Yoga as Therapy in Psychiatric Disorders: Past, Present, and Future

Complementary and alternative medical treatment, yoga therapy in particular, is being increasingly used for treating psychiatric disorders. Although some claim that such a time-tested practice, yoga, does not need validation, standards of contemporary medical practice make it necessary to test these treatments through modern evidence-based research methods. This paper discusses yoga as a therapy in medical and psychiatric disorders, the challenges that it faces in becoming accepted by the general medical community, and directions for future research in this area.