Thesis
Examining the efficacy of diet and supplements using personalised-integrative therapies for depression, anxiety and stress in adults: A randomised control trial
Masters by Coursework, Murdoch University
2019
Abstract
Evidence for combining pharmacotherapy and CBT, suggests that integrating leading treatment modalities targets mood both psychologically and neurobiologically. Issues of non-adherence and non-responsivity limit pharmacotherapy’s efficacy. Research indicates that lifestyle factors such as adhering to a Mediterranean diet or consuming nutritional-supplements; including fish-oil, magnesium, curcumin, b-complex and probiotics mediates mood by reducing inflammation-associated anxiety and depression. A personalised-integrated intervention allows participants to select their own lifestyle goals (i.e. nutrition and CBT-strategies), which can increase engagement or adherence to their goals.
Using a randomised control trial (RCT) participants were randomised into treatment group: CBT(n= 19), PI-Therapy (n= 15) PI-Supplements (n=14 ) to assess the efficacy of integrated therapies compared with standalone CBT. Groups attended a 1-day workshop for their respective intervention before implementing their lifestyle-goals across six-weeks. Results yielded significant reductions in depression, anxiety and stress for each treatment group between baseline and follow-up; indicating efficacy for personalised-integrated therapies for alleviating mood. No group performed significantly better than another in reducing DASS-21 scores both overall, and at any timepoint. While the findings are limited without comparative control groups, exploratory correlations indicated that adhering to a Mediterranean diet was associated with decreased anxiety, whereas ratings of successful diet change were linked with decreased depression. Viewing diet changes as highly important was associated with higher rates of effort towards improving diet. Findings support inflammatory-theories of dysregulated mood; however, further research comparing efficacies with comparative-controls and placebo-groups, utilising dieticians, and larger samples may yield significant differences between-groups.
Details
- Title
- Examining the efficacy of diet and supplements using personalised-integrative therapies for depression, anxiety and stress in adults: A randomised control trial
- Authors/Creators
- Tiffany Jane Foster
- Contributors
- Peter Drummond (Supervisor)Adrian Lopresti (Supervisor)Alexandra Metse (Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Masters by Coursework
- Identifiers
- 991005540591507891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Allied Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis
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