Heat, talk therapy and depression: a pilot with a twist
Everyone in this small trial got talk therapy for depression, plus either real heat sessions or a fake version. Both groups improved a lot, and by about the same amount.
The short version
In this pilot, 30 adults with major depression all had eight weekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy. Half were also randomly assigned four heat sessions in an infrared sauna dome, raising core temperature to 38.5°C; the other half had a sham that barely warmed them. Depression scores fell by about 19 points with heat and 21 with the sham, both large drops. So the trial cannot show that the heat added anything. The sham was not fully convincing, and the trial was built to test whether the study method works, not whether heat does.
Keep in mind
Both groups improved about equally. A pilot of 30 people, designed to test the method, cannot show that heat added anything to therapy.
What they found
The study was acceptable: 29 of 30 finished the final assessment, and most said they would recommend it.
Depression scores fell by 19.1 points in the heat group and 21.1 points in the sham group. Both are large drops, larger than CBT alone usually brings, according to the authors.
Everyone in the heat group knew they had real heat. In the sham group, 6 of 14 correctly guessed they had the sham, so the sham was only partly convincing, and may have helped in its own right.
What this means for your practice
Heat is not a treatment for depression on the evidence so far. If you are struggling, talk to a doctor or a therapist.
This does not establish a sauna routine to follow.
Methods and limitations
What the researchers did
The researchers enrolled 30 adults with major depression. Everyone had eight weekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a standard talk therapy for depression.
Each person was also randomly assigned to four heat sessions, every other week, or four sham sessions of similar length. The heat was an infrared sauna dome at about 57°C, used until core body temperature reached 38.5°C. The sham did not raise core temperature meaningfully.
The main question was whether people found the study acceptable. Depression scores (the Beck Depression Inventory) were a secondary measure.
How much can this tell us?
This trial does not show that heat helps depression. The heat and sham groups ended up in the same place, and a trial this size could not detect a modest difference between them.
It adds a caution to the 2016 heat and depression trial in this library: here, when both groups got therapy and a session that felt like treatment, heat did not stand out.
It was a clinical procedure, core temperature raised to 38.5°C under supervision, not an ordinary sauna session.
What makes it useful
- Randomized, with a sham heat session
- Everyone got the same talk therapy
- Honest about the limits of its own sham
What limits it
- Small: 30 people
- Designed to test the method, not the effect
- The sham was only partly convincing
- Medical heating to a set core temperature, not sauna
Where this study fits
Where this study fits
We score claims, not single studies. This one is part of the evidence for:
Heat can ease depression. Early signal
Very low certaintyLarge effectHow you feel or perform
Read the original
Mason AE, Hartogensis W, Chowdhary A, Siwik CJ, Pandya LS, Jung E, et al. A Randomized Trial Testing a Novel Mind and Body Intervention for Depression: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Whole-Body Hyperthermia (WBH). Glob Adv Integr Med Health. 2025;14:27536130251387714.
DOI 10.1177/27536130251387714 · PubMed 41146956