Efficacy of exercise as treatment intervention for depression

Efficacy of Exercise as a Treatment Intervention for Depression

2195 Words

Introduction

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD ) is a significant health problem , which is expected to rank second only to coronary heart disease as a major disease worldwide by the end of the year 2010 (Lawlor and Hopker , 2001 Blumenthal et al , 2007 . This report shall examine and summarise four research articles which have studied the relationship between exercise and depression : their rationale , their methods and findings . It shall show that based on the findings of these four studies , there appears to

br be strong evidence that exercise is useful as an adjunct to traditional methods of anti-depression therapy . It then concludes with a discussion on depression as a worldwide problem , the problems with the research articles examined , and then end with a look at the associated research possibilities and suggestions for further research

Article Summaries

Veale , D , Le Fevre , K , Pantelis , C , de Souza , V , Mann , A . and Sargent , A (1992 ) `Aerobic Exercise in the Adjunctive treatment of Depression : A Randomised Controlled Trial

Rationale of the Study

The researchers aimed to add to and improve on the existing body of knowledge by using larger sample populations and standardised assessment methods to confirm the beneficial effects of exercise on depression as well as to assess if these effects were due to the consequent improvement in aerobic fitness

Methods

Participants - With the use of the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS ) and the selection of participants with total scores of 17 or more , a depression...