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

Mitsunobu Yoshimura, Etsuko Kurokawa, Takayuki Noda, Koji Hineno, Yasuo Tanaka, Yuji Kawai, Michael C. Dillbeck

Psychological Reports August 1, 2015 DOI: 10.2466/02.13.pr0.117c11z6 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort with non-equivalent control group Peer reviewed
Sample size 565
Population Residents of Sendai and Ishinomaki, Japan, directly affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami; non-disaster Tokyo participants
Topics Meditation
Key findings Disaster-area participants who learned the Transcendental Meditation technique showed a significant drop in total symptom score from pre-test to post-test compared to controls, with an effect size of -1.09.

Abstract

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 = 68). The participants completed a rating checklist of mental and physical symptoms. Disaster area participants who learned the Transcendental Meditation(®) technique in contrast to controls showed a significant drop in total symptom score from pre-test to post-test (effect size = -1.09). Results were comparable for an ordinal measure of symptom intensity. The findings suggest the potential value of this procedure for relief from disaster trauma.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students 2006 Observational cohort
Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia 1992 Observational cohort n = 22
Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls 2005 Observational cohort n = 20
Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls 2011 Observational cohort
Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls 2004 Observational cohort

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