New meditators in South Africa New research shows that the Transcendental Meditation technique produces a significant reduction of Post Traumatic Stress symptoms (PTS) in students without the use of pharmacology or revisiting the original trauma and without creating secondary trauma in individuals
In September at the 20th Anniversary of the South Africa Psychology Conference, leading psychologist Mirah Wilks presented her new study, Rapid Reduction Of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms In South African Students Not At War. Dr. Wilks is Chair of the Counselling and Psychometry Division of the Psychological Society of South Africa.
Her study examined the effect of the Transcendental Meditation technique in reducing symptoms of PTS among undergraduate students beginning their further education and training or higher education training education in South Africa. Most of the students in the study had never been involved in war, yet had a history of traumatic events. Students from University of Johannesburg were used as the control group after being screened for PTS in 2013, using the PTSD Checklist ‑ Civilian (PCL-C), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Trauma History Questionnaire (THQ).
Students from the Johannesburg Maharishi Institute were screened for PTS using the same tests in 2014. In both groups, psychologists identified PTS symptoms in the confirmation interviews. The control group received no further treatment. After the initial pre-testing, the experimental group was instructed in the Transcendental Meditation technique and told to practice for 20 minutes, twice a day.
Conclusions of the pilot study indicate that Transcendental Meditation produces a significant reduction of PTS symptoms without the use of pharmacology or re-opening the traumatic event and creating secondary trauma in individuals. The full study will be posted soon.
New meditators on their way to an advanced meditation course in South Africa.
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