Impact of Meditation on Mental Health Outcomes of Female Trauma Survivors of Interpersonal Violence With Co-Occurring Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence July 1, 2017 Mo Yee Lee, Amy Zaharlick, Deborah Akers
Female trauma survivors of interpersonal violence with co-occurring disorders who practiced meditation for six weeks showed significant improvements in mental health and trauma symptoms, while those in a control condition did not. The meditation curriculum, rooted in Tibetan traditions, included breathing, loving kindness, and compassion practices. Group differences were large, with 35.5% of meditators versus 8.3% of controls achieving reliable change in mental health symptoms, and 42.3% versus 4.8% in trauma symptoms. Meditation appears to be a beneficial complementary intervention for this population.