Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have significant medical morbidity, which may be mediated by hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) dysfunction and reflected in cortisol output. Many veterans with PTSD are hesitant to engage in trauma-focused exposure treatments; therefore briefer, non-exposure-based treatments are needed; one such promising approach is an abbreviated Primary Care...
INTRODUCTION: Anxiety, depression, and pain are major problems among veterans, despite the availability of standard medical options within the Veterans Health Administration. Complementary and alternative approaches for these symptoms have been shown to be appealing to veterans. One such complementary and alternative approach is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a brief course that...
BACKGROUND: Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is a practice intended to enhance feelings of kindness and compassion for self and others. OBJECTIVES: To assess whether participation in a 12-week course of LKM for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with improved positive emotions, decentering, and personal resources. RESEARCH DESIGN: In an open-pilot trial, veterans...