Martial Arts and Depression

[Johnoo1234]

hi, I just wanted to hear some opinions about if martial arts like muay thai or arnis could solely cure depression just by itself with no other treatment such as therapy etc. thanks

 

[Touch Of Death]

hi, I just wanted to hear some opinions about if martial arts like muay thai or arnis could solely cure depression just by itself with no other treatment such as therapy etc. thanks

Probably not, but it would be a great start.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Way too many variables, but probably not on its own. If you see a therapist, your chances will probably be higher (or do both!)

 

[Touch Of Death]

I don't believe you can cure a real episode of depression with some quick hack, but if you are talking about normal sadness, and a hard time getting over recent events, Martial Arts, are a perfect way to engage the spirit, but it isn't a fix all. It's a fix most.

 

[Buka]

I think any enjoyable physical activity can help, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Really depends on a lot of variables. I think something like Tai-chi can be very relaxing and move a lot of internal energy, maybe reducing stress, which might help depression as well.

I also think that everyone deals with a certain amount of depression. If, indeed, that's true, it might help to look at it in a different light. Might help the mind deal with it in a less stressful manner.

 

[WaterGal]

No, probably not.

 

[jks9199]

hi, I just wanted to hear some opinions about if martial arts like muay thai or arnis could solely cure depression just by itself with no other treatment such as therapy etc. thanks

Way too many variables in the question. Depression is a wide spectrum of disorders, ranging from chemical imbalances to simply maladaptive responses to a situation. And that's really just focusing on depression as a problem... Can martial arts (or other exercise...) help? Sure, sometimes. MA training is not likely to touch chemical depression very much, except maybe very briefly in response to endorphin release while exercising. Can training help with other forms of depression? Sure. Might even be enough to do the job in some cases.

But I would strongly caution students and teachers not to dabble in being a psychotherapist (unless they happen to have a MSW or MDPsych or other appropriate credentials)... We have an unfortunate tendency here in the US to have the awful idea that a teacher or guru or sifu or sensei is somehow wiser or smarter or whatever-er because of their rank. Certainly, they are -- IN THE SPHERE OF THEIR MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING. Otherwise... Well, after more than 3 decades in the martial arts, I still can have some damn fool ideas. Even sometimes about the martial arts... I sure ain't no mystical guru, and what I don't know certainly is a much vaster circle in a Venn diagram than what I do... I hope maybe that the overlap of what I know that I don't know is a bit larger than it used to be...

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

MA training is not likely to touch chemical depression very much, except maybe very briefly in response to endorphin release while exercising. Can training help with other forms of depression? Sure. Might even be enough to do the job in some cases..

I agree with almost everything you stated except this, for two reasons. First, the recognized differences in depression currently are just mild/moderate/severe, since 'depressive cognition'/'behavioral depression' leads to 'chemical depression' as it will actively change the brain and vice versa. Also, therapy is shown to change the brain in a very similar way to pills (assuming the therapy is effective and you're comparing it to effective pills), so the idea that chemical depression is somehow different than other depressions is not entirely valid anymore.
The second is that IMO (and without any finalized research to back this up yet) depending on the MA, it can have the same effect as mindfulness exercises, which are shown to treat depression. However, mindfulness exercises work in the form of mindfulness based cognitive-therapy which is done with a psychologist, so I don't know (actually, I doubt) if MA would have the same effect without one.

 

[jks9199]

I agree with almost everything you stated except this, for two reasons. First, the recognized differences in depression currently are just mild/moderate/severe, since 'depressive cognition'/'behavioral depression' leads to 'chemical depression' as it will actively change the brain and vice versa. Also, therapy is shown to change the brain in a very similar way to pills (assuming the therapy is effective and you're comparing it to effective pills), so the idea that chemical depression is somehow different than other depressions is not entirely valid anymore.
The second is that IMO (and without any finalized research to back this up yet) depending on the MA, it can have the same effect as mindfulness exercises, which are shown to treat depression. However, mindfulness exercises work in the form of mindfulness based cognitive-therapy which is done with a psychologist, so I don't know (actually, I doubt) if MA would have the same effect without one.

My psych classes were 20 years ago... I don't pretend to have kept up too much on the therapy side of things. Thanks for the update.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

My psych classes were 20 years ago... I don't pretend to have kept up too much on the therapy side of things. Thanks for the update.

Up until fairly recently, what you said was considered correct. For the MA as mindfulness, that's my own hypothesis. Not much evidence for or against it at the current moment, that I know of.

 

[mograph]

Here's the DSM-IV perspective, at least:
http://www.psnpaloalto.com/wp/wp-co...n-Diagnostic-Criteria-and-Severity-Rating.pdf

 

[Chester Wright]

I have always found that time spent on the mats grappling makes everything else disappear in life. Problems outside don't matter for that period of time, if your thinking about your problems in a roll you get choked. Perfect anti-depressant!

 

[mograph]

I have always found that time spent on the mats grappling makes everything else disappear in life.

Indeed.

(Flow is good, in spite of the somewhat hyperbolic headline below.)
Flow: An Antidote to Anxiety & The Secret to Happiness? | World of Psychology

 

[Ironbear24]

Martial arts has helped me alot with depression. I have experience with a couple of mental disorders such as clinical depression, ocd and social anxiety disorders but i have also learned how to keep a lot of that under control.

Martial arts gave me something to take pride in, so that helped my self esteem a lot as a teenager and even now as an adult. I will not recommend trying to treat depression with only martial arts though, if it is a case of clinical depression then you will often feel ill-motivated to even train.

Clinical depression is a chemical imbalance in your brain and must be treated as if it is an illness. You would just try to play soccer or something through a case of staph infection would you? Of course not, you need medication and a professional help to find what will treat said imbalance.