Page 644 - Total War on PTSD

over and called her meditation teacher. “I was laughing because it seemed so crazy. I’d lived with this anxiety for so long, and meditation was the missing piece to heal it.” There are moments, of course, where Melanie’s trauma returns, but the effects are not
as severe, and it dissipates more quickly.
While Veterans make up only 9% of the population, they account for double – 18%. – the number of U.S. suicides. The first study of TM as a treatment for PTSD involved combat Veterans of the Vietnam War. The trial showed a 52% reduction in anxiety symptoms, a 46% drop in depression, and a 40% reduction in symptoms of PTSD after three months’ practice of the technique. Veterans who couldn’t sleep 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
644 of 1085