Source: Depression.com
People who meditate (or who practice the very
similar Westernized, secular relaxation response) often report mood elevation and feelings
of enhanced well-being.
In a study of 154 women who felt depressed because they were being treated for breast
cancer, British researchers met with one-third, the controls. They taught another third a
combination of the relaxation response and visualization therapy using pleasant, relaxing
imagery. The final third were taught progressive muscle relaxation, another meditative
technique. Before and after tests showed that the control group remained depressed, but
both relaxation therapies significantly improved the women's mood.
"Many studies have shown mood elevation in depressed people who regularly elicit the
relaxation response," notes Herbert Benson, M.D., the Harvard researcher who
popularized the relaxation response, and introduced meditation into American medicine.
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