Abstract

EFFECT OF BHRAMARI PRANAYAMA ON GENERALISED ANXIETY DISORDER: A SINGLE CASE STUDY

Dr. Ketaki Hemant Patil*, Dr. Vidya Wasnik (Thatere), Dr. Sumeeta S. Jain

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, there is tremendous increase in the psychological disorders like anxiety, depression and stress due to various factors like social distancing, lockdowns, poor socioeconomic conditions and the fear of Corona virus infection. Among these, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) has become an alarming situation in the country during the Covid pandemic times. There has been a lot of research regarding the efficacy of Yoga in psychological disorders. In the present case study, a 53 years old male patient with known case of GAD since 3 years presented with complaints of increased worrying tendency and negative thoughts, irritability and restlessness, fear of being left alone, tremors of hand, loss of interest in work and social gatherings, insomnia, weakness, palpitations and sudden loss of weight of about 12 kg since 3 months. Materials and Methods: The patient was provided with the Bhramari Pranayama (BP) intervention and was trained by a certified Yoga trainer. Assessment criteria used for the evaluation was Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) with a global score of 42. Results: After 2 months of practice, there was a significant reduction in all the symptoms and the score reduced drastically from 35 to 10. Conclusion: The results thus concluded that the practice of Bhramari Pranayama can control and reduce the symptoms of GAD.

Keywords: Bhramari Pranayama, Anxiety, Yoga, GAD, HARS.