Áhrif hreyfingar á þunglyndi og kvíða, samanburður við sálfræðimeðferð

Abstract

Depression and anxiety are common illnesses in our society. In fact, depression is the leading cause of disability in the world. Having good treatment options for those that suffer from anxiety and depression is important. The most common form of treatment is pharmacological treatment and psychological treatment. In recent years, research has shown good results on the use of exercise to treat depression and anxiety. The goal of this research was to study the effects an eight-week group exercise program would have on a group of people with depression and anxiety, and to compare the results to the results of a study that used a transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy (TCBT) to treat groups of people with depression and anxiety. Participants exercised three times a week for eight weeks and answered questionnaires (BDI-II, BAI, CORE-OM, PSS og QOLS), at four intervals: at baseline, after four weeks, immediately after the intervention and at a three month follow up. The exercise was composed of endurance exercise three times a week at 60-80% of maximum heart rate and strength training twice a week. There was an increase in the time exercised and the difficulty level of the strength training the further into the exercise program. The results showed significant improvements on both de - pression and anxiety symptoms, and when compared to TCBT the effects of exercise were slightly better than TCBT.