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Breathing-Based Meditation Decreases Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in U.S. Military Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Longitudinal Study

Emma M Seppälä,Jack B Nitschke,Dana L Tudorascu,Andrea S. Hayes,Michael R Goldstein,Dong T H Nguyen,David M. Perlman,Richard J Davidson

Published 2014 in Journal of Traumatic Stress

ABSTRACT

Given the limited success of conventional treatments for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), investigations of alternative approaches are warranted. We examined the effects of a breathing-based meditation intervention, Sudarshan Kriya yoga, on PTSD outcome variables in U.S. male veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan war. We randomly assigned 21 veterans to an active (n = 11) or waitlist control (n = 10) group. Laboratory measures of eye-blink startle and respiration rate were obtained before and after the intervention, as were self-report symptom measures; the latter were also obtained 1 month and 1 year later. The active group showed reductions in PTSD scores, d = 1.16, 95% CI [0.20, 2.04], anxiety symptoms, and respiration rate, but the control group did not. Reductions in startle correlated with reductions in hyperarousal symptoms immediately postintervention (r =. 93, p <. 001) and at 1-year follow-up (r =. 77, p =. 025). This longitudinal intervention study suggests there may be clinical utility for Sudarshan Kriya yoga for PTSD.

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