Depressed seniors benefit from tai chi

Researchers at  the UCLA University in America have reported on their investigations into treating depression with a Westernized version of tai chi, a 2,000-year-old Chinese martial art.

When they combined a weekly tai chi exercise class with a standard depression treatment for a group of depressed elderly adults, they found greater improvement in the level of depression – along with improved quality of life, better memory and cognition, and more overall energy – than among a different group in which the standard treatment was paired with a weekly health education class.

The results of the study appear in the current online edition of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

“This is the first study to demonstrate the benefits of tai chi in the management of late-life depression, and we were encouraged by the results,” said first author Dr Helen Lavretsky, a UCLA professor-in-residence of psychiatry.

“We know that nearly two-thirds of elderly patients who seek treatment for their depression fail to achieve relief with a prescribed medication.”

In the study, 112 adults age 60 or older with major depression were treated with the drug escitalopram, a standard antidepressant, for approximately four weeks. From among those participants, 73 who showed only partial improvement continued to receive the medication daily but were also randomly assigned to 10 weeks of either a tai chi class for two hours per week or a health education class for two hours per week.

The researchers found that among the tai chi participants, 94% achieved a score of less than 10, with 65% achieving remission (a score of 6 or less). By comparison, among participants who received health education, 77% achieved scores of 10 or less, with 51% achieving remission.

While both groups showed improvement in the severity of depression, said Dr Lavretsky, who directs UCLA’s Late-Life Depression, Stress and Wellness Research Program, greater reductions were seen among those taking escitalopram and participating in tai chi, a form of exercise that is gentle enough for the elderly.

“Depression can lead to serious consequences, including greater morbidity, disability, mortality and increased cost of care,” Dr Lavretsky said.

“This study shows that adding a mind-body exercise like tai chi that is widely available in the community can improve the outcomes of treating depression in older adults, who may also have other, co-existing medical conditions, or cognitive impairment.

“With tai chi,” she said, “we may be able to treat these conditions without exposing them to additional medications.”