Effects of Viktor Philippi’s Bioenergetic Meditation on anxiety, burnout and depression: an analysis of four feasibility studies

Introduction: Anxiety, burnout and depression cause a substantial psychological and social burden. Bioenergetic Meditation (BM) was developed by Viktor Philippi as a method to strengthen psychological and physical health. This work presents the results of four feasibility studies investigating the effects of BM developed by Viktor Philippi as a support for people suffering from these psychological disorders.
Materials & Methods: A total of four prospective, non-randomized feasibility studies were conducted (N1=185, N2=140, N3=33, N4=32). Studies 1 and 2 were multicentric studies with a pre-post comparison consisting of 10 BMs within 10 weeks with individual study start and end points. Studies 3 and 4 consisted of 7 BMs within 3 days with a pre-post evaluation and follow-up measurements at 6, 12 and 18 months. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Hamburg Burnout Inventory (HBI) were used to measure symptoms of anxiety, depression and burnout, respectively.
Results: After 10 BMs within 10 weeks, highly reliable decreases in symptoms of depression occurred in 40-73% of cases (p<0.005). The median BDI-II score declined significantly by 60% (p<0.0001) after 10 weeks of BM. Symptoms of anxiety were highly reliably reduced in roughly one third of cases after 10 weekly BMs, with the average total BAI score declining from a severe to a moderate anxiety (p<0.0001). The HBI showed significant improvement in all subscales. Psychological symptoms also improved significantly after 7 BMs and symptom reductions classified as highly reliable were maintained until 18 months follow-up in more than 50% of participants.
Conclusion: BM results in significant and lasting improvements in clinical symptoms of anxiety, depression and burnout. Further studies including control groups are necessary to confirm these findings and determine any BM-specific effects.