Effects of yoga on patients in an adolescent mental health hospital and the relationship between those effects and the patients' sensory-processing patterns.

Problem: This study investigated the effects of yoga as a sensory regulation tool in reducing adolescent distress in an acute care psychiatric hospital.

Methods: This was a descriptive, correlational pre-intervention/post-intervention design conducted in a mental health hospital over 5 months from mid-January to mid-June 2012. The population consisted of a convenience sample of 75 adolescent mental health unit inpatients and partial-hospitalization patients 12-18 years of age who participated in two or more yoga sessions. Patient charts provided Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV Axes I-V diagnosis, gender, and age. Dependent variables were pulse and Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale scores, which were recorded before and after each yoga class. The Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile provided a measure of patient sensory-processing preference levels that were related to the pulse and Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale results.

Findings: Yoga sessions significantly improved patient pulse and self-reported distress ratings regardless of gender or sensory profile levels.

Conclusions: This article contributes to research on the therapeutic effects of yoga as a sensory regulation intervention in the treatment of psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. Yoga has the potential to help adolescents in an acute care psychiatric hospital learn to soothe themselves, to regulate their emotions, and to find relief from emotional distress while hospitalized.