Meditation being studied for treatment of PTSD in veterans

Don't laugh. It does help. Reading this brought back memories of a tough Marine's reaction when I told him he needed to take up Yoga. He glared at me then asked "What's next? Knitting?" Once I explained to him that he had to teach his body to go into high gear to face combat, he had to train his body to calm down now, he gave it a try. It helped and he had his buddies go for it too.

Part of PTSD is the reaction of the body during flashbacks and nightmares. It goes into full alert and gets tense. Veterans have to get their bodies to learn how to calm down just as much as they have to work on their mind and spirit. PTSD takes over the whole veteran and not just their memories.

Meditation being studied for treatment of PTSD in veterans
Posted: Saturday, May 5, 2012
Bloomberg News Service

WASHINGTON — Seeking new ways to treat post-traumatic stress, the Department of Veterans Affairs is studying the use of transcendental meditation to help returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans Affairs’ $5.9 billion system for mental-health care is under sharp criticism, particularly after the release of an inspector general’s report last month that found that the department has greatly overstated how quickly it treats veterans seeking mental-health care.

VA has a “huge investment” in mental-health care but is seeking alternatives to conventional psychiatric treatment, said Scott Gould, deputy secretary of veterans affairs.

“The reality is, not all individuals we see are treatable by the techniques we use,” Gould said at a summit Thursday in Washington on the use of TM to treat post-traumatic stress suffered by veterans and active-duty service members.

By some estimates, 10 percent of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan show effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, numbers that are overwhelming the department.
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