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Meditation Is Associated with Improved PTSD and Depression Symptoms, but the Evidence Is Limited

• Ten randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on meditation interventions for PTSD met inclusion criteria. Intervention approach, intensity, and study quality varied considerably. Six RCTs focused exclusively on patients exposed to combat-associated trauma.
• Meditation interventions — including mindfulness-based stress therapy, yoga, and mantram repetition program offered as adjunctive therapy — reduced PTSD symptoms statistically significantly compared with all comparators across all sources of trauma; the quality of evidence was rated as low.
• Adjunctive meditation interventions were also efficacious in reducing depression symptoms; the quality of evidence was rated as moderate.
• Effects were positive but not statistically significantly different for quality of life or anxiety symptoms, and no study addressed functional status. Only five RCTs assessed safety. None of these five studies identified any adverse events as a result of meditation interventions.
• No head-to-head trials compared different meditation approaches, and indirect comparisons did not systematically favor one type of meditation over another. Treatment effect estimates did not vary systematically by comparator. It was not possible to determine the differential effect of offering meditation as adjunctive or monotherapy, and meta-regressions did not identify a systematic effect of the intervention intensity or trauma type.