Caleb Keels
Mindfulness – the ability to focus all of our mental and physical faculties on only everything that is occurring in the present moment – is a concept that we hear about more frequently in our contemporary society today. It has been incorporated by the psychological, fitness, medical and educational communities in various techniques aimed at helping people to minimize anxiety and stress. This is commonly done through what is called mindfulness meditation, a guided meditation session designed to allow the participant to relax, let go of anything that they are currently pre-occupied with and become one with the present moment. If mindfulness meditation can be beneficial to people suffering from everyday stress, can it also be therapeutic to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
When we think about mindfulness, we are often most familiar with it being relegated to stress-reducing practices such as yoga, or the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) technique by Jon Kabat-Zinn. We generally see it promoted for people suffering relatively low or high levels of stress and anxiety. However, a statistic by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, shows that the number of people in the United States suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is yearly:
“About 7 or 8 out of every 100 people (or 7-8% of the population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives. About 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year” (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, October 17, 2019).
A woman suffering from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Hence, the more science explores the effects the mindfulness meditation in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder, the more we will be able to effectively help people cope with and get through this highly stress-inducing experience. If you are or if you know someone who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), then I am here to excitingly say that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Scientific research is showing that the possibilities of mindfulness meditation being capable of providing therapeutic relief to the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are slowly growing. Recently, this has been demonstrated in a number of scientific studies and clinic trials. In one clinical study by the University of Alabama, Emory University and UMASS Medical School, military veterans showed the following outcomes when they underwent mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy:
“PTSD patients treated with MBSR also showed a differential brain response to combat-trauma-related slides, and sounds when compared to the PCGT group, with an increased in the right anterior cingulate, and right inferior parietal lobule, and decreased activation in the right insula and precuneus” (Bremner JD, Mishra S, Campanella C, Shah M, Kasher N, Evans S, Fani N, Shah AJ, Reiff C, Davis LL, Vaccarino V and Carmody J (2017).
The science is still new when it comes to the impact that mindfulness meditation can have on reducing the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is not a definite yes on the matter, but the research so far does provide a promising outlook on it. Another pilot study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Michigan analyzed the effects of mindfulness-based training on 30 police officers from Madison Police Department in an 8-week program who were highly at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the course of their police work. The results of the pilot study were the following:
“Notably, the effect sizes for reductions in perceived stress and re-experiencing PTSD symptoms were greater at 5-month follow-up than immediately post-intervention,
and several other measures (anxiety, exhaustion, PTSD hyperarousal symptoms) also showed sustained improvements at T3” (Society for Police and Criminal Psychology, 2019).
Here, a U.S. soldier practices mindfulness meditation before engaging in military duties.
All in all, the possibilities for mindfulness meditation and related therapy having a mitigating effect on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are present. And as science continues to explore this new potential, the likelihood for us as society to be able reduce the occurrence of this stress-inducing phenomena is appearing to be more and more of an attainable reality. It will take more trial and error, but I believe that we will get there.
References
VA.gov | Veterans Affairs. (2018). Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_adults.asp
Bremner JD, Mishra S, Campanella C, Shah M, Kasher N, Evans S, Fani N, Shah AJ, Reiff C, Davis LL, Vaccarino V and Carmody J (2017) A Pilot Study of the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Brain Response to Traumatic Reminders of Combat in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Combat Veterans with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Front. Psychiatry 8:157. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00157
Grupe, D.W., McGehee, C., Smith, C. et al. Mindfulness Training Reduces PTSD Symptoms and Improves Stress-Related Health Outcomes in Police Officers. J Police Crim Psych (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-019-09351-4
Piqsels. (2020). person, woman, dark, face, adult, alone, black and white [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-frrey
Rice, V. (2020). U.S. Army [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/article/199751/army_advances_ptsd_other_cognitive_research_through_latest_partnership
YouTube. (2015). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for PTSD Among Veterans [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vyY5CFK0N8
