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Alternative treatment for traumatised soldiers - CNN

CNN, The Washington Post and other American media reported on gala events in New York City and other Washington, DC, earlier this month which drew celebrities, scientists, doctors, and huge crowds to promote the use of Transcendental Meditation (TM) as an antidote to the epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that is afflicting large numbers of  Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

Filmmaker David Lynch, designer Donna Karan, CNN presenter Candy Crowley, best-selling author and psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal, hip-hop founder Russell Simmons, and actor Ben Foster, all pledged support for “Operation Warrior Wellness”—an outreach to help relieve the suffering of hundreds of thousands of military personnel through meditation.

Dr Norman Rosenthal, a clinical professor and 20-year senior researcher at the National Institutes of Mental Health, said he has the facts, figures and testimonials to show that meditation can be a low-cost, low-risk alternative to strong narcotics often prescribed by government doctors.

The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs "are big institutions," Rosenthal said in a telephone interview. "Our hope is someone will raise an eyebrow and say, 'Well, well'."

Along with a team of researchers, Dr Rosenthal recently completed research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on veterans in the Washington, DC area who were diagnosed with PTSD. Their findings have been published this month in the journal, Military Medicine. Their research found that TM helps veterans deal with common PTSD complaints of anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and anger.

Dr Rosenthal has also published case studies of veterans who experienced the benefits of TM practice in his new book, “Transcendence: Healing and Transformation through Transcendental Meditation”.

In one case, he quotes a Marine gunner on a Humvee who saw heavy fighting in Iraq. The Marine wrote that PTSD symptoms disrupted his sleep and derailed his family life upon his return to the United States, but "TM has helped with organising, prioritising and just being calmer overall. I just feel better."

Rosenthal says the simple seven-step teaching process has quick results. "What do we have to lose? It is so cheap, and it is safe," he told CNN.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a widespread problem for veterans. According to Dr Rosenthal, one in seven of the 1.64 million US military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2008 meet the criteria for PTSD.

Rosenthal said he and his fellow researchers found that meditation can help an individual control emotions and thoughts and deal with common PTSD complaints of anxiety, depression, sleeplessness and anger.

He compares his latest efforts to win government support to his early uphill battle researching and publicising his findings after he first identified seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, which is now recognised around the world and treated using the lightbox therapy Dr Rosenthal pioneered.

View Dr Rosenthal speaking about Transcendental Meditation at the top of the page.

 


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