Overview of outcome data of potential meditation training for soldier resilience.
Military Medicine November 2011 DOI: 10.7205/milmed-d-11-00067 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Transcendental Meditation mindfulness progressive muscle relaxation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The authors conclude that Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, and progressive muscle relaxation, in that order, have the most research support for improving soldier resilience, based on volume and quality of evidence across 40 parameters in five resilience domains. They propose these three as suitable potential options, noting their differing mechanisms of action. |
Abstract
In order to identify potential training to enhance comprehensive soldier fitness, this analysis searched MEDLINE via PubMed and elsewhere for 33 reasonably significant modalities, screening over 11,500 articles for relevance regarding soldier resilience. Evaluation of modalities that are exclusively educational or cognitive/behavioral in nature is deferred. Using the volume and quality of research over 40 parameters distributed among the five domains of resilience (physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and family life), these data allow culling of most of the meditative modalities and discrimination among the remaining techniques. The resulting order of merit is Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, and progressive muscle relaxation. Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, and progressive muscle relaxation, in that order, have the most supporting data. Fortuitously, they also represent a cross section of the domain of techniques regarded as meditation, stress management, or relaxation, with three very different mechanisms of action. They are suitable potential options for improving soldier resilience.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 9
- Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease in Adolescents and Adults through the Transcendental Meditation® Program: A Research Review Update Current Hypertension Reviews October 1, 2012
- Soft is hard: building resilience with loving kindness meditation at work International Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine 2018
- Body, Soul, and Spirit: An Explorative Qualitative Study of Anthroposophic Meditation and Spiritual Practice Religions June 26, 2020
- How Therapists Use and Choose Mindfulness to Treat Trauma UKnowledge 2016
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Review of Therapeutic Role of Meditation Interventions. Advances in experimental medicine and biology 2019
and 4 more in the library
Cites 79
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine May 1, 2009
- Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Neuroreport November 7, 2005
- A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation versus relaxation training: Effects on distress, positive states of mind, rumination, and distraction Annals of Behavioral Medicine February 1, 2007
- Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Psychosomatic Medicine July 1, 2007
- What Do We Really Know About Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction? Psychosomatic Medicine 2002
and 74 more in the library