2023 Volume 44 Pages 67-75
Current clinical treatments for depressive disorders are insufficient such that a substantial proportion of patients do not respond despite various treatment endeavors and the improvement in functional impairments in essential skills for everyday and social life is inadequate. Consequently, the development of add-on therapies is an important clinical challenge. The purpose of the present study was to test the effects of an exercise program designed based on the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPX) with exercise frequencies and intensities lower than those employed in previous studies. Subjects were eight depressed patients with chronic or recurrent episodes of depression or persistent depressive disorder. It was found that after eight weeks of exercise, subjects’ depressive symptoms were significantly reduced to a level close to remission. Their anxiety symptoms and social functioning were also significantly improved. Although the sample size was relatively small, our results suggest that even a brief, low load exercise program may exert therapeutic effects for depression. If these results can be replicated with large-scale clinical trials, exercise may be a promising add-on treatment strategy for depression.
