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Getting your headline straight - exercise and depression
Posted Friday 8 June 2012
Returning from the extended Jubilee holiday on Wednesday, we were confronted with some pretty demoralising headlines: "Exercise ‘no help for depression’, research suggests" said the BBC website. “Exercise doesn't help depression, study concludes”, the Guardian agreed.
We believe in the value of research - we need to know what is helpful for people dealing with mental health problems. But we also believe in the value of outdoor exercise in helping with mild to moderate depression, based on our own research and the many people we hear from every week who tell us how great exercise makes them feel. Hence the disappointment.
Unsurprisingly, the research – or rather the reporting of it – produced a lot of heated comment on our Facebook page and Twitter feed. Many people said that exercise worked for them. Others said it didn’t.
But it didn’t take long to realise that these news reports and many others weren’t giving a true picture of the research, which was carried out by teams from the Universities of Bristol, Exeter and the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry and published by the British Medical Journal.
In fact the introduction to the BBC story didn’t match its own headline:
Combining exercise with conventional treatments for depression does not improve recovery, research suggests.
The story made clear that the research tested the impact of exercise on people who were also prescribed medication, or a talking therapy, or both, as did this comment from Professor Alan Maryon-Davis of King's College London:
…we need to bear in mind that these were patients already on medication, so it considers exercise on top of medical care. It did not look at mild depression nor did it consider exercise as an alternative to medication.
All 361 people who took part in the research showed improvement. It was just that those advised to take exercise didn’t show any more improvement than those given “usual care” alone. A 'Behind the headlines' piece from NHS Choices gives a good account of the research.
If you’ve followed the link to the BBC article, you may have noticed that its headline was later changed to “Depression: Exercise advice questioned when added to standard treatments”, which is a far better description of the story itself and the research.
As far as the Guardian story (sourced from the Press Association) was concerned, you only had to read to the second paragarph to realise that the first one was too big a generalisation:
A study into whether physical activity alleviates the symptoms of depression has found there is no benefit.
Research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that adding a physical activity intervention to usual care did not reduce symptoms of depression more than usual care alone.
Interestingly, the Guardian website carried a few pieces disagreeing with the story, based on personal experience. John Crace wrote a remarkably honest piece saying that going to the gym “has come to feel like a life-saver.”
Mark Oxley-Rice wondered whether anecdotal evidence and empirical science are both slightly mistaken: ‘We depressives are not to be trusted when we declare what is good for us.” Simon Hattenstone found the research churlish and patronising, perhaps not realising how badly it had been presented in the media.
There is always going to be a disconnect between what people experience in their varied lives and circumstances and what even the best constructed research reports.
There remain a lot of unanswered questions about when and if exercise can be of benefit for the many people with different experiences of depression. What is clear is that misleading headlines and reporting which only tells half the story can do a lot of damage.
Ambiguous reporting can be halfway round the world before the facts have got their trainers on.
Chris Ames, Information Manager
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6 Comments
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As one of the authors of the study i was dismayed by the BBC website headline, which prompted me to complain through a reporter I know at the BBC about the headline. An apology was received and the website headline changed within minutes. This was an unfortunate error created by the speed at which we often work, with the headline 'written overnight by a newsroom sub editor who takes a more swashbuckling approach to catching the eye,' and the original reporter having to cover other emerging health stories instead of having time to check.
I know the damage has been done as the news item spread around the world, and I have had e-mails from lots of people trying to make sense of the news.
This is just weeks after the BBC reported on a meta analysis of the positive effects of walking on depression, published in the journal I co-founded, Mental Health and Physical Activity (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/mental-health-and-physical-activity/ ). No wonder most people don’t take science seriously or understand it, when so many mixed messages come out, and we are in the hands of sensationalism in the media.
Prof Adrian Taylor (University of Exeter)
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How can exercise change life or life's events? Can it make human nature less corrupt? So the problems still exist at the end of the exercise.
Some people have no interest in life or leisure activities and might find exercise punishing; so exercise probably works best for milder mental distress. -
I was dumbfounded by initial headlines stating that walking outdoors could help beat depression, I found that kind of journalism very trivialising of depression.
I am glad that the debate has been examined further in the last week. I do agree with James's comments, and thank Mind for presenting a more balanced discussion of the issue. Raising awareness of mental and emotional issues is very important, but sensationalist media articles on what are the best treatments can be very misleading and individuals should always seek more expert advice on how best to treat themselves. It may be that increased exersize or a daily walk will take some of the edge off, or it may be that it makes you feel even more tired and unable to face things; just as with other treatments, people must find out what is best for them.
Thanks again Mind, you do great work! -
I found even walking for 10 minutes helps to clear your mind even if only a little when severe depression strikes. The hardest part is often just getting the motivation to do it. From experience it is a goal achieved which is positive and works well for mild to moderate, but for severe, really not to sure. Have been through a bad time recently and although improving have found it hard to even go out of the door even when I know I really should.
I agree very bad of the media to portray exercise in this way. It seems strange however that they enjoy printing the bad images of mental health and yet now seem to be tarnishing the seeds of recovery. -
I think how much exercise helps is down to the individual and their circumstances. To generalise that "exercise doesn't help depression" is unhelpful. It helps some people with depression, but not others - that is what it always comes down to. It doesn't work for everyone but that shouldn't put other people off trying.
Personally over the last two months I have found exercise to greatly benefit my mental health in terms of mild depression and severe anxiety, whether that is exercise indoors or outdoors, but it has taken me many years to be able to implement it into my life and routine. Sticking to a routine is tough when you are depressed and have mental health difficulties, and sometimes working exercise into it can be disheartening and stressful if it doesn't just slip into the routine smoothly, and of course exercise requires motivation in the first place, as Phil said, which is a struggle when you are feeling so low.
People need gentle encouragement and consistency to attempt different aids to recovery and management, like exercise, and distorted headlines will almost certainly dishearten some people who have tried hard with it.
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I suffer from bi-polar depression, for which I currently take three different drugs (soon to go back down to just two).
Physical exercise definitely helps provide temporary relief from some of the more unpleasant aspects of my condition eg agitation, anxiety, restlessness, sadness etc. I go for long bike rides on the quiet roads and through the beautiful countryside around where I live. The exercise is obviously good for my physical health, leaving me leaner and stronger. I also love being out in the country, enjoying the trees, landscapes, birds, wildlife, farm animals etc. After I've had my post-bike ride shower, I feel calmer but also more cheerful too.
Sadly, these positive effects do wear off quickly and cannot cure
the bi-polar. However, since taking up cycling in 2010 (had always loved riding a bike but I hadn't always owned one the past), I have been a bit more stable. The medication also helps with this. Walking in the park and along the river in my town is also beneficial.
My conclusion would be that exercise can never make a major condition like bi-polar go away, but it will certainly help you feel more stable and being physically fit helps you to avoid many potential health problems. What is most detrimental to my condition is the fact of being single and without a particularly supportive family or many close friends. Isolation is a real danger for the mentally ill.
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