Transcendental Meditation (TM) is at least as effective as prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for reducing PTSD symptoms in military veterans, and both therapies outperform PTSD health education alone. In a randomized trial of 203 veterans with PTSD from active service, TM was non-inferior to PE on the primary outcome of symptom severity change over three months. Both TM and PE produced significantly greater reductions in PTSD symptoms than health education. 61% of veterans receiving TM showed clinically significant improvement, compared with 42% receiving PE and 32% receiving health education. TM may offer an effective alternative for veterans who prefer not to undergo trauma-focused treatment.
Individually delivered mantram repetition therapy, a non-trauma-focused complementary treatment, was generally more effective than present-centered therapy for reducing PTSD symptom severity and insomnia in a sample of 173 veterans with military-related PTSD. In a two-site, open-allocation, blinded-assessment randomized trial, the mantram group showed significantly greater improvements in clinician-rated PTSD symptoms at posttreatment and at a 2-month follow-up, and more mantram participants (59%) no longer met PTSD criteria at follow-up compared with the present-centered therapy group (40%). Self-reported PTSD symptoms were lower in the mantram group at posttreatment but not at follow-up. Insomnia reductions were significantly greater for the mantram group at both time points.
A randomized controlled trial is underway comparing Transcendental Meditation (TM) to Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy and a health education control for posttraumatic stress disorder in 210 Veterans meeting DSM-IV criteria. The study will measure PTSD symptoms, depression, mood, quality of life, behavioral factors, and physiological/biochemical and gene expression mechanisms at 0 and 3 months. The hypothesis is that TM will be noninferior to PE and superior to the control on changes in PTSD symptoms as assessed by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. This protocol aims to establish TM's efficacy for PTSD in Veterans and identify underlying mechanisms.