Stress Management and Meditative Movements for Asian Americans With Depression and Physical Symptoms

Exclusion Criteria

• •Have a primary psychiatric diagnosis other than MDD
• •Any history of psychosis, mania, or impulsivity and difficulty relating to people and judged by the clinician not appropriate for group intervention
• •Active eating disorder or substance use disorder within the last 6 months
• •Any relevant medical conditions that may be the medical basis of depression including thyroid diseases, epilepsy, history of an abnormal EEG, severe head trauma, or stroke
• •Have serious uncontrolled medical conditions (e.g. poorly controlled diabetes, severe congestive heart failure), or other medical conditions that in the opinion of the investigators represents a risk to the subject, including presence of a pacemaker, cardiac arrhythmia, fever, weakness and hypotension, or vagal nerve stimulator
• •current active suicidal or self-injurious potential (i.e., PHQ-9 item 9 ≥1 and/or a positive response to C-SSRS screener items 3, 4, 5, or 6), and assessed by the clinician necessitating immediate treatment
• •Participant who are or who plan to receive confounding treatments (including treatment of endocrinopathies): use of antidepressants, complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatments thought to have beneficial effects on mood, including St. John's Wort, S-Adenosyl methionine (SAMe), omega-3 fatty acids, light therapy, conventional psychotherapy, mind-body interventions (e.g. Qigong, mindfulness training, muscle relaxation training, etc.)
• •Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) during the last year as these patients are often among the more refractory and are not optimal candidates for CAM
• •History of refractory to treatment with ≥3 failed antidepressant trials in current depressive episode
• •Participated in other depression-related clinical trials within the past 3 months
• •Antidepressant or psychiatric medications that are initiated less than 8 weeks or a dose change less than 4 weeks prior to screening visit
• •Psychotherapy that has been initiated within the past 3 months