A systematic review of randomized trials of mind-body interventions for PTSD.
Barbara L Niles, DeAnna L Mori, Craig P. Polizzi, Anica Pless Kaiser, Elizabeth S Weinstein, Marina Gershkovich, Chenchen Wang
Journal of Clinical Psychology September 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1002/jclp.22634 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 22 |
| Population | Participants in randomized controlled trials of mind-body treatments for PTSD |
| Interventions | Mindfulness Yoga Relaxation |
| Topics | PTSD |
| Keywords | Mind-body Randomized controlled trial Systematic review |
| Key findings | Mindfulness and yoga treatments for PTSD showed moderate to large effect size advantages over control conditions; relaxation, used as a control, also produced large within-group symptom improvements. |
Abstract
To systematically review outcomes from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mind-body treatments for PTSD. Inclusion criteria based on guidelines for assessing risk of bias were used to evaluate articles identified through electronic literature searches. Twenty-two RCTs met inclusion standards. In most of the nine mindfulness and six yoga studies, significant between-group effects were found indicating moderate to large effect size advantages for these treatments. In all seven relaxation RCT's, relaxation was used as a control condition and five studies reported significant between-group differences on relevant PTSD outcomes in favor of the target treatments. However, there were large within-group symptom improvements in the relaxation condition for the majority of studies. Although many studies are limited by methodologic weaknesses, recent studies have increased rigor and, in aggregate, the results for mindfulness, yoga, and relaxation are promising. Recommendations for design of future mind-body trials are offered.