Given the limited success of conventional treatments for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), investigations of alternative approaches are warranted. We examined the effects of a breathing\u2010based meditation intervention, Sudarshan Kriya yoga, on PTSD outcome variables in U.S. male veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan war. We randomly assigned 21 veterans to an active (n<\/i> = 11) or waitlist control (n<\/i> = 10) group. Laboratory measures of eye\u2010blink startle and respiration rate were obtained before and after the intervention, as were self\u2010report symptom measures; the latter were also obtained 1 month and 1 year later. The active group showed reductions in PTSD scores, d<\/i> = 1.16, 95% CI [0.20, 2.04], anxiety symptoms, and respiration rate, but the control group did not. Reductions in startle correlated with reductions in hyperarousal symptoms immediately postintervention (r<\/i> = .93, p<\/i> < .001) and at 1\u2010year follow\u2010up (r<\/i> = .77, p<\/i> = .025). This longitudinal intervention study suggests there may be clinical utility for Sudarshan Kriya yoga for PTSD<\/p>\n
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Sepp\u00e4l\u00e4, E. M., Nitschke, J. B., Tudorascu, D. L., Hayes, A., Goldstein, M. R., Nguyen, D. T., … & Davidson, R. J. (2014). Breathing<\/span>\u2010<\/span>based meditation decreases posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in US Military veterans: A randomized controlled longitudinal study. <\/span>Journal of traumatic stress, 27<\/span>(4), 397-405.<\/span><\/p>\n