(Press-News.org) A new meta-analysis published today in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2013;19(10):1-12)1 found the Transcendental Meditation® technique (TM) has a large effect on reducing trait anxiety for people with high anxiety. Trait anxiety is a measure of how anxious a person usually is, as opposed to state anxiety, which refers to how anxious we are at the moment. A meta-analysis is an objective means to draw conclusions from all the research in a field.
This meta-analysis covered 16 randomized-controlled trials, the gold standard in medical research, and included 1295 subjects from various walks of life, age groups, and life situations. TM was compared with various control groups, including treatment-as-usual, individual and group psychotherapy, and various relaxation techniques. Studies on high stress groups, such as veterans suffering from PTSD and prison inmates, showed dramatic reductions in anxiety from TM practice, whereas studies of groups with only moderately elevated anxiety levels, such as normal adults and college students, showed more modest changes.
A chart shows that studies of individuals with anxiety levels in the 90th percentile (higher than 90% of the rest of the adult population) showed dramatic reductions in anxiety down to the 57th percentile from TM practice. This is just a little higher than the average anxiety level, which is the 50th percentile. Study groups that started in the 60th percentile, a little above average, showed more modest reductions, to the 48th percentile, a little below average.
Lead author on the meta-analysis, Dr. David Orme-Johnson, an independent research consultant, commented: "It makes sense that if you are not anxious to begin with, that TM practice is not going to reduce your anxiety that much. Groups with elevated anxiety received significant relief from TM, and that reduction occurred rapidly in the first few weeks of practice."
TM was also found to produce significant improvements in other areas worsened by anxiety, such as blood pressure, insomnia, emotional numbness, family problems, employment status, and drug and alcohol abuse.
Co-author Dr. Vernon Barnes of the Georgia Prevention Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Georgia explains what happens with control groups in these studies. "Control groups who received usual treatment did not show dramatic reductions in anxiety. In fact, control groups that were highly anxious to begin with, if anything, tended to become more anxious over time."
When asked about the effect of other approaches to reduce anxiety, he added, "However, progressive muscle relaxation was also effective in reducing anxiety. But, it did not have the other side benefits of TM, such as increasing overall mental health, and increasing the rate of recovery of the physiology from stressors."
Dr. Orme-Johnson answered a commonly asked question about placebo effects. He said: "Since anxiety is a self-reported measure, one might wonder whether the effects of TM practice or any other treatment program were a placebo effect. Placebos are great. If you give a person a sugar pill and tell them that it will reduce anxiety, it probably will, but only for a little while before the effect wears off. But the effects of TM were shown to be lasting and include objective benefits. For example a recent study showed that TM reduces heart attacks, strokes, and death over a ten-year period. So we know its effects are real and are not just due to a placebo."
The meta-analysis also examined the issue of bias with TM studies on anxiety. There was no evidence of missing studies and studies conducted by scientists who were in any way associated with Maharishi University of Management or any of its sister universities did not have stronger effects than research conducted at independent universities.
Two previous meta-analyses on TM have found that it is highly effective in reducing trait anxiety, and is more effective than other meditation and relaxation techniques, including mindfulness meditation.2,3
INFORMATION:
Background Information on Transcendental Meditation
The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique is a simple, natural, effortless procedure practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. It is the most widely practiced, most researched, and most effective method of self-development. For more information visit: http://www.tm.org.
Background information on anxiety
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in the United States, affecting 40 million adults (about 18% of the population) and costing more than $42 billion a year.4,5 Anxiety is considered a negative mood disturbance that results from failure to predict, control, and obtain desired goals6 and is associated with dysfunctional cognition, behavior, and physiologic over-activity.7 Anxiety further impairs health by motivating increased use of tobacco and alcohol8 and predisposes the individual to chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease.7,8
Orme-Johnson DW, Barnes VA. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on Trait Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Altern Complement Med 2013;19(10):1-12. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2013.0204
Eppley K, Abrams AI, Shear J. Differential effects of relaxation techniques on trait anxiety: A meta-analysis. J Clin Psychol 1989;45(6):957-974.
Sedlmeier P, Eberth J, Schwarz M, et al. The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 2012;138(6):1139-1171.
ADAA. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America. 2013; http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa. Accessed January 10, 2013.
Greenberg PE, Sisitsky T, Kessler RC, et al. The economic burden of anxiety disorders in the 1990's. J Clin Psychiatry 1999;60(7):472-435.
Barlow DH. Unraveling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the prespective of emotion theory. Am Psychol 2000;55:1247-1263.
Kolzet JA, Inra M. Anxiety. In: Allan R, Fisher J, eds. Heart and Mind: The Practice of Cardiac Psychology. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2012.
Sawchuk CN, Olatunji BO. Anxiety, health risk factors, and chronic disease. Am J Lifestyle Med 2011;5(6):531-541.
Effects of TM practice on trait anxiety: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
2013-10-10
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Organ donor promotion at DMV brings increase in registrations
2013-10-10
More than 90 percent of the public supports organ donation, yet less than half the population registers as donors, surveys show.
What if registration was better promoted to those who had previously turned it down? And at the place almost everyone makes that decision, the DMV?
Research at 40 Department of Motor Vehicles facilities in Illinois shows such efforts can make a difference. An article about the work was published in the September/October issue of the journal Clinical Transplantation.
University of Illinois professor Brian Quick and his research colleagues implemented ...
Osteoporosis is a major threat to women and their future independence, new report warns
2013-10-10
Nyon, Switzerland (October 10, 2013) – According to a new report published today by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), women may expect to live longer but their quality of life will be seriously jeopardized if action to protect their bone health is not taken. Postmenopausal women are the most vulnerable to osteoporosis and fractures. Worldwide, an estimated 200 million women are affected by osteoporosis and around one in three women aged over 50 will suffer from a fracture due to the disease.
With an increasingly ageing population huge demands will be put ...
The tundra -- a dark horse in planet Earth's greenhouse gas budget
2013-10-10
Vast areas on the Northern Hemisphere are covered by tundra. Here, dwarf shrubs, sedges, mosses etc. thrive on top of permafrost in areas where only the uppermost soil layer thaws during the short Arctic summer.
New studies show that the tundra may become a source of CO2 in the future. Researcher Magnus Lund from Aarhus University explains:
"The soil below the tundra contains very large quantities of carbon – more than twice as much as is present in the planet's entire atmosphere. Therefore, we would like to know if the carbon will stay put – or if it will be released ...
Wetland restoration in the northern Everglades: Watershed potential and nutrient legacies
2013-10-10
To most people, restoration of Florida's Everglades means recovering and protecting the wetlands of south Florida, including Everglades National Park. But what many don't realize is how intimately the fortunes of the southern Everglades are tied to central Florida's Lake Okeechobee and lands even further north.
"The Everglades at the southern tip of Florida—the remains of what was once a vast ecosystem—is interconnected with a large hydrologic system that really begins in Orlando with the northern Everglades," says Patrick Bohlen, a professor of biology at University ...
Neurological researchers find fat may be linked to memory loss
2013-10-09
(CHICAGO) –Although problems with memory become increasingly common as people age, in some persons, memories last long time, even a life time. On the other hand, some people experience milder to substantial memory problems even at an earlier age.
Although there are several risk factors of dementia, abnormal fat metabolism has been known to pose a risk for memory and learning. People with high amounts of abdominal fat in their middle age are 3.6 times as likely to develop memory loss and dementia later in their life.
Neurological scientists at the Rush University Medical ...
UCLA Dentistry discovers cellular signals between pancreatic cancer tumors and saliva
2013-10-09
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Most of those with the disease will die within the first year of diagnosis, and just 6 percent will survive five years.
The disease is typically diagnosed through an invasive and complicated biopsy. But a discovery by researchers at the UCLA School of Dentistry may be one major step toward creating a noninvasive tool that would enable clinicians and oncologists to detect pancreatic cancer through a simple risk assessment test using saliva.
In a study on a tumor-ridden mouse model, the UCLA researchers were ...
Amniotic stem cells show promise in helping to repair cardiac birth defects
2013-10-09
WASHINGTON, DC—Researchers at the University of Michigan Department of Surgery have begun testing an alternative to embryonic stem cells that could one day regenerate muscle tissue for babies with congenital heart defects. A research-in-progress report on this new approach, which uses amniotic stem cells, was presented today at the 2013 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Although this research is still in an early phase, this new approach has the potential to one day help thousands of babies born each year with congenital heart defects.
Typically, ...
New studies show cholera emerging as a driver of progress in public health in Haiti
2013-10-09
(OCTOBER 9, 2013)— The deadly cholera epidemic that rocked earthquake-shattered Haiti in 2010, claiming 8,000 lives and counting, has rallied the public health community to seek water and sewer improvements that, combined with vaccination, could prevent some 89,000 future cholera infections. These findings are among the many insights published this month in a special section of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - AJTMH and PAHO: Commemorating the 3rd Anniversary of the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti: Invited Papers documenting the public health response ...
Gene and stem cell therapy combination could aid wound healing
2013-10-09
Johns Hopkins researchers, working with elderly mice, have determined that combining gene therapy with an extra boost of the same stem cells the body already uses to repair itself leads to faster healing of burns and greater blood flow to the site of the wound.
Their findings offer insight into why older people with burns fail to heal as well as younger patients, and how to potentially harness the power of the body's own bone marrow stem cells to reverse this age-related discrepancy.
"As we get older, it is harder for our wounds to heal," says John W. Harmon, M.D., ...
A close look at the Toby Jug Nebula
2013-10-09
Located about 1200 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Carina (The Ship's Keel), the Toby Jug Nebula, more formally known as IC 2220, is an example of a reflection nebula. It is a cloud of gas and dust illuminated from within by a star called HD 65750. This star, a type known as a red giant, has five times the mass of our Sun but it is in a much more advanced stage of its life, despite its comparatively young age of around 50 million years [1].
The nebula was created by the star, which is losing part of its mass out into the surrounding space, forming ...