Disaster Relief for the Japanese Earthquake–Tsunami of 2011: Stress Reduction through the Transcendental Meditation® Technique

Abstract

This study examined changes in self-reported stress symptoms after instruction in the Transcendental Meditation® technique among 171 residents of two cities (Sendai and Ishinomaki) directly affected by the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster compared with 326 non-disaster Tokyo participants previously tested before and after learning the technique and a no-treatment control group (n = 68). The participants completed a rating checklist of mental and physical symptoms. Disaster area participants who learned the Transcendental Meditation® technique in contrast to controls showed a significant drop in total symptom score from pre-test to post-test (effect size = −1.09). Results were comparable for an ordinal measure of symptom intensity. The findings suggest the potential value of this procedure for relief from disaster trauma.