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'We can't afford to wait' to use Transcendental Meditation to help veterans with PTSD: Dr Norman Rosenthal
by Norman Rosenthal, MD

www.NormanRosenthal.com Translate This Article
25 December 2011

Dr Norman Rosenthal continues to make a strong case for using the Transcendental Meditation Programme to treat combat-related PTSD, going on to describe several research studies. (See Part I of this article.)

What evidence is there that Transcendental Meditation can help PTSD?

Here are the results of the 5 young men in our pilot study.

Within two months of starting Transcendental Meditation, PTSD symptoms dropped by about 50%. Four out of the five individuals in the study underwent transformations, each in their own way as remarkable as David George's.

An earlier study of PTSD was conducted almost 30 years ago on veterans of the Vietnam War by researchers James Brooks and Thomas Scarano.* In this random controlled study, 10 veterans given TM training did substantially better than 12 controls who received the conventional psychotherapy of the day. After three months of TM practice, 7 of the 10 in the TM group requested no further therapy, whereas the controls showed very little improvement.

Flash forward to our present day. An important randomized controlled study of Transcendental Meditation on PTSD in Congolese refugees is currently being conducted by Dr. Fred Travis, Brian Rees and colleagues. Many refugees of the Congolese civil war, now living in Uganda, are reeling after having suffered unspeakable atrocities in their home country. So far, 25 people have received TM training and after 30 days, already show substantial benefits, as compared to controls, who have shown no improvement.

There are, of course, conventional approaches to treating combat-related PTSD, such as psychotherapy and medications. These have been of some help, but fall woefully short of the mark. We clearly need a new approach for treating people with PTSD.

As a psychiatrist and researcher who has carefully evaluated the Transcendental Meditation technique and its impact on people with combat-related PTSD, I am of the opinion that TM may be just such a tool—and perhaps even a game changer, as it was for David George.

Besides the results of the studies I have shown you, we have collectively seen hundreds of other Wounded Warriors who have benefited from Transcendental Meditation. And it makes sense from a medical point of view that TM would settle down the symptoms of PTSD because it soothes the fight-and-flight part of the nervous system, which has been so brutally disrupted in this condition.

As a researcher, I look forward to the results of large-scale studies, some of which are underway. As a clinician, however, I say we just can't afford to wait that long. We are dealing with a crisis, an epidemic. We need to act without delay on the data we already have and the amazing results that we have seen with our own eyes.

Additional Information:
PTSD and Meditation Infographic, feel free to embed on your website Department of Defense embracing alternative medicine

* Journal of Counseling and Development 64: 212-215, 1985

© Copyright 2011 Norman Rosenthal, MD

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