Outcomes Data

(Do Mind/Body Programs Work?)

When the MBI was conceived by the physicians of Athens Regional Medical Center, they wanted to track the outcomes of our interventions on the people that come for services. The founding physicians wanted to know what helped, what didn’t help, how much it helped, who it helped. We now have 18 months of data. The short story is that our programs work very well. We knew that people improved but the data that we have collected tells a very specific and dramatic story of health recovery.

First of all the data is confidential, collected on a voluntary basis by researchers at the University of Georgia under the auspices of the research review boards of the Athens Regional Medical Center and the University. We set it up this way so that it was not an in-house project subject to our biases and needs. The reports that are generated then become unbiased and an accurate picture of treatment.

Our researchers measured depression, anxiety, physical and social functioning, role functioning, pain levels, emotional well-being, fatigue and general health status. They also measured “mindfulness” a meditation technique that we claim to teach. Amazingly, we found statistically significant improvement in all measures. In addition all programs including yoga increased mindfulness. The more mindfulness that was acquired by patients the less they were subject to depression and anxiety.

Every program we measured showed efficacy. We measured the Mindfulness-based stress Reduction, (MBSR)and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) developed at Massachusetts Medical School. These programs are arguably the premier programs in the world and the most studied scientifically. We also measured therapeutic, gentle and Serenity yoga. Lastly we measured our own mind-body program, Bridges to Health. It is too early yet to know which programs are the most potent or develop the most mindfulness but with continued data collection we may be able to answer even those questions.

Please imagine for a moment a medicine that had no side effects, that you had available always no matter where you were and what you were doing. This medicine was something you learned to create after you had attended some classes and learned some basic techniques. Thereafter, it was yours forever, in other words, free. This medicine created significant improvement in fatigue, pain, depression, and anxiety and helped you feel healthy and function better in your life.

My guess is that you would consider taking this medicine if you were suffering. Our scientific studies and the world scientific literature support that mind body medicine (yoga, meditation, nutrition, cognitive restructuring, addressing your way of understanding the world) closely resembles this imaginary medicine. I invite you to attend one of our classes or free introductory talks to discover for yourself the power of your own bodies ability to heal itself.