The Effect of Yoga Education on Anxiety Disorders in Patients with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Introduction: Attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder is a pervasive pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Its prevalence in boys is three times more than girls and comorbid with many disorders, including anxiety. Therefore, the present research aimed to determine the effect of yoga education on anxiety disorders in patients with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. Methods: This study was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with the control group. The research population was male primary school students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder of Zahedan city in 2018-19 academic years. Among students suspected of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the number of 40 people after reviewing clinical interviews by a psychiatrist and inclusion criteria to study were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly replaced into two equal groups. The experimental group received the yoga education for 16 sessions of 45 minutes (two sessions per week), and the control group was placed on a waiting list for education. The research instruments were the children’s intelligence test and the children’s anxiety scale. The data were analyzed using chi-square, independent t, and multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS-23 software. Results: The findings showed that the experimental and control groups did not significantly differ in age and education level (P > 0.05). Besides, the groups in the pre-test phase did not have a significant difference in terms of anxiety disorders, including panic attack and agoraphobia, separation anxiety, social phobia, physical injury fears, obsessive-compulsive and generalized-overanxious anxiety (P > 0.05). Still, there were significant differences in terms of all anxiety disorders (P < 0.001). In other words, yoga education reduced anxiety disorders, including panic attacks and agoraphobia, separation anxiety, social phobia, physical injury fears, obsessive-compulsive and generalized-overanxious anxiety in patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The results showed the effect of yoga education on reducing anxiety disorders in patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. As a result, planning to use yoga education is essential in children, and clinical psychologists and therapists can use yoga education to reduce anxiety disorders in children.