The pilot study investigates the potential benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program in reducing trauma, including PTSD, in female prisoners. Subjects will be randomly assigned to either the TM program or a wait list control group for a period of four months.
This randomized controlled pilot study will evaluate the effects of Transcendental Meditation ® (TM) on female offenders with trauma. Twenty-two inmates at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, with at least four months left of incarceration, will be enrolled in the study. Subjects will be randomly assigned to either a TM (n=11) or a wait-list control group (n=11). Subjects will be measured at baseline and four-month posttest, using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian version (PCL-C) Twenty of the subjects (10 in each group) will take part in their treatment assignment and complete post-testing.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
22
a mental technique using a mantra or 'soothing sound' that refines the thought process enabling the mind to 'transcend' its own thinking process and experience a state of pure consciousness. Subjects practice this technique twice a day for 20 minutes sitting in chair with eyes closed.
Posttraumatic Stress Checklist- Civilian Version (PCL-C) total score
The PCL-C is a widely-used 17-item self-report questionnaire of trauma symptom with total score and intrusions, avoidance and hyperarousal subscales
Time frame: 4 months
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