Meditation in Veterans With PTSD and Mild TBI

Overview

The goal of this study is to learn more about how Inner Resources for Veterans (IRV), a mindfulness and mantra therapy, helps Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). PTSD is a disorder that occurs after exposure to one or more emotionally traumatic experiences. People with PTSD may experience anxiety, pay extra attention to their surroundings, involuntarily remember their traumatic experiences, and/or want to avoid situations where these symptoms are increased. MTBI may result from being in a blast explosion, with pressure from the blast potentially disrupting the brain's structure and function. At this time, it is not well known how PTSD and mTBI may affect each other. In this study, the investigators will be looking at the behavioral and neurological changes (changes in the brain) and the reductions in PTSD symptoms that may come from participating in this treatment. The investigators are interested in determining if treatment does reverse changes in the brain caused by PTSD and mTBI. To help the investigators understand changes in how the brain functions, the participants will complete a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan before and after either IRV or an active control group. Both conditions are 9-session, 12-week interventions. Participation will help the investigators understand how therapy for PTSD and mTBI impacts the brain's response to emotions and therapeutic processes.

Approximately 18-22% of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/ Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) Veterans have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 15-30% of Veterans report mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The effects of mTBI and PTSD have been evident since military personnel first came home and continue to be difficult to eradicate. At 3-4 months post-deployment, OIF Veterans with mild TBI were more likely to endorse PTSD symptoms than those without mTBI. The co-morbidity may be long-lasting, or at least recurrent, as TBI-related symptoms were strongly associated with traumatic stress five years after injury. In an examination of factors associated with postconcussive symptoms, PTSD was a strong factor. In active duty marines, mTBI during deployment predicted PTSD after deployment, and in a study of OEF-OIF-OND Veterans, 57.3% of those with mTBI had PTSD. The literature on how mTBI and co-morbid PTSD affect each other and the effects on Veterans several years post-deployment is sparse. Treatment recommendations specific to Veterans with both mTBI and PTSD are in flux, and while treatments address each disorder independently, they may not be effective when the two disorders co-occur. Further impacting successful treatment of Veterans is the fact that many Veterans do not seek treatment, in part due to the distance they travel to obtain VA services and stigma. Treatments that are accessible and improve symptoms in patients with mTBI and PTSD alone may facilitate rehabilitation in Veterans with co-morbid mTBI and PTSD. Mindfulness and mantra have been suggested to be effective in Veterans with PTSD and in civilians with TBI, improving quality of life. The current study proposes a type of mindfulness targeted for Veterans, Inner Resources for Veterans (IRV). Inner Resources for Veterans (IRV), a mindfulness and mantra intervention, is based on Inner Resources for Stress, an intervention which utilizes mindfulness, techniques that encourage present moment attention for the purpose of promoting better self-monitoring and self-regulation, and mantra, the repetition of sounds that do not have meaning in order to maintain present focused attention. The Inner Resources protocol targets PTSD and has been associated with reduced PTSD and anxiety symptoms, reduced number of depressive symptoms, and depression remissions at a 9-month follow-up, as well as increased perceived self-efficacy. Pilot results of older combat Veterans with PTSD indicated that Inner Resources is a safe, feasible, and acceptable intervention. The control condition is an active treatment called Essential Skills, a manualized therapy adapted from a similar therapy utilized at multiple VAs as a psychoeducational and symptom management treatment for PTSD. In a previous study at the Michael E. DeBakey VA that did not investigate the effect of mTBI, Essential Skills provided education on the symptoms and effects of PTSD. For example, subjects learned to recognize the circumstances that triggered their symptoms, how to identify and participate in healthy activities, and how to monitor their sleep. In the current study, in Essential Skills, Veterans learn about symptoms of both mTBI and PTSD and coping skills. In addition to the changes in functional and psychological symptoms and neural pathways, IRV would offer Veterans a treatment they could utilize whenever challenging situations occur regardless of location. Since the treatment would be relatively cost-free after initial training, IRV could also dramatically reduce financial burden to both Veterans and VA. Few treatment studies focusing on Veterans with co-morbid mTBI and PTSD support the innovation of this study, as does generation of community integration data to relate to changes in functional connectivity.