Introducing yoga-integrated psychotherapy (YiP): A discussion paper

Abstract

Despite a plethora of treatments available for alleviating mental health issues, it has been reported that interventions, as they stand, are simply just not good enough (Kalin, Am. J. Psychiatry, 176, 2019, 885). Increasing figures of suicides are published each year, most recently standing at over 49,000 in the United States. Contested arguments continue in the field of psychotherapy with regard to finding the ‘best’ treatments for mental health issues. Recently, there have been calls for mental health practitioners and researchers to move towards innovation by asking different questions and creating new methods, albeit underpinned by rigorous scientific investigation. One such method currently being adopted with promising outcomes is the integration of mind–body techniques, such as yoga, into mental health treatments. Yoga is an ancient practice which provides a holistic system of healing and complementary philosophy to western understandings of the human mind. Like psychotherapy, yoga seems to work with unconscious processes, which can enable long-term change. Combined with psychotherapeutic discovery, novel treatment models which incorporate both yoga and psychotherapy could therefore be provided. Yoga-integrated psychotherapy (YiP), as a new model of treatment, could enhance outcomes for clients presenting with a range of difficulties as it aims to work with these methods as well as transdiagnostic understandings of distress. Additionally, YiP underscores the importance of a humanistic approach, which values the uniqueness of individuals and their subjective understandings of distress. Promising data from a recent pilot study of a YiP model in which participants describe the approach as ‘life changing’ form the basis of this discussion paper. The question arising is whether a humanistic and yoga-integrated approach to psychotherapy could assist in enhancing client outcomes.