deliberate breathing training Evaluation of a respiration-focused intervention program targeting psychological and biological mechanisms of depression and anxiety

• Applicant: Dr. Vera Zamoscik
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442246933

The connection between respiration and mental well-being has been reported repeatedly. During anxiety and psychological stress people usually show a natural change in their respiration pattern for a short time period. However, initial evidence suggests that a prolongation of these changes might play an important role in the course of mental illnesses. In addition, patients suffering from chronic respiratory diseases show significantly more psychological disorders such as depression than people with other serious chronic diseases. In previous studies we were able to show that during negative mood induction patients with remitted depression exhibit a remarkable change in respiration patterns, especially in the sense of an increase in respiration pattern variability (RPV). This alteration was not only associated with anxiety levels but also correlated significantly with patients’ everyday mood. Furthermore, this respiratory abnormality predicted depression levels of the patients in a 3-year follow-up, where 41% of the variance in the depression values could be explained solely by a single RPV parameter. In addition, we found connections with the default mode network (DMN), a resting state network of the brain. Increased connectivity of the DMN and the parahippocampal gyri, a structure of the brain associated with autobiographical memory, was associated with illness outcome after 6 months and also with the main respiration rate. Remarkably, in an intervention study with remitted depressed patients we were able to show that a mindfulness-based training, in which participants also learned a respiratory focused practice, showed a positive effect on anxiety and mood and reduced the variance of respiration patterns. Therefore, we hypothesize that an intervention focusing on breathing can improve depression and anxiety levels of patients as well as influence the course of the illness positively. In the present project, this will be tested empirically in a randomized controlled study with N=110 people with depression. Half of them will be taught our newly developed deliberate breathing training program and the control group will learn this after a two-months waiting period. The study should help to establish this easy-to-learn and everyday useable new respiration-focused intervention and in the long term benefit not only patients but also help people with severe mental or physical stress to improve their stress management and mental well-being and thus prevent the development of depression and anxiety disorders.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants