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Michael C. Dillbeck

21 papers in the library · 173 citations · publishing 1977-2024

Papers

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Peace through health: traditional medicine meditation in the prevention of collective stress, violence, and war.

Frontiers in Public Health 2024 Robert H Schneider, Michael C. Dillbeck, Gunvant Yeola et al. 3 citations

In the midst of global armed conflicts, notably the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia wars, there is an urgent need for innovative public health strategies in peacebuilding. The devastating impact of wars, including mortality, injury, disease, and the diversion of healthcare resources, necessitates effective and durable interventions. This perspective aligns with WHO recommendations and examines...

Empirical Evaluation of the Possible Contribution of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program to Reduction in Drug-Related Mortality.

Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) January 18, 2023 Michael C. Dillbeck, Kenneth L. Cavanaugh

Background and Objectives: CDC data indicate that the U.S. is experiencing a sustained epidemic of drug-related mortality, with such deaths exceeding a record 100,000 in 2021, up 47% from 2019. Opioids, especially the synthetic opioid fentanyl, account for approximately 75% of this mortality. This study evaluates a proposed Consciousness-Based® approach that may possibly help reduce trends in...

Field-Effects of Consciousness: A Seventeen-Year Study of the Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programs on Reducing National Stress in the United States

World Journal of Social Science December 20, 2022 David W. Orme-Johnson, Kenneth L. Cavanaugh, Michael C. Dillbeck et al.

Many conceptions of field-effects of consciousness have been proposed. The most well-developed of these is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s, which holds that every individual in society, whether stressed or coherent, contributes to collective consciousness. Collective consciousness in turn impacts the life of every individual, guiding the trends of life in the nation. Over 600 studies have documented...

Evaluating a Field Theory of Consciousness and Social Change: Group Practice of Transcendental Meditation and Homicide Trends

Studies in Asian Social Science July 29, 2022 Kenneth L. Cavanaugh, Michael C. Dillbeck, David W. Orme-Johnson

This study outlines and empirically tests a field-theoretic view of consciousness and positive social change based on the ancient Vedic tradition of knowledge from India (Veda means “knowledge” in Sanskrit) as brought to light by the Vedic scholar and scientist of consciousness, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In contrast to most contemporary theories of mind and consciousness originating in the West,...

Reduction of PTSD in South African University Students Using Transcendental Meditation Practice.

Psychological Reports June 1, 2020 Carole L Bandy, Michael C. Dillbeck, Vincent Sezibera et al.

A study was conducted on South African college students using the Transcendental Meditation technique to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder. Students meeting the criteria for possible posttraumatic stress disorder were included. Thirty-four students at the experimental university in South Africa clinically diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder were instructed in and practiced the...

Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi Program and Improved U.S.-Soviet Relations

Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute August 1, 2018 Kenneth L. Cavanaugh, Paul Gelderloos, Michael C. Dillbeck

This study empirically tests the hypothesis that during the years from 1979 to 1986, the Cold War climate of superpower relations was significantly improved through the reduction of global stress and tension produced by four large groups of experts practicing the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi program, an advanced aspect of the Transcendental Meditation technique. The number of group...

Researching U.S. Urban Murder Rates and Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program: Evaluation of a Prospective Quasi-Experiment

Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute September 1, 2017 Kenneth L. Cavanaugh, Michael C. Dillbeck

Creation of a sustainable society ideally should include promotion of an enhanced overall quality of life, including freedom from crime, violence, and other key indicators of social stress. This study is part of a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the results of a prospective four-year quasi-experiment that sought to reduce rates of homicide and violent crime as well as to improve other...

Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation® and TM-Sidhi® Program and Reductions in Infant Mortality and Drug-Related Death

Sage Open 2017 Michael C. Dillbeck, Kenneth L. Cavanaugh

These two studies tested the prediction that the group practice of a procedure for the development of consciousness, the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, by a sufficiently large group of individuals would be sufficient to reduce collective stress in the larger population, reflected in two stress-related health indicators, infant mortality rate and drug-related fatality rate....

Societal Violence and Collective Consciousness

Sage Open September 28, 2016 Michael C. Dillbeck, Kenneth L. Cavanaugh

This research tests the hypothesis that group practice of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM) and TM-Sidhi® program by a group of sufficient size is associated with reduced rates of homicide and violent crime. Data from a prospective quasi-experiment were analyzed using intervention analysis or interrupted time series analysis. Dependent variables are time series of the U.S. monthly homicide...

DISASTER RELIEF FOR THE JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE-TSUNAMI OF 2011: STRESS REDUCTION THROUGH THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION® TECHNIQUE.

Psychological Reports August 1, 2015 Mitsunobu Yoshimura, Etsuko Kurokawa, Takayuki Noda et al.

This study examined changes in self-reported stress symptoms after instruction in the Transcendental Meditation(®) technique among 171 residents of two cities (Sendai and Ishinomaki) directly affected by the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster compared with 326 non-disaster Tokyo participants previously tested before and after learning the technique and a no-treatment control group (n =...

Methodological concerns for meta-analyses of meditation: Comment on Sedlmeier et al. (2012).

Psychological Bulletin March 1, 2014 David W. Orme-Johnson, Michael C. Dillbeck

We commend Sedlmeier et al. (2012) for their significant undertaking of meta-analysis of all meditation types on all psychological variables, but additional analyses may modify some of their conclusions. Whereas they suggest from visual inspection of funnel diagrams that there may be publication bias of underreporting low-effect studies on the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique,...

Elevated serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels in practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs.

Journal of behavioral medicine August 1992 J L Glaser, J L Brind, J H Vogelman et al.

Serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels were measured in 270 men and 153 women who were experienced practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs, mental techniques practiced twice daily, sitting quietly with the eyes closed. These were compared according to sex and 5-year age grouping to 799 male and 453 female nonmeditators. The mean DHEA-S levels in...

THE CONCEPT OF SELF IN THE BHAGAVAD-GITA AND IN THE VEDIC PSYCHOLOGY OF MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI: A FURTHER NOTE ON TESTABILITY

PSYCHOLOGIA 1990 Michael C. Dillbeck 5 citations

The concepts of self in the Vedic psychology of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and in the Bhagavad-Gita are fundamentally the same.Both describe two aspects of self, the limited individual self (ego) and its universal basis in a field of transcendental or pure consciousness ("Self").This transcendental self, as noted by Darbar (1989), can be experienced subjectively but not directly objectively...

Longitudinal Effects of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program on Cognitive Ability and Cognitive Style

Perceptual and Motor Skills June 1, 1986 Michael C. Dillbeck, Panayotis D. Assimakis, Dennis Raimondi et al.

50 college students practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program were administered the Culture Fair Intelligence Test and Group Embedded Figures Test. Significant longitudinal increases over a 3- to 5-yr. period were found in performance on both measures. In the context of normative data, these findings indicate that the practices contribute to an increase in the effectiveness...

Participation in the transcendental meditation program and frontal EEG coherence during concept learning.

The International journal of neuroscience March 1986 M C Dillbeck, S A Vesely

This study assesses variation in frontal bilateral EEG coherence among normal subjects during trials of a concept learning task; the task used a concept-reversal paradigm found from prior research to distinguish frontal lobe patients from normal adults. Subjects were either participants in the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program or controls matched for age, sex, and intellectual ability, and...

Academic achievement and the paired Hoffman reflex in students practicing meditation.

The International journal of neuroscience November 1984 R K Wallace, David W. Orme-Johnson, P J Mills et al.

The paired H reflex, considered to be the electrically evoked counterpart of the monosynaptic stretch reflex, provides a measure of motoneuron excitability under a variety of experimental and clinical conditions. It also offers a potentially useful tool in examining the neurophysiologic basis of alterations in reflex response in different states of awareness. This study investigated the...

TESTING THE VEDIC PSYCHOLOGY OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA

PSYCHOLOGIA 1983 Michael C. Dillbeck 6 citations

This paper addresses the empirical testability of the Vedic psychological theory found in the Bhagavad-Gita.It is suggested that research on a meditation practice which is consistent with the descriptions of the Bhagavad-Gita may be used to assess the theory's testability.Research on the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi program is reviewed as evidence relating to the following...

Intersubject EEG coherence: is consciousness a field?

The International journal of neuroscience May 1982 D Orme-Johnson, M C Dillbeck, R K Wallace et al.

EEG coherence was measured between pairs of three different subjects during a one-hour period practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program. Coherence between subjects was evaluated for two sequential fifteen minute periods. On six experimental days, these periods preceded and then coincided with a fifteen minute period during which 2500 students participated in the TM-Sidhi program at...

The effects of the transcendental meditation and TM-Sidhi program on the aging process.

The International journal of neuroscience February 1982 R K Wallace, M Dillbeck, E Jacobe et al.

To evaluate the effects of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi program on the aging process, a standardized test of biological aging, utilizing auditory threshold, near point vision, and systolic blood pressure, was given to a cross-sectional group (N = 84) with a mean age of 53 years. There were 11 controls, 33 short-term TM and TM-Sidhi participants, and 40 long-term participants....

Short-Term Longitudinal Effects of the Transcendental Meditation Technique on EEG Power and Coherence

International Journal of Neuroscience 1981 Michael C. Dillbeck, Edward C. Bronson 111 citations

EEG alpha coherence and slow alpha power were recorded from frontal and occipital derivations during relaxation or the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique in fifteen subjects. Subjects were tested before and after a two-week baseline period in which half practiced twice daily relaxation and half did not change their schedule. All subjects were then instructed in the TM technique and...

The effect of the transcendental meditation technique on anxiety level

Journal of Clinical Psychology October 1, 1977 Michael C. Dillbeck 48 citations

Two weeks of twice-daily practice of the transcendental Meditation (TM) technique was compared with 2 weeks of twice-daily practice of passive relaxation as a means of reduction of anxiety, as measured by the Trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Thirty-three graduate and undergraduate students were assigned randomly to a relaxation group and a TM group. After a 2-week experimental...