Significant reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms in Congolese refugees within 10 days of transcendental meditation practice
Abstract
This follow-up pilot study tested whether Transcendental Meditation® (TM) practice would significantly reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress in Congolese refugees within 10 days after instruction. The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C) was administered to nonmatched waitlist controls from a previous study 3 times over a 90-day period. Within 8 days of the third baseline measure, 11 refugees were taught TM, then retested 10 days and 30 days after instruction. Average PCL-C scores dropped 29.9 points from 77.9 to 48.0 in 10 days, then dropped another 12.7 points to 35.3 at 30 days. Effect size at 10 days was high (d = 4.05). There were no adverse events. All participants completed the study and were able to practice TM.
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Third-wave approaches (such as ACT and mindfulness-based approaches) have been piloted previously in humanitarian settings, but this is the first randomised trial.
“Third-wave approaches (such as ACT and mindfulness-based approaches) have been piloted previously in humanitarian settings, 29-31 but this is-to the best of our knowledge-the first randomised trial.”
From Guided self-help to reduce psychological distress in South Sudanese female refugees in Uganda: A cluster randomised trial (2020) · cites this paper as [31]
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References 12 · Cited by 37
- Authors
- Rees, B., Travis, F., Shapiro, D., & Chant, R.
- Affiliations
- Medical Corps U.S. Army Reserve 63d Regional Support Command Moffett Field California USA
- Center for Brain Consciousness and Cognition MUM Research Institute Fairfield Iowa USA
- Institute of Science Technology and Public Policy Fairfield Iowa USA
- MUM Netherlands Station 24 Vlodrop The Netherlands
- Corresponding author
- Rees, Brian
- ORCID
- Shapiro, David
- Venue
- Journal of Traumatic Stress
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-02
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 112-115
- ISSN
- 0894-9867 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6598
- OpenAlex
- W2142401887
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 4.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Traumatic Stress (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- David Lynch Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Keywords
- transcendental meditation, posttraumatic stress symptoms, Congolese refugees, refugee mental health, rapid intervention, meditation training, PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version
- MeSH terms
- Congo, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Pilot Projects, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Refugees, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Uganda, Treatment Outcome, Meditation
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