Amelioration of mild and moderate depression through Pranic Healing as adjuvant therapy: randomised double-blind controlled trial R Rajagopal Associate Professor, Psychiatry Department, Mysore Medical College & Research Institute, Mysuru, India Srikanth N Jois Research Head, World Pranic Healing Foundation, India-Research Centre, Mysuru, India Sumanth Mallikarjuna Majgi Assistant Professor Department of Community Medicine, Mysore Medical College & Research Institute, Mysuru, India MN Anil Kumar Assistant Professor, Psychiatry Department, Mysore Medical College & Research Institute, Mysuru, India HB Shashidhar Professor, Pathology Department, Mysore Medical College & Research Institute, Mysuru, India Abstract Objectives:
Depression is a mental disorder, affecting the quality of life. Our study explores the efficacy of Pranic Healing (PH), as an adjuvant therapy in treating depression Methods: In this randomised double-blind controlled trial, 52 participants with a mean age of 34.4 years, with mild to moderate depression were assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating (HAM-D) scale during the 5-week study. Both Medication + PH (MedPH) and Medication + Mock PH (MedMockPH) groups comprising 26 members received Pranic and mock healing lasting 20 minutes per session respectively once a week for 4 weeks, along with the antidepressant drug. Results: The average decrease in HAM-D score in MedPH was median 11 (Interquartile Range (IQR) 7–12) and was significantly higher compared with the MedMockPH group median 6.5 (IQR 3–9). At pre-assessment, both groups had 8 cases of mild and 18 cases of moderate depression. At post-assessment, HAM-D showed that the improvement in depression category was seen in 69.2% of participants in the MedMockPH group and 100% in MedPH group. Conclusions: These results give first the evidence that PH can aid as an adjuvant therapy for depressed people. Keywords: depression, Prana, complementary therapy, quality of life.