Vet­er­ans learn to use yoga and med­i­ta­tion exer­cises to recon­nect with their emo­tions (Wis­con­sin State Journal):

“Rich Low of Madi­son served as an infantry offi­cer in the Army in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, lead­ing some 280 com­bat mis­sions. When he came back from the ser­vice, he didn’t think his expe­ri­ence affected him in any major way. He had night­mares, and he star­tled eas­ily, but he chalked that up to just some­thing vet­er­ans live with.

Then he enrolled in a study he ini­tially wrote off as “just some hip­pie thing,” where he learned about yoga breath­ing and med­i­ta­tion. A year later, Low, 30, sums up his expe­ri­ence with two words: “It works.”

That’s the idea behind the study com­ing from The Cen­ter for Inves­ti­gat­ing Healthy Minds, at the Wais­man Cen­ter on the UW-Madison cam­pus. Researchers there, includ­ing asso­ciate sci­en­tist Emma Sep­pala, believe some­thing as sim­ple as breath­ing can change the lives of vet­er­ans return­ing from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

NBC inter­view with Emma Sep­pala: Here.

Link to Related Study: The effect of mindfulness-based ther­apy on anx­i­ety and depres­sion: A meta-analytic review (J Con­sult Clin Psy­chol). Please note this meta-analysis refers to pop­u­la­tion at large, not to vet­er­ans in particular.

Abstract:

• OBJECTIVE: Although mindfulness-based ther­apy has become a pop­u­lar treat­ment, lit­tle is known about its effi­cacy. There­fore, our objec­tive was to con­duct an effect size analy­sis of this pop­u­lar inter­ven­tion for anx­i­ety and mood symp­toms in clin­i­cal samples.
• METHOD:  We con­ducted a lit­er­a­ture search using PubMed, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, and man­ual searches. Our meta-analysis was based on 39 stud­ies total­ing 1,140 par­tic­i­pants receiv­ing mindfulness-based ther­apy for a range of con­di­tions, includ­ing can­cer, gen­er­al­ized anx­i­ety dis­or­der, depres­sion, and other psy­chi­atric or med­ical conditions.
• RESULTS:  Effect size esti­mates sug­gest that mindfulness-based ther­apy was mod­er­ately effec­tive for improv­ing anx­i­ety (Hedges’s g = 0.63) and mood symp­toms (Hedges’s g = 0.59) from pre– to post treat­ment in the over­all sam­ple. In patients with anx­i­ety and mood dis­or­ders, this inter­ven­tion was asso­ci­ated with effect sizes (Hedges’s g) of 0.97 and 0.95 for improv­ing anx­i­ety and mood symp­toms, respec­tively. These effect sizes were robust, were unre­lated to pub­li­ca­tion year or num­ber of treat­ment ses­sions, and were main­tained over follow-up.
• CONCLUSIONS:  These results sug­gest that mindfulness-based ther­apy is a promis­ing inter­ven­tion for treat­ing anx­i­ety and mood prob­lems in clin­i­cal populations.

To learn more, enjoy these related arti­cles on Stress and Med­i­ta­tion.

Source of pic:  Big­Stock­Photo

Be Socia­ble, Share!

•