Abstract
A study was conducted to compare the efficacy of meditation with that of imipramine and chlordiazepoxide in the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. At the end of five weeks, meditation was found to be as effective as pharmacotherapy in controlling symptoms of anxiety. It was superior in altering trait anxiety (TMAS Scores). Meditation is an easy to learn and cost effective therapy. It has a distinct edge over pharmacotherapy in that it is does not have the associated problems of habit formation,-withdrawal effects, overdosage or other undesirable effects.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (256.6 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Corby J. C., Roth W. T., Zarcone V. P., Jr, Kopell B. S. Psychophysiological correlates of the practice of Tantric Yoga meditation. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1978 May;35(5):571–577. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1978.01770290053005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fischer R. A cartography of the ecstatic and meditative states. Science. 1971 Nov 26;174(4012):897–904. doi: 10.1126/science.174.4012.897. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HAMILTON M. The assessment of anxiety states by rating. Br J Med Psychol. 1959;32(1):50–55. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1959.tb00467.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Thomas D., Abbas K. A. Comparison of transcendental meditation and progressive relaxation in reducing anxiety. Br Med J. 1978 Dec 23;2(6154):1749–1749. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6154.1749. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Vahia N. S., Doongaji D. R., Jeste D. V., Ravindranath S., Kapoor S. N., Ardhapurkar I. Psychophysiologic therapy based on the concepts of Patanjail. A new approach to the treatment of neurotic and psychosomatic disorders. Am J Psychother. 1973 Oct;27(4):557–565. doi: 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1973.27.4.557. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Walrath L. C., Hamilton D. W. Autonomic correlates of meditation and hypnosis. Am J Clin Hypn. 1975 Jan;17(3):190–197. doi: 10.1080/00029157.1975.10403739. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]