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The effect of aerobic exercise in the maintenance treatment of depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

P. Majumder ,
I. Sharma ,
P. Vostanis  and
C. Bone
P. Majumder
Affiliation:
Greenwood Institute of Child Health, School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
I. Sharma
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
P. Vostanis
Affiliation:
University of Leicester, Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Leicester, UK, email [email protected]
C. Bone
Affiliation:
Greenwood Institute of Child Health, School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
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Abstract

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We investigated the efficacy of aerobic exercise alongside antidepressant medication as an adjuvant maintenance treatment for depression. Fifty patients in remission were randomly assigned to either medication only or medication plus exercise. Assessment of psychopathology was made at 6-weekly intervals (for 24 weeks) using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. The medication-plus-exercise group showed significantly more improvement at 12 and 24 weeks than the medication-only group. This study adds to a growing evidence base that suggests aerobic exercise is worthy of further development in the treatment of depressive disorders.

Type
Research papers
Information
BJPsych International , Volume 12 , Issue S1: Research Supplement , May 2015 , pp. S-3 - S-6
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015

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