New study shows PTSD symptoms reduced in combat-exposed military via integrative medicine

Scripps study in Military Medicine reveals reduced depression, cynicism among US Marines

2012-09-24

(Press-News.org) SAN DIEGO (Sept. 24, 2012) – Healing touch combined with guided imagery (HT+GI) provides significant clinical reductions in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms for combat-exposed active duty military, according to a study released in the September issue of Military Medicine.

The report finds that patients receiving these complementary medicine interventions showed significant improvement in quality of life, as well as reduced depression and cynicism, compared to soldiers receiving treatment as usual alone.

The study, led by the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in San Diego, Calif., conducted a randomized controlled trial of returning active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif. from July 2008 to August 2010. Participants were separated at random into two groups, one that received treatment as usual (TAU) for PTSD and another that received TAU as well as healing touch (HT), a practitioner-based treatment aimed at eliciting the participant's own healing response, with guided imagery (GI), a self-care therapy aimed at eliciting relaxation as well as enhancing trust and self-esteem.

Significant Improvements Reported

After six sessions within a three-week period with a Scripps practitioner, the HT+GI group reported a significant improvement in PTSD symptoms as a result of these combined complementary therapies.

The principal investigators and designers of the study are Dr. Mimi Guarneri and Rauni King, founders of the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. The Samueli Institute of Alexandria,Va., conducted blind data analysis and authored the manuscript.

"Scores for PTSD symptoms decreased substantially, about 14 points and below the clinical cutoffs for PTSD," said Dr. Guarneri. "This indicates that the intervention was not just statistically significant, but actually decreased symptoms below the threshold for PTSD diagnosis. It made a large difference in reducing PTSD symptoms."

Study Criteria

The study included a total of 123 participants – 55 who received TAU and 68 who received HT+GI and TAU. To be eligible for the trial, participants were screened to confirm that they were currently experiencing at least one of the following PTSD symptoms: re-experiencing of trauma via flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, exaggerated emotional responses to trauma, emotional numbness, insomnia, irritability, exaggerated startle response, or avoidance of people or places that remind them of the trauma.

"Service members are seeking out non-drug complementary and integrative medicine as part of their overall care and approach to wellness," said Wayne B. Jonas, MD, president and chief executive officer of Samueli Institute. "This treatment pairs deep relaxation with a self-care approach that can be used at home .The results of this study underscore the need to make effective, non-stigmatizing treatments for PTSD available to all our service members."

Healing Touch and Guided Imagery

Healing touch is an energy-based, non-invasive treatment that restores and balances the human biofield to help decrease pain and promote healing. Healing touch is often used as an adjunct to surgery and other medical procedures to assist in pain reduction, decrease anxiety and elicit relaxation.

Guided imagery is a way of using the imagination to help a person, reduce stress, decrease pain and enhance overall well-being through visualization. For the purposes of this study, guided imagery was administered to the subjects through a recorded CD simultaneously with Healing Touch and then listed to independently by subjects at least once daily.

###The study, "Healing Touch with Guided Imagery for PTSD in Returning Active Duty Military: A Randomized Controlled Trial" was authored by Shamini Jain, PhD, Samueli Institute; George F. McMahon, CDR, NC, USN; Patricia Hasen, CDR, NC, USN, Valencia Porter, MD, MPH; Rauni King, RN, MIH, CHTP; Mimi Gaurneri, MD.

The study was funded by a grant from The Taylor Family Foundation. Although this was a privately-funded study, it involved a military population and investigator and followed all Department of Defense-relevant research regulations. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Navy position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation.

About Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine

Founded in 1999, the Scripps Center for Integrative medicine blends evidence-based complementary and alternative therapies with conventional Western medicine, in a "best of both worlds" approach to treating disease, healing and improving health. The center, which is part of the nonprofit Scripps Health system in San Diego, Calif., cares for people with chronic conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stress, pain, weight management and other health issues.

About Scripps Health

Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $2.5 billion nonprofit integrated health system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats a half-million patients annually through the dedication of 2,600 affiliated physicians and 13,000 employees among its five acute-care hospital campuses, home health care services, and an ambulatory care network of physician offices and 23 outpatient centers and clinics.

Recognized as a leader in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, Scripps is also at the forefront of clinical research, genomic medicine, wireless health care and graduate medical education. With three highly respected graduate medical education programs, Scripps is a longstanding member of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Scripps has been consistently recognized by Fortune, Working Mother magazine and AARP as one of the best places in the nation to work. More information can be found at www.scripps.org.

About Samueli Institute

Samueli Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) research organization supporting the scientific investigation of healing processes and their role in medicine and health care. Founded in 2001, the Institute is advancing the science of healing worldwide. Samueli Institute's research domains include integrative medicine, optimal healing environments, the role of the mind in healing, behavioral medicine, health care policy, and military and veterans' health care. Our mission is to transform health care through the scientific exploration of healing. More information can be found at SamueliInstitute.org.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Pacific Islanders have high obesity, smoking rates

2012-09-24

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—In the first study to detail the health of Pacific Islanders living in the United States, University of Michigan researchers have found alarmingly high rates of obesity and smoking. The preliminary findings are being presented today (Sept. 24) at a conference in Los Angeles on health disparities among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. "Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are the second fastest growing minority population in the U.S.," said Sela Panapasa, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research and principal investigator of the ...

Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of heart disease

2012-09-24

New research from the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital shows that low levels of vitamin D are associated with a markedly higher risk of heart attack and early death. The study involved more than 10,000 Danes and has been published in the well-reputed American journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. Vitamin D deficiency has traditionally been linked with poor bone health. However, the results from several population studies indicate that a low level of this important vitamin may also be linked to a higher risk of ischemic heart ...

Climate is changing the Great Barrier Reef

2012-09-24

Satellite measurement of sea surface temperatures has yielded clear evidence of major changes taking place in the waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef over the past 25 years, marine scientists have found. The changes have big implications for the future management of the GBR and its marine protected areas say Dr Natalie Ban and Professor Bob Pressey of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University, who led the study with Dr Scarla Weeks from the University of Queensland. "When we looked back at satellite data collected since 1985, ...

World Heart Federation says heart health starts earlier than you think

2012-09-24

A new multi-national survey reveals the extent of misconceptions about when is the right time to start taking action to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). In a four-country survey sample of 4,000 adults, 49 per cent answered age 30 years or older when asked at what age they believe people should start to take action about their heart health to prevent conditions such as heart disease and stroke. The fact is that CVD can affect people of all ages and population groups, and the risk begins early in life through unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity and exposure to ...

Cellular eavesdropping made easy

2012-09-24

It is much harder to keep up with a conversation in a crowded bar than in a quiet little café, but scientists wishing to eavesdrop on cells can now do so over the laboratory equivalent of a noisy room. A new method devised by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in collaboration with the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, provides a new approach for studying the proteins cells release to communicate with each other, react to changes, or even to help them move. Published online today in Nature Biotechnology, the work ...

New IVF breakthrough

2012-09-24

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered that a chemical can trigger the maturation of small eggs to healthy, mature eggs, a process that could give more women the chance of successful IVF treatment in the future. The results have been published in the revered journal PloS ONE. Women and girls treated for cancer with radiotherapy and chemotherapy are often unable to have children as their eggs die as a result of the treatment. Although it is now possible to freeze eggs and even embryos, this is not an option for girls who have yet to reach puberty. ...

Immune system molecule affects our weight

2012-09-24

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have identified a molecule in the immune system that could affect hunger and satiety. The researchers hope that new treatments for obesity will benefit from this finding. Interleukin-6 is a chemical messenger in our immune system that plays an important role in fighting off infection. However, recent research has, surprisingly, shown that it can also trigger weight loss. Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, have been investigating and managed to identify the specific types ...

New back pain gene identified in largest genetic study of its kind

2012-09-24

Researchers at King's College London have for the first time identified a gene linked to age-related degeneration of the intervertebral discs in the spine, a common cause of lower back pain. Costing the UK an estimated £7billion a year due to sickness leave and treatment costs, the causes of back pain are not yet fully understood. Until now, the genetic cause of lower back pain associated with lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) was unknown, but the largest study to date, published this week in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, has revealed an association with the ...

Red king or red queen

2012-09-24

This press release is available in German. The relationship between species determines how rapidly they evolve. Parasites and their hosts coevolve more rapidly, and partners in a mutualistic relationship can evolve more slowly. But this view is obviously too simplistic. The rate of evolution in a mutualistic relationship does not depend only on the type of interactions, but also on the number of individuals involved, according to a model developed by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany. Therefore, while partners can benefit ...

Two-thirds of the world's new solar panels were installed in Europe in 2011

2012-09-24

Europe accounted for two thirds of the world-wide newly installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2011, with 18.5 GW. Its overall PV capacity totalled 52 GW. The yearly electricity produced by PV could power a country with the electricity demand of Austria, which corresponds to 2% of the EU's electricity needs. These are some of the highlights of the 2012 Photovoltaics Status Report published today by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. The study summarises and evaluates the current activities regarding manufacturing, policies and market implementation world-wide. ...

New study shows PTSD symptoms reduced in combat-exposed military via integrative medicine

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: