By Laurel White
A new UW–Madison study aims to better understand how exercise or calm environments could support psychotherapy in bolstering mental health.
The three-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will test whether 30 minutes of exercise immediately before a session of cognitive behavioral therapy leads to better engagement with the therapy session and overall mental health outcomes than therapy preceded by a calm environment.
Jacob Meyer, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Kinesiology, is leading the study. Meyer says the study hopes to uncover whether it’s possible to prime an individual’s neurobiology for a productive therapy session.
“One of the things therapists lament is when people walk in the door for therapy and they’re not ready,” Meyer says. “This approach is designed to get people in that frame of mind right away.”
Key to Meyer’s investigation is the idea that exercise may spur engagement in all facets of life, including increased investment in each therapy session and the overall therapeutic process.
“Successful behavioral therapy often hinges on individuals taking action and making changes in their lives,” he says. “We have both psychological and biological reasons to think pre-therapy exercise might help get people in the mindset to do that.”
Meyer and his team are currently recruiting 100 participants for the study. Simon Goldberg, an associate professor in the School of Education’s Department of Counseling Psychology, is also a part of the project. Goldberg has deep expertise in mental health treatment and data analysis.
Meyer is also leading a separate study examining whether strength training can help individuals combat depression.
Meyer joined the School of Education faculty last year. He is a UW–Madison alumnus, having earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in kinesiology in 2011 and 2015, respectively. He also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at UW–Madison in the School of Medicine and Public Health’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.