A pilot study by researchers from NIMHANS has found that the integration of yoga and cognitive behavioural therapy (Y-CBT) is feasible and useful in reducing Internet addiction and psychological distress. June 21 is observed as International Yoga Day.
Aimed at exploring the clinical utility of yoga therapy in the management of Internet addiction, researchers from the Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) Clinic and the Department of Integrative Medicine at NIMHANS studied the impact of integrated Y-CBT in adolescents with severe Internet addiction from July to December, 2022.
“We found that it was feasible and useful to combine yoga with CBT in managing excessive Internet use. We took up four cases with severe Internet addiction including a 21-year medical student, who had an online betting addiction and put them on Y-CBT intervention. All of them reported a significant reduction in psychological distress and improvement in quality of sleep within two weeks of the intervention,” said Manoj Kumar Sharma, Professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology, who also heads SHUT Clinic.
Sessions
The feasibility was tested by implementing ten sessions of yoga and six sessions of CBT programme for two weeks by a certified yoga therapist and psychologist, respectively. This was followed by online booster sessions once a week, and post-assessments were conducted at 12 weeks.
“The subjects adhered to treatment and at the end of 12 weeks reported sustained improvement without deterioration at any point in time. Although this is not a controlled study, it is premature to conclude on limited evidence but considering the potency shown in all the cases, integrating yoga and CBT can be a new dimension for future control trials in the area of excessive internet use,” Dr. Sharma told The Hindu.
Mindfulness
Hemant Bhargav, Assistant Professor of Yoga at the Department of Integrative Medicine at NIMHANS, said Internet addiction is a behavioural problem that is managed by pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods.
“The non-pharmacological methods focus on enhancing skills for healthy use of technology and promoting mindfulness and mental relaxation. Yoga therapy is an effective tool to reduce psychological stress and promote self-regulation and mindfulness,” he said.
Asserting that yoga became another mechanism to tackle stress for those taken up under the study, Dr. Bhargav explained, “When they get into this Internet addiction mode, the speed of their thought process becomes immensely high. They lose control and awareness of everything and become restless. Because of this, they could not do slow yoga.”
Customised protocol
He said a customised yoga protocol that included ‘kapalbhati and bhastrika’ pranayama was introduced for them. “It reduced their speed of thought process and they became aware of their body and mind serving as another way of coping with stress,” he said.
“A trend was observed for increased compliance towards treatment at follow-up. Future studies should explore this further with a robust methodology. We have already begun a randomised control trial,” the doctor said.
Funded by Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation (SATYAM) under the Department of Science and Technology, the study has been accepted for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal.
