PTSD Recovery - Meditations and Other Resouces Needed
September 18, 2016 8:23 AM   Subscribe

There's a friend who is looking to get some relief from long-standing symptoms that have stuck through every therapy known to mankind and now they want to start doing meditations specific for war-trauma related PTSD. Of course they need to be accessible online and effective, preferably with guided imagery, preferably designed to re-regulate the autonomic nervous system. Specific meditations on breathing, regulating emotions connected to PTSD such as anxiety, depression and helplessness.

As a side note, they heard of a meditation, could be mindfullness called Going Home and has turned the internet inside out to find it - man's voice with imagery and directives - nothing comes up. It was referenced in a movie on PTSD called Free The Mind, in the last 10 minutes or so at the end.
posted by watercarrier to Health & Fitness (9 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Buddhist Peter Renner has wonderful non religious guided meditations. They are timed. So easy to follow. I just love them. Look under "resources"
Good luck to your friend.


http://www.heartmind.ca/
posted by Tullyogallaghan at 10:00 AM on September 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I've just been reading about eye movement desensitiazation and reprocessing (EMDR). My knowledge of it is based on just a few articles, but thought I'd throw it in here.

http://www.emdria.org

And a Reddit AMA
posted by Gusaroo at 10:19 AM on September 18, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Healing Trauma Through Yoga, A 3-part e-Course

The Body Keeps the Score:: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (excerpt) (interview), by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. and other publications listed here.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:23 AM on September 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Ah... "The Project Welcome Home Troops program teaches a specific breathing practice – Sudarshan Kriya Yoga – taught by certified instructors. (To learn more about the science why breathing can help us overcome anxiety and trauma, see this post on the science of breath.) Research in non-veteran populations shows that it's helpful for anxiety, depression, stress, and even gene expression for immunity. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Phie Ambo, shadowed our entire study and filmed the veterans' transformation. It is called Free the Mind, and you can see trailers on my website." (Documentary available on Amazon.)

Project Welcome Home Troops offers The Power Breath Meditation Workshop.

My best wishes to your friend.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:31 AM on September 18, 2016


Best answer: There is also an app created by the VA called PTSD coach.
posted by SyraCarol at 11:34 AM on September 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Health Journeys Guided Meditation for PTSD.
posted by listen, lady at 12:24 PM on September 18, 2016


Best answer: I was coming in to recommend yoga as well. A schoolmate who's a veteran runs a programme that uses yoga to help vets with PTSD and from what he's said, it's had some pretty good effects.
posted by Tamanna at 12:35 PM on September 18, 2016


Best answer: Rather than going on my standard EMDR soapbox*, I will just say this. Prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy are the two gold-standard PTSD treatments. They work really, really well and fast, and have great long-term remission rates. Neither is counterindicated for even complex trauma or severe PTSD.

To add to the PTSD Coach app mentioned above, the VA developed a Mindfulness Coach app that might be helpful. Be aware that mindfulness is being used more and more with PTSD, but it doesn't have the evidence base at this point to be a gold-standard treatment, so it's less of a solid bet than the other two, but worth trying if your friend got a real dose of both from clinicians who did them faithfully. Also note that mindfulness is done with the goal of paying attention to and accepting symptoms, rather than regulating or reducing them (i.e., as relaxation). If what your friend is seeking is relaxation through mindfulness, note that exposure therapy has been found to be superior to relaxation in treating PTSD, and relaxation is often used as a control condition in research studies because it is assumed to not be an effective PTSD treatment.

I will assume that your friend has already been through both treatments I mentioned (9-12 weeks of prolonged exposure or 12 weeks of cognitive processing therapy) since you said they've gone through every treatment known to mankind, but if not, please feel free to memail me and I'd be happy to give you the ins and outs of either or both and/or help you look for a therapist. I can also help your friend figure out whether what they got was a faithful delivery of either, because if not, they might be worth a second try.

If your friend is in the US, I'll also assume that they received VA care because the trauma is war-related. If your friend did PTSD treatment at a VA more than 10 years ago, there's a good chance that the quality of PTSD care that they receive on a new attempt will be vastly improved. The VA has been at the forefront of the dissemination and implementation of high-quality PTSD treatment in the past decade (note that they picked the same two treatments I mentioned to disseminate as best-possible care for vets), and I would feel very confident sending a loved one to a VA clinician.

All my best to you and your friend.

*If your friend did do EMDR and the therapist only did the eye movement part and left out the part where your friend tells the story over and over again, which is a thing that sometimes happens with EMDR, your friend did not get PTSD treatment.
posted by quiet coyote at 9:55 PM on September 18, 2016


Best answer: My dad suffers from PTSD related from war trauma as a civilian refugee, and meditation and tai-chi helped him quite a bit. He had flashbacks, angry outbursts, depression, etc. The meditation was very difficult at first but what helped him ease into it was tai chi -- a somewhat slow but very deliberate and meditative form of exercise that helped him get active but also helped him learn to slow down, and quiet his mind by moving his body. It distracted him for a bit in those early stages when it could be hard to focus. And eventually the meditation got easier.

So I would also second yoga, tai chi or a similar activity that can be engaging but relaxing, and physically vigorous at times. It would also be a great transition into sitting or walking meditation. I think classes are best because you are with others who can keep you on track.
posted by mmmleaf at 12:15 AM on September 19, 2016


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