Potential for Prenatal Yoga to Serve as an Intervention to Treat Depression During Pregnancy

• We evaluated feasibility of prenatal yoga as a treatment for antenatal depression.
• Thirty-four depressed pregnant women were enrolled in a 10-week open trial of prenatal yoga.
• Findings suggested that the yoga intervention was feasible, acceptable, and safe.
• In addition, women had significant reductions in depressive symptoms.
• These data provide initial support for prenatal yoga as a viable treatment option.

BackgroundWhen left untreated, antenatal depression can have a serious negative impact on maternal, and infant outcomes. Many affected women do not obtain treatment for depression owing to difficulties accessing care or because they do not find standard antidepressant treatments to be acceptable during pregnancy. This study examined the acceptability and feasibility of a gentle prenatal yoga intervention, as a strategy for treating depression during pregnancy.MethodsWe developed a 10-week prenatal yoga program for antenatal depression and an accompanying yoga instructors' manual, and enrolled 34 depressed pregnant women from the community into an open pilot trial. We measured change in maternal depression severity from before to after the intervention.ResultsResults suggested that the prenatal yoga intervention was feasible to administer and acceptable to the women enrolled. No study-related injuries or other safety issues were observed during the trial. On average, participants' depression severity decreased significantly by the end of the intervention based on both observed-rated and self-report depression assessment measures.ConclusionThe current study suggests that prenatal yoga may be a viable approach to addressing antenatal depression, one that may have advantages in terms of greater acceptability than standard depression treatments. Research and policy implications are discussed.