Meditation and the prevention of alcohol abuse.
M Shafil, R Lavely, R Jaffe
American Journal of Psychiatry September 1975 DOI: 10.1176/ajp.132.9.942 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 216 |
| Population | Individuals practicing Transcendental Meditation and a matched control group |
| Intervention | Transcendental Meditation |
| Duration | Meditation practice of more than 2 years, with figures reported for the first 6 months and after 25-39 months |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Among people who had meditated for more than two years, 40 percent reported stopping beer and wine use within the first six months, rising to 60 percent after 25-39 months, and 54 percent had stopped drinking hard liquor versus 1 percent of controls. The authors suggest meditation could be an effective preventive tool in the area of alcohol abuse. |
Abstract
The authors surveyed the frequency of alcohol use in individuals identified as practitioners of Transcendental Meditation (N equals 126) and a matched control group (N equals 90). No control subjects reported discontinuation of beer and wine use; 40 percent of subjects who had meditated for more than 2 years reported discontinuation within the first 6 months. After 25-39 months of meditation, this figure increased to 60 percent. In addition, 54 percent of this group, versus 1 percent of the control group, had stopped drinking hard liquor. The authors suggest that meditation could be an effective preventive tool in the area of alcohol abuse.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups | 2008 | Cross-sectional study | |
| Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants | 2007 | Observational cross-sectional | n = 27 |
| Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents | 2011 | Cross-sectional validation study | n = 1,413 |
| Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators | 2012 | Cross-sectional study | n = 152 |
| Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates | 2008 | Cross-sectional, correlational |
Citations in the library
Cited by 11
- Effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation Program in Preventing and Treating Substance Misuse: A Review International Journal of the Addictions 1991
- Complementary, Holistic, and Integrative Medicine: Meditation Practices for Pediatric Health Pediatrics in Review December 1, 2010
- The Use of Transcendental Meditation in Relapse Prevention Counseling Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly May 6, 1991
- A Brief Report: A Facet-Level Analysis on Relationships Between Mindfulness and Attachment Styles Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 2010
- Integration of Transcendental Meditation® (TM) into alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment April 1, 2018
and 6 more in the library