Getting over PTSD involves a lot of diversified treatments
(Mirror Daily, United States) – PTSD is without a doubt one of the most devastating afflictions someone can suffer from. It wreaks havoc on the person afflicted, and if left untreated can lead to serious life-long consequences. According to a study published in the journal Military Medicine, PTSD patients strongly benefit from transcendental meditation.
The study in questions looked at a sample of 74 service members on active duty suffering from anxiety disorder and PTSD stemming from multiple deployments over a long period of time. The participants were looking for treatment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic at the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center.
Half of the participants practiced transcendental meditation twice a day for 20 minutes along with taking their meditation and their regular therapy, while the other half only did the last two.
They were followed for 6 months, and their medication levels were monitored.
After one month, almost 11% of the participants reported increasing their medication dosage, while around 84% had either reduced or completely stopped taking their medicine.
Results are even more impressive after 6 months, as 40% the participants who didn’t partake in meditation actually increased their medication dosage.
Overall, the non-meditators suffered a 20% increase in PTSD symptoms 6 months after the beginning of the trials.
This led, despite initial skepticism, to more and more active duty soldiers going to Dr. Vernon Barnes, a physiologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute from the Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia, and study author in order to be taught how to properly meditate.
Of course, the meditation is also joined by therapy, usually cognitive behavioral, and in the case of the soldiers who still need it, the appropriate medication.
If left untreated, PTSD is simply awful, since it can harvest effects that last for a lifetime.
A very large array of psychological and health, and social issues can result from PTSD, including but not limited to depression, suicide, domestic violence, homelessness, and alcoholism.
People suffering from the terrible disorder are not only far less productive, but they tend to lose their jobs and start living on social services, and they often even end up doing jail time.
Traumas usually completely overturn people’s lives, and if the individual, military or not, suffering from it doesn’t receive the necessary help to get over it, they will in most cases live a very hard, damaged and damaging life, often unwillingly propagating the trauma by way of inflicting it on those around them.
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