How Meditation Can Help Manage Symptoms of Trauma

Meditation offers practitioners powerful benefits, yet many people need clarification on those benefits. In a nutshell, meditation deliberately focuses attention, taking you from a state of noisy mental chatter to calm and quiet inner peace. And isn’t that something most of us could use?

While meditation has been practiced for thousands of years in the East and – more recently – the West as a way to grow spiritually, modern medicine is now finally extolling meditation's numerous health benefits.

Meditation can reduce stress hormones by calming the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. These systems are what activate our main panic responses (“fight,” “flight,” “freeze,” or “friend”) to stressful situations. Because of this, meditation can be a wonderful coping strategy for those suffering from trauma.

Is Meditation Better than Medication?

Historically, people battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been given medication to help alleviate unwanted and unpleasant symptoms. However, a new study has found that regular practice of meditation enables some active duty service members battling PTSD to reduce or even eliminate their need for psychotropic medications and to control their often-debilitating symptoms better.

This is great news for service men and women and anyone who is battling PTSD. Not only can meditation help to calm your nerves and rewire your brain, but it can also reduce the risk of developing negative side effects to many psychotropic medications used to treat PTSD and anxiety disorders. Beyond memory loss and erectile dysfunction, one of the biggest side effects of these medications is depression. That’s the last thing a person suffering from PTSD needs.

How to Begin a Meditation Practice?

If you are suffering from the effects of trauma and would like to try meditation, here are some steps you can take to get started:

Find a Group Practice

If you’re completely new to meditation, you may want to join a group meditation course that meets every week. You can usually find groups in your local area through online communities such as Meetup.com.

Be Open Minded

Meditation has long been associated with new-age movements. But you would be amazed at the different kinds of people who now practice meditation. If you tend to be skeptical, try to have an open mind as you begin your practice.

Be Patient

It’s called a practice for a reason. You won’t “get” meditation certified overnight. You’ll have to keep at it before it becomes natural for you and you reap the benefits. Try to have patience and keep at it.

If you or a loved one are suffering from trauma symptoms and would like to speak with someone who can help, please get in touch with me. I’d be happy to discuss the treatment options that would work best for you.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201601/meditation-reduces-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-symptoms

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201306/how-does-meditation-reduce-anxiety-neural-level

https://psychcentral.com/news/2018/01/13/transcendental-meditation-shown-to-ease-veterans-ptsd/131167.html