Exercise Training for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

University of Georgia (UGA)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Treatments: Other: Endurance Training; Other: Strength Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00953654

UGA-2009-01913-1

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of 6 weeks of endurance or strength training and a wait list comparison condition on symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Enrollment: 30 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 39 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Women aged 18-39 years
• Principal diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria (comorbidities will be acceptable as long as Generalized Anxiety Disorder is the principal diagnosis)

Exclusion criteria

• A score of less than 45 on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire
• A score of less than 7 on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder section of the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire
• Expending greater than 250 kilocalories per kilogram body weight per week as measured by a 7-day physical activity recall questionnaire
• Engaging in greater than 6 exercise bouts in the month prior to recruitment
• Pregnancy
• Any medical contraindications (cardiovascular or musculoskeletal) to exercise training according to American College of Sports Medicine guidelines

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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30 participants in 3 patient groups

Strength Training

Experimental group

Description:

Lower-body strength training exercise twice weekly for 6 weeks at an intensity progressing from 50% to 75% predicted one-repetition maximum

Treatment:

Other: Strength Training

Endurance Training

Experimental group

Description:

Six-week lower-body dynamic cycling exercise condition completed twice weekly and matched to the strength training arm on total work completed, total time actively engaged in exercise and load progression.

Treatment:

Other: Endurance Training

Waiting List Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Waiting list control condition in which participants will maintain their current lifestyle and will not enter a six-week exercise training intervention, but will complete outcome measures along the same time progression as the intervention arms.