GAD is one of the most common disorders in psychiatry, usually observed twice in women than in men.

Considering the side effects of drugs and their financial burden, the purpose of this research was to study the effects of yoga as a complementary treatment on GAD in women.

In a single blind clinical trial the effects of yoga on GAD was studied in 40 women who were diagnosed with GAD by psychiatrist interview, SADS questionnaire and spilberger's anxiety scale in psychiatric clinics. The participants were randomly divided into two intervention and control. All the participants took the usual drugs (SSRIs). The intervention group was given Hata yoga instruction for six weeks, while the control group was only watching movies. At the end of the six week period the spilberger anxiety scale was refilled for both groups. Finally the comparison was done by statistical methods for both groups.

The mean ages of intervention and control groups were 37.7 ± 9.87 and 37.65 ± 10.42 respectively. Improvement was observed in both groups after the six week period. The grades of state and trait anxiety were declined according to spilberger anxiety scale but no statistical difference was observed in two groups regarding improvement.

In the present study no statistical difference was observed between two groups however the participants of intervention group were inclined to continue their yoga sessions due to sense of well being. So it is concluded that yoga can have a positive effect on anxiety in long terms.