Researchers from the University of Louisville in Kentucky looked at whether Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) can reduce stress arousal in patients suffering from fibromyalgia.

An earlier study by this principal investigator showed that MBSR reduced depressive symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia with gains maintained at two months follow-up (Sephton et al., Arthritis & Rheumatism, 57:77-85, 2007).

This second study explored the effects of MBSR on basal sympathetic (SNS) activation among women with fibromyalgia. Twenty-four participants were tested before and after MBSR for anxiety, depressive symptoms, and SNS activation.

Researchers from the Departments of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University at Norfolk, Virginia, examined the impact of a structured meditation program intervention on female detainees, comparing an experimental group and a control group for medical symptoms, emotions, and behaviors before and after the intervention.

A 2 1/2-hour meditation session was held once a week for 7 weeks. Study participants completed a medical symptoms checklist before the program began and after it ended.

Researchers R. Bruce Lydiard, Ph.D., M.D., and Mark Hammer MD from the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston SC , are embarking on some important research that targets sleep disturbance in posttraumatic stress.  Their premise is that the first-line treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder - medication (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and cognitive behavior therapy – do not adequately treat nightmares and insomnia. Nor do they feel that there is sufficient awareness in the mental health community of the critical role sleep disturbance plays in PTSD.

Researchers from Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust in Wales, UK, explored the impact of various interventions when they are delivered within 3 months of the traumatic event.

The study identified 25 randomized, controlled trials of multiple-session psychological treatments aimed at preventing or reducing traumatic stress symptoms in individuals within 3 months of exposure to a traumatic event.  The studies examined a range of interventions. 

Jennifer Strauss PhD and her team at Duke Medical Center & the Durham V.A.M.C. have conducted one survey and 3 studies assessing SMART (Self-Management Audio for Recovery from Trauma) on soldiers and veterans with posttraumatic stress.  The results have exceeded expectations, and compare with far more expensive, time-consuming, and hard-to-implement best practices currently in use for PTSD.

Researchers from Cardiff University in Wales performed a systematic review of RCTs (randomized, controlled trials) of various psychological treatments for PTSD. The study looked at trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy/exposure therapy (TFCBT); stress management (SM – this is where guided imagery would mostly fit); supportive therapy; non-directive counseling; psychodynamic therapy; hypnotherapy; group cognitive behavioural therapy; and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).

Thirty-three studies wound up qualifying for inclusion in the review. There was no significant difference between TFCBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and SM (stress management) – both did significantly better than wait-list controls and than the other therapies.  EMDR also did significantly better.

 

A reviewer at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Administration Medical Center in Houston, Texas, reports on the value of pharmaceuticals for posttraumatic stress, and particularly of alpha-blockers for PTSD-related sleep disturbances. 

The article reports that an estimated 70-87% of patients who suffer from posttraumatic stress experience sleep disruption – difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, as well as distressing nightmares in which the traumatic event is reexperienced.  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s such as Zoloft, Prozac, Luvox, Celexa, Paxil, etc) are the pharmaceutical treatment of choice for PTSD, but with the exception of fluvoxamine (Luvox), they are often ineffective or only partially effective for sleep problems.

A group of Japanese public health researchers from Kyoto University investigated the effects of autogenic training on firefighters with and without posttraumatic stress. Twenty-two male firefighters were in this pilot study - ten with PTSD and 12 without. They all were given autogenic training two or three times a week for two months. Heart rate variability was measured, and a Japanese language version of the IES (Impact of Events) Scale - a commonly used PTSD measure - was also used.

We have strong indications that our Healing Trauma imagery gives an assist to existing cognitive behavioral and multi-modal programs for PTSD in recovering vets, but Leslie Root, PhD, Ellen Koch, PhD & colleagues at the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Mississippi, wanted to measure the effects of the trauma-specific imagery as the only add-on intervention after each of 5 group treatment sessions for PTSD. This breaks new ground.