Why Mantras Could Help Ease Depression — Plus, 7 Sample Mantras to Try

By Jenni Gritters – Updated on April 22, 2026
Medically Reviewed by Stephanie Albers, PhD

If you’ve ever attended a yoga or meditation class, you may have heard the instructor mention a mantra. The word mantra has Sanskrit roots: It’s a combination of mann (mind) and tra (tool or protection), meaning an instrument of the mind.

Mantras, which are used in Hinduism and Buddhism, have historically been sacred sounds or words that can aid in meditation and yoga.

[2] The term mantra has been used interchangeably with the word affirmation in some research, although an affirmation is a positive assertion that helps someone cope with life’s difficulties.

Using mantras may have a number of health benefits, including mental health perks. According to research, it may even help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life among people with certain mental health conditions, including depression.

What Are Mantras?

A mantra is a sound, word, or phrase, that is repeated — either silently or out loud — as a form of meditation or self-soothing, says Avigail Lev, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist and certified mediator who specializes in evidence-based practices related to depression, anxiety, and trauma, and owner of the Bay Area CBT Center in California.

Although some mantras can be sounds, others are a chosen word or phrase with a concrete meaning, Dr. Lev says. Mantras can be thought, chanted, or sung repeatedly to aid in meditation and help calm the mind, she says.

As previously mentioned, mantras are used in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In these practices, mantras are considered sacred sounds with important spiritual significance. They can help a participant reach a higher level of spiritual awareness.

Mantras originate from the primordial sound om, which is often described as the sound of creation.

In many countries, including the United States, mantras are commonly used during meditation, a practice that involves focusing your mind or deepening your awareness for a period of time.

Repeating a mantra while meditating, either silently or aloud, can help you focus your attention on the present moment to keep your mind from wandering, says Victoria Latifses, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist based in Austin, Texas.

Another term that overlaps with some modern-day uses of the word mantra is affirmations. These are short, positive phrases that you can think or repeat to change how you think and feel about yourself. And some research suggests that practicing affirmations can help ease depressive symptoms.

Psychotherapies (aka talk therapies) that incorporate meditation have been shown to have moderate to strong effects on relieving depressive symptoms, according to one research review.

How Can Mantras Help With Depression?

Research shows that using mantras — although not necessarily in place of standard treatments — can reduce depressive symptoms. These symptoms may include persistent sadness, a low mood, feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness, or a loss of interest or pleasure in activities you once loved.

In a research review of mantra-based meditation techniques for mental health symptoms, researchers found that using these techniques had a small-to-moderate effect on reducing depressive symptoms. Mantra-based meditation was also linked with improved quality of life, although researchers warned that only a few studies included people with confirmed major depressive disorder (MDD). They also cautioned that the studies may have a high risk of bias. So it’s possible that effects of mantra-based meditation are overstated.

But in the research overall, it’s important to note that these effects were mostly seen in individuals who also go to psychotherapy or take antidepressant medication while using mantras, says Lev. For example, in one randomized controlled trial, researchers found that mantra-based meditation was an effective add-on treatment, and it worked better than progressive muscle relaxation for people with MDD in a psychiatric hospital.

When it comes to mental health care in the United States, the use of mantras is especially prevalent in two types of psychotherapy commonly used for depression, says Lev: compassion-focused therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT).

Compassion-focused therapy is a somewhat new form of psychotherapy. It can help people with feelings of self-criticism and depression, according to research. Compassion-focused meditation and loving kindness meditation, which can involve using mantras to show kindness and compassion to yourself and others, may be used in compassion-focused therapy.

“Specific mantras used in compassion-focused therapy can help with many different symptoms, including increasing positive emotions, life satisfaction, mindfulness, social connection, and reducing rumination,” says Lev.

MBCT combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy. Mindfulness meditation involves practicing nonjudgmental, present-moment awareness. Cognitive therapy is commonly used for depression, and it involves working to change unhelpful thoughts and behavioral patterns into more-constructive ones.

For some people, focusing on a mantra can be a key component of their mindfulness meditation practice.

How to Use Mantras — Plus, 7 Mantras to Try

First, choose a mantra that resonates with you. You can use the basic om sound — or Lev often suggests for her patients to come up with a phrase that they would have liked to hear from a parent or caregiver to help them feel a sense of comfort and safety. Then, turn that positive affirmation into a mantra that you can repeat to anchor yourself to the present moment and inspire compassion.

Lev notes that the mantra someone chooses must be believable to them in order to be effective — this is important especially for beginners, as a believable phrase is more likely to inspire self-compassion than a phrase they don’t yet buy into. (See examples 1 and 2 from Lev below.)

Or, you can expand these mantras to another popular set of phrases, often used in mindfulness meditation practices globally, suggests Dr. Latifses (see example 3 below).

Latifses says she likes to use “I am” mantra statements with her patients, too. (See examples 4 through 7 below that Latifses shared.)

Here are seven examples of mantras:

1. “At this moment, I am safe.”
2. “May I accept myself as I am.”
3. “May we all be safe, may we all accept ourselves as we are, may we all be healthy.”
4. “I am peaceful.”
5. “I am calm.”
6. “I am grounded.”
7. “I am present.”

Once you’ve chosen your mantra, find a quiet place to sit, says Latifses. Breathe slowly through your nose as you begin to chant your mantra out loud or silently. Repeat it steadily, hearing the natural rhythm of the phrase and allowing it to ground you, she says.

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