The Emerging Role of Mindfulness Meditation as Effective Self-Management Strategy, Part 1: Clinical Implications for Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Anxiety.
Military Medicine September 1, 2016 Marina A Khusid, Meena Vythilingam
This review of 52 systematic reviews and randomized clinical trials, published up to August 2015, evaluates mindfulness-based interventions for mental health conditions common after military deployment. Adjunctive mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective for reducing symptom severity during a current depressive episode and for lowering relapse rates in recovered patients (moderate strength of evidence). Adjunctive mindfulness-based stress reduction improves symptoms, mental health-related quality of life, and mindfulness in veterans with combat PTSD (moderate strength of evidence). Insufficient data exist to recommend mindfulness-based interventions for generalized anxiety disorder. The authors conclude the interventions are safe, portable, and cost-effective as adjuncts to standard care for major depressive disorder and PTSD.