Trial reportThe Permanente journal2016
Reduced Trauma Symptoms and Perceived Stress in Male Prison Inmates through the Transcendental Meditation Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in The Permanente journal, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Transcendental Meditation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Meditation Techniques in Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- The Utility of Meditation and Mindfulness-Based Interventions in the Time of COVID-19: A Theoretical Proposition and Systematic Review of the Relevant Prison, Quarantine and Lockdown Literature.Psychological reports · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Mantra-Based Meditation on Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Cultural adaptations of psychological interventions for prevalent sleep disorders and sleep disturbances: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials in the United States.Sleep medicine reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Psychosocial interventions for conversion and dissociative disorders in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Common Yoga Protocol Modulates Traditional Architecture of Personality and Its Association with the Socio-demographic Variables of Prisoners: An Exploratory Study.Annals of neurosciences · 2025Article
- Survival, Attachment, and Healing: An Evolutionary Lens on Interventions for Trauma-Related Dissociation.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Review
- Effects of a Mindfulness and Physical Activity Programme on Anxiety, Depression and Stress Levels in People with Mental Health Problems in a Prison: A Controlled Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A Pragmatic Study of the Impact of a Brief Mindfulness Intervention on Prisoners and Staff in a Category B Prison and Men Subject to Community-Based Probation Supervision.International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology · 2021Article
- Transcendental Meditation for women affected by domestic violence: Study protocol of a pilot randomised, controlled trial.Integrative medicine research · 2020Article
- Mind-Body Training for At-Risk Populations: Preventive Medicine at its Best.The Permanente journal · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextTrauma events are four times more prevalent in inmates than in the general public and are associated with increased recidivism and other mental and physical health issues.
objectiveTo evaluate the effects of Transcendental Meditation (TM) on trauma symptoms in male inmates.
designOne hundred eighty-one inmates with a moderate- to high-risk criminal profile were randomly assigned to either the TM program or to a usual care control group.
main outcome measuresThe Trauma Symptom Checklist and the Perceived Stress Scale were administered at baseline and four-month posttest.
resultsSignificant reductions in total trauma symptoms, anxiety, depression, dissociation, and sleep disturbance subscales, and perceived stress in the TM group were found compared with controls (all p values < 0.001). The high-trauma subgroup analysis further showed a higher magnitude of effects in the TM group compared with controls on all outcomes, with Cohen effect sizes ranging from 0.67 to 0.89.
conclusionResults are consistent with those of prior studies of the TM program in other populations and its effects on trauma symptoms and perceived stress.
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Registered trials
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