A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation as Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans.
Bellehsen M, Stoycheva V, Cohen BH, Nidich S. · Journal of traumatic stress · 2022 · Single-blind randomized controlled pilot trial
Original publication · Original publication
Recorded summary
In 40 veterans with PTSD, Transcendental Meditation reduced clinician-rated symptoms more than usual care over 12 weeks. Half of the meditation group no longer met PTSD criteria, compared with 10% of controls.
Recorded limitations
A small pilot with usual-care comparison. Anger and quality of life did not differ significantly; this does not establish equivalence to trauma-focused psychotherapy.
Evidence and provenance
Chapter Trust Factor uses a minimum of three distinct qualifying studies. Publication records retain their own evidence and assessment.
Study design and assessment
- design
- Single-blind randomized controlled pilot trial
- assessment
- category
- peer-reviewed
- peer Reviewed
- true
- basis
- Reported design checked against the primary publication abstract. Blinding terminology reflects the source report, not an independent risk-of-bias rating.
- sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- assessed At
- 2026-10-26
- registered Masking Basis
- false
- trust Factor
- score
- 2
- scope
- Paper
- status
- assessed
- randomized Controlled Trial
- true
- blinding
- single
- peer Reviewed
- true
- basis
- Reported design checked against the primary publication abstract. Blinding terminology reflects the source report, not an independent risk-of-bias rating.
- sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- review Scope
- Existing publication-specific assessments and bibliographic indexing; no blanket full-text appraisal.
- assessed At
- 2026-10-27
- jadad
- status
- unassessed
- score
- Not recorded
- evidence
- intervention
- Transcendental Meditation
- comparator
- Treatment as usual
- evidence Type
- Clinical or experimental outcomes
- source URLs
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- checked At
- 2026-10-26
- review Scope
- Primary publication abstract and bibliographic identity checked; comprehensive full-text risk-of-bias and Jadad assessment pending.
- discovery Sources
https://daytab.com/study/56b8fwvc · https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33734493
- selection Policy
- Success-focused discovery selection, with material limitations retained; not an exhaustive systematic review.
Topics and recorded topic scores
- key
- language:i
- title
- Mantra meditation: cognition, creativity, mental health and cardiovascular outcomes
- collection
- language
- trust Score
- 2
Citation snapshot and identifiers
- id
- pmid-33734493
- doi
- 10.1002/jts.22665
- pmid
- 33734493
- citation Snapshot
- count
- 15
- source
- Europe PMC
- retrieved At
- 2026-10-26
- url
- https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33734493
- citations By Collection
- language
- 15
Complete approved library record
- id
- pmid-33734493
- publication Key
- doi:10.1002/jts.22665
- aliases
- None recorded
- title
- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation as Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans.
- journal
- Journal of traumatic stress
- neurotransmitters
- None recorded
- year
- 2022
- authors
- Bellehsen M, Stoycheva V, Cohen BH, Nidich S.
- design
- Single-blind randomized controlled pilot trial
- identity Conflict
- Not recorded
- doi
- 10.1002/jts.22665
- pmid
- 33734493
- urls
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- collections
language
- categories
Clinical & self-report
- targets
- None recorded
- priority
- 1
- quotes
- None recorded
- summary
- In 40 veterans with PTSD, Transcendental Meditation reduced clinician-rated symptoms more than usual care over 12 weeks. Half of the meditation group no longer met PTSD criteria, compared with 10% of controls.
- limitation
- A small pilot with usual-care comparison. Anger and quality of life did not differ significantly; this does not establish equivalence to trauma-focused psychotherapy.
- citation Count
- 15
- citation Snapshot
- count
- 15
- source
- Europe PMC
- retrieved At
- 2026-10-26
- url
- https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33734493
- study Design Assessment
- category
- peer-reviewed
- peer Reviewed
- true
- basis
- Reported design checked against the primary publication abstract. Blinding terminology reflects the source report, not an independent risk-of-bias rating.
- sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- assessed At
- 2026-10-26
- registered Masking Basis
- false
- paper Trust Assessment
- score
- 2
- scope
- Paper
- status
- assessed
- randomized Controlled Trial
- true
- blinding
- single
- peer Reviewed
- true
- basis
- Reported design checked against the primary publication abstract. Blinding terminology reflects the source report, not an independent risk-of-bias rating.
- sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- review Scope
- Existing publication-specific assessments and bibliographic indexing; no blanket full-text appraisal.
- assessed At
- 2026-10-27
- citations By Collection
- language
- 15
- topics
- key
- language:i
- title
- Mantra meditation: cognition, creativity, mental health and cardiovascular outcomes
- collection
- language
- trust Score
- 2
- journal Key
- journaloftraumaticstress
- journal Label
- Journal of traumatic stress
- chapter Entries
- title
- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation as Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans.
- journal
- Journal of traumatic stress
- year
- 2022
- authors
- Bellehsen M, Stoycheva V, Cohen BH, Nidich S.
- design
- Single-blind randomized controlled pilot trial
- urls
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- doi
- 10.1002/jts.22665
- pmid
- 33734493
- targets
- None recorded
- categories
Clinical & self-report
- citation Count
- 15
- citation Snapshot
- count
- 15
- source
- Europe PMC
- retrieved At
- 2026-10-26
- url
- https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33734493
- study Design Assessment
- category
- peer-reviewed
- peer Reviewed
- true
- basis
- Reported design checked against the primary publication abstract. Blinding terminology reflects the source report, not an independent risk-of-bias rating.
- sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- assessed At
- 2026-10-26
- registered Masking Basis
- false
- evidence
- intervention
- Transcendental Meditation
- comparator
- Treatment as usual
- evidence Type
- Clinical or experimental outcomes
- source URLs
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- checked At
- 2026-10-26
- review Scope
- Primary publication abstract and bibliographic identity checked; comprehensive full-text risk-of-bias and Jadad assessment pending.
- discovery Sources
https://daytab.com/study/56b8fwvc · https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33734493
- selection Policy
- Success-focused discovery selection, with material limitations retained; not an exhaustive systematic review.
- id
- language-i-pmid-33734493
- record Id
- pmid-33734493
- quotes
- None recorded
- source Pages
- None recorded
- summary
- In 40 veterans with PTSD, Transcendental Meditation reduced clinician-rated symptoms more than usual care over 12 weeks. Half of the meditation group no longer met PTSD criteria, compared with 10% of controls.
- limitation
- A small pilot with usual-care comparison. Anger and quality of life did not differ significantly; this does not establish equivalence to trauma-focused psychotherapy.
- paper Trust Assessment
- score
- 2
- scope
- Paper
- status
- assessed
- randomized Controlled Trial
- true
- blinding
- single
- peer Reviewed
- true
- basis
- Reported design checked against the primary publication abstract. Blinding terminology reflects the source report, not an independent risk-of-bias rating.
- sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- review Scope
- Existing publication-specific assessments and bibliographic indexing; no blanket full-text appraisal.
- assessed At
- 2026-10-27
- publication Key
- doi:10.1002/jts.22665
- collection
- language
- chapter Number
- 1
- topic Id
- i
- topic Title
- Mantra meditation: cognition, creativity, mental health and cardiovascular outcomes
- trust Score
- 2
- evidence
- intervention
- Transcendental Meditation
- comparator
- Treatment as usual
- evidence Type
- Clinical or experimental outcomes
- source URLs
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734493/ · https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22665
- checked At
- 2026-10-26
- review Scope
- Primary publication abstract and bibliographic identity checked; comprehensive full-text risk-of-bias and Jadad assessment pending.
- discovery Sources
https://daytab.com/study/56b8fwvc · https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33734493
- selection Policy
- Success-focused discovery selection, with material limitations retained; not an exhaustive systematic review.
- jadad
- status
- unassessed
- score
- Not recorded
- condition Evidence
- id
- ptsd
- evidence
- field
- curated primary-source summary
- text
- In 40 veterans with PTSD, Transcendental Meditation reduced clinician-rated symptoms more than usual care over 12 weeks. Half of the meditation group no longer met PTSD criteria, compared with 10% of controls.
- matched Text
- ptsd
- conditions
ptsd
- topic Trust Scores
2
- full Text
- status
- not-indexed
- retrieval Available
- false