Transcendental Meditation in Veterans and First Responders With PTSD

PTSD is among the most common and disabling problems for veterans and first responders. Although PTSD from combat-related events is widely known, veterans and first-responders also face traumatic experiences from other events including sexual trauma, accidents, and injuries. Recent findings, for example, indicated that nearly a quarter of female Veterans experienced sexual assault when in the military. At present, the non-medication therapies for PTSD with the strongest scientific support include Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). While many patients with PTSD benefit from these therapies, research indicates that these psychotherapies appear to be less effective for veterans than for civilians with PTSD, and many veterans may remained symptomatic in the long run. Based on this evidence, there is a clear need for new PTSD treatments that are effective for and amenable to the unique circumstances of veterans and first-responders. Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a promising intervention. A phase 2 clinical trial, funded by the Department of Defense and conducted at the San Diego VA, showed that TM significantly reduces both PTSD symptom severity and depression in a veteran population, with post-hoc analysis indicating reduced suicidal ideation. Relative to conventional PTSD treatments that aim to improve symptoms through mechanisms such as habituation to anxiety-provoking stimuli and desensitization to trauma-related memories, TM improves symptoms by aiming to calm down the nervous system.