The unique nature of life in Israel causes people from different groups to develop post-traumatic stress (or post-traumatic stress disorder) – from residents of missile-hit areas, through soldiers who have had difficult experiences in the service, to people who are perceived from the outside as “everything is fine” with them – but feel that their life is a war that only they are aware of its existence.
A report by the Knesset Research and Information Center published in November 2021 found that approximately 95% of disabled IDF personnel diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder are defined as permanently disabled as a result.
Post trauma, it is important to understand, greatly affects health – physical and mental. Studies have linked it to the weakening of the immune system and have also proven that it increases the risk of diabetes, eating disorders, obesity and even cancer. However, today, when we are more familiar with the phenomenon and its consequences, we understand more that it is definitely possible to treat it, reduce the intensity of its impact on life and above all to lead a more benevolent and positive routine alongside the trauma.
Experts emphasize that in order to offer effective treatment for the phenomenon, one must break free from the traditional approach of drugs and emotional support only. Additional tools should be considered to help improve various aspects of coping – not as a replacement for traditional treatment, but as an addition. One of the popular tools in this regard is the practice of transcendental meditation – and we will immediately understand exactly why.
Promising results in the use of Transcendental Meditation for the treatment of battle shock
A study currently taking place in Israel, at the Ministry of Defense clinic at the Rambam Medical Center, led by the director of the psychiatric division (and chairman of the National Post Traumatic Council), compares the effectiveness of using Transcendental Meditation against the effectiveness of proven therapy (EMDR). The results in the preliminary phase of the research showed great effectiveness for the use of transcendental meditation, and the research is still in progress.
On top of that, as we know, post-traumatic stress disorder is not only an Israeli problem, but a global and wide-ranging one. One of the prominent groups that suffer from it at high rates includes American military veterans. According to estimates, PTSD is diagnosed in between 10 and 20 percent of those discharged from the United States military.
In a study published in the prestigious scientific journal Psychiatry The Lancet, in 2018 and funded by the Ministry of Defense, the medical research of the US Army, in the amount of 2.4 million dollars, surveyed the extent of the effect of transcendental meditation on dealing with post-trauma. In the study, it was found that the practitioners of transcendental meditation showed A significant reduction in post-traumatic symptoms, compared to those who received prolonged exposure therapy, which is considered the gold standard in psychotherapy.
The study joins another series of academic works that have proven that the method helps improve the lives of those suffering from the disorder as well as overcome some of the most significant difficulties that accompany it – including addictions, sleep disorders, depression and emotional numbness. In addition, researchers emphasize that the practice also helps in improving physiological indicators, such as blood pressure and inflammation indicators.
A similar study, conducted among female inmates diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, found that they also experienced an improvement in post-traumatic symptoms. When they began to practice transcendental meditation, the prisoners felt that they could process in a more healthy way the traumas they had experienced – from violent attacks they had experienced to sexual abuse.
Eli Furman served in the Golani patrol as a fighter and a sniper. Following a military incident he was involved in, he developed post-traumatic stress disorder. He says: “As part of the treatments at the Rambam Hospital, I was offered to study transcendental meditation, a field I was not really familiar with until then. This is a very simple exercise, which should be performed for about 20 minutes, in the morning and in the evening. This particular practice, the special gathering within myself for 20 minutes twice a day, managed to restore my focus and inner peace. That way I am able to concentrate on the conversation or the work I have to do.”
An American soldier who fought in Iraq summed up the effect of transcendental meditation on his life as follows: “After the first week that I practiced meditation, I was able to sleep. The depression improved every day and my aggressions gradually disappeared. Transcendental meditation gave me a perspective on life with peace of mind.”
The author is a doctor and a veteran practitioner of the transcendental meditation technique