Page 591 - Total War on PTSD

finally found relief, and many who’d turned to alcohol abuse were able to ease off their drinking.
Thousands of Veterans have learned TM. Research on Veterans who meditate has shown that the technique reduces the psychosocial symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, and also balances serotonin and norepinephrine, and regulates the sympathetic nervous system. Recently, a study of Veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan showed a 48% reduction in symptoms of PTSD, and an 87% improvement in depression. The results were evident after just two months of practicing TM.
In 2010, the David Lynch Foundation began offering TM to Veterans, Active Duty military personnel and Cadets - and their families — through our Operation Warrior Wellness (OWW) initiative. That’s how Paul Downs learned to meditate. In his eleven years serving as an infantryman in the U.S. Marine Corps, Paul was deployed in hotspots and combat zones throughout the world. In the Middle East alone he served in Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. When Paul left the Marines, one of the things he looked forward to most was being close to his young children. But what he didn’t realize was just how much his identity as a Marine meant to him. When Paul left the Corps, he said, he lost pretty much everything: his tribe, his sense of self, and all that he knew to be true. Because of that, he lost his sense of forward momentum, purpose and connection.
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