Impact of Meditation on Mental Health Outcomes of Female Trauma Survivors of Interpersonal Violence With Co-Occurring Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study was a randomized controlled trial that examined the impact of meditation practice on the mental health outcomes of female trauma survivors of interpersonal violence who have co-occurring disorders. Sixty-three female trauma survivors were randomly assigned to the meditation condition and the control condition. Treatment conditions consisted of a 6-week meditation curriculum that was influenced by Tibetan meditation tradition and focused on breathing, loving kindness, and compassion meditation. Clients in the meditation condition made significant changes in mental health symptoms ( t = 5.252, df = 31, p = .000) and trauma symptoms ( t = 6.009, df = 31, p = .000) from pre-treatment to post-treatment, whereas non-significant changes were observed among the control condition clients. There were significant group differences between clients in the meditation condition and in the control condition on their mental health symptoms, F(1, 54) = 13.438, p = .001, and trauma symptoms, F(1, 54) = 13.395, p = .001, with a generally large effect size of eta squared .127 and .146, respectively. In addition, significantly more clients in the meditation condition achieved reliable change in mental health symptoms (35.5% vs. 8.3%) and trauma symptoms (42.3% vs. 4.8%) than clients in the control condition. Significance of the study is discussed with respect to the empirical evidence of meditation practice as a complementary behavioral intervention for treating female trauma survivors of interpersonal violence who have co-occurring disorders.