Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy teaches patients to be in the present moment in nonjudgmental, accepting ways. Researchers at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center decided to compare a mindfulness intervention with present-centered group therapy of 116 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Those in the mindfulness group had eight weekly 2.5-hour sessions and one day-long retreat. Veterans in the present-centered group attended nine weekly 1.5-hour group sessions focusing on current problems. The results found that the veterans who used the mindfulness techniques experienced a greater decrease in the severity of their PTSD symptoms than did those in the other group.
In this video, Melissa A. Polusny, Ph.D., and Dr. Kelvin O. Lim, both of the medical center, talk with three veterans with PTSD about how mindfulness changed their quality of life and helped them find peace of mind.