Transcending…more effective treatment for anxiety than ordinary relaxation, psychotherapy or stress management?
Imagine the feeling of a child coming home, running into its mother’s arms. The child feels safe peaceful and warm, and all anxiety just melts away. That’s what transcending feels like to most people.
Anxiety is often related to deep rooted stresses, stresses that are out of reach of normal therapies, such as relaxation or pyschotherapy, which can only work on the surface level of the mind. Transcending brings the mind to its deepest inner source and from there activates the body’s and mind’s power to heal itself from even our deepest stresses. (see why TM is so effective against stress). Anxiety and fear spontaneously disappear simply as a side-effect of coming back home, a holistic positive transformation that effects all areas of life.
1. Meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled TM trials
A recent review of 16 high quality TM studies with a total 1295 subjects showed a remarkable average reduction in anxiety, especially with people with a high anxiety level. People who were on average in the 90th percentile on an anxiety scale (= high anxiety, higher than 90% of the general population) progressed to the 57th percentile after they learned the technique (= almost normal, 50% is population average). Given the fact that anxiety is usually difficult to cure, these are remarkable results. The biggest changes took place in the first 3-4 weeks of TM practice.Ref.Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2013;19(10):1-12)
Transcendental Meditation compared to other meditation or relaxation techniques
Scientists at Stanford University have compared the effects of different meditation techniques on anxiety in the largest comparative meditation analysis to date. 146 different scientific studies were included in the analysis, 35 of which were TM studies.
This analysis showed that most meditation and relaxation techniques have an effect that is hardly better than a placebo (where people are simply asked to sit with their eyes closed). Only Transcendental Meditation appeared to have a significantly better effect (p<.001), on average twice as effective as all other techniques ever researched. Another not insignificant detail was that only in TM the effect increased the longer the technique was practiced. This is the difference between relaxation and real transcendence.Ref.Journal of Clinical Psychology 45: 957–974, 1989
Treating anxiety: Transcendental Meditation compared to psychotherapy
One study from the University of Colorado Medical Center, in Denver, USA, compared the effectiveness of Transcendental Meditation to accepted psychotherapy for patients admitted for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Several different problem areas were studied, including anxiety.
After 3 months, the TM group showed significant improvements in all of the areas studied –
– Depression p<.001*,
– Post Traumatic Stress Disorder p<.001,
– Anxiety p<.001,
– Emotional Disconnect p<.005,
– Alcohol Abuse p<.01,
– Insomnia p<.001, and
– Family Trauma p<.01.
However, the psychotherapy group showed no significant improvement in any area. If the Transcendental Meditation technique can be used for patients with severe symptoms of traumatic stress (these patients were war veterans), then, perhaps, it is safe to assume that it is effective to treat anyone whose symptoms are not so severe or deep rooted.Ref.Journal of Counseling and Development 64: 212–215, 1985
For more questions about the effect of Transcendental Meditation on fear and anxiety disorders go to: Doctors answer questions: TM and anxiety
More than 35 studies exist on the effect of Transcendental Meditation and anxiety disorders. The effect is the same all around the world for all age groups. To see some of these studies, see study anxiety disorders.