body scan”, systematically thinking about each part, from head to toe. When tense and stressful thoughts get in the way, participants learn to recognize them briefly and let them flow without effect.
Lead author of the research, Professor Elizabeth Hoge, director of Georgetown University’s Anxiety Disorders Research Program, stated that with practice “changes the relationship people have with their thoughts when they are not meditating”. The effects are therefore also seen afterwards.
It is too early to compare the costs of the Lexapro pill, 113 dollars, with those of meditation sessions from 300 to 500 dollars for an 8-week session because with a possible mass diffusion of the technique the costs of the latter could easily be lowered, making insurers more likely to cover them. However, it is easier to swallow the pill and not ask questions but this does not always allow patients a full life and avoid a worsening of health conditions.
The findings were based on approximately 200 adults who completed the six-month study at medical centers in Washington, Boston and New York. The researchers used a psychiatric scale of 1 to 7, with the highest number reflecting severe anxiety. The mean score was approximately 4.5 for the participants before starting treatment. It dropped to about 3 after two months, then slightly decreased in both groups at three months and six months. Hoge said the change was clinically significantor, resulting in a noticeable improvement in symptoms.
Ten patients dropped the drug due to nasty side effects likely related to treatment, which included insomnia, nausea, and fatigue. There were no dropouts in the meditation group, although 13 patients experienced increased anxiety.
It is obvious that for more severe cases it is more useful to use a combination of treatments and that meditation alone may not be effective but how any practice prevention is always better than cure.
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