Physicians Discuss Practical Strategies for Clinicians Inspired to Implement Exercise as a Prescribed Treatment for Patients with Mood and Anxiety

Exercise is not only beneficial for overall health and well-being, but is proving to be highly effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders. Past methodological problems with the examination of exercise efficacy in treating depression, such as not distinguishing between depressed mood and depressive disorders, have helped temper the enthusiasm for exercise interventions in clinical practice and have left open a number of crucial questions. Is exercise more beneficial for some patient subgroups and less so for other patients? Should exercise be prescribed as an augmentation strategy or as monotherapy? As most depressed patients are sedentary and disinclined to exercise, how might a clinician initiate and maintain patient adherence to an exercise intervention? Unanswered questions such as these have left exercise on the fringe of traditional treatments for depression and its benefits largely overlooked. This Commentary provides an overview of the benefits offered by exercise interventions as well as specific strategies for implementing exercise prescriptions in psychiatric practices.