THE EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TECHNIQUE ON VISUAL PERCEPTION AND VERBAL PROBLEM-SOLVING.

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Empirical Evaluation of the Possible Contribution of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program to Reduction in Drug-Related Mortality

Background and Objectives: CDC data indicate that the U.S. is experiencing a sustained epidemic of drug-related mortality, with such deaths exceeding a record 100,000 in 2021, up 47% from 2019. Opioids, especially the synthetic opioid fentanyl, account for approximately 75% of this mortality. This study evaluates a proposed Consciousness-Based® approach that may possibly help reduce trends in drug-related fatalities by mitigating what WHO refers to as an “epidemic of stress” in society that helps fuel drug misuse and other negative public health trends. This approach involves providing support in public and private sector public health initiatives for individual and group practice of a subjective, evidence-based meditation procedure suitable for those of all educational, cultural, and religious backgrounds: the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique and its advanced aspect, the TM-Sidhi® program. Materials and Methods: Segmented-trend regression analysis of monthly CDC data on U.S. drug-related fatality rates (dfr) from a prospective social experiment (2002–2016) was used to replicate and extend prior peer-reviewed research. Results: As hypothesized, (1) practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi program by a group of theoretically predicted size (√1% of the U.S. population) was associated with a statistically and practically significant reduction in dfr trend during the five-year “demonstration period” of the quasi-experiment; and (2) monthly dfr trend subsequently increased during the five-year follow-up period when the group fell below the required size (both p’s dfr during the demonstration period was 35.5%, calculated relative to the baseline mean. This decline was followed by total dfr increases of 11.8% and 47.4% relative to the demonstration-period mean during the two phases of the follow-up period. Conclusion: Existing evidence warrants implementation and further evaluation of this approach in U.S. public health initiatives

Empirical Evaluation of the Possible Contribution of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program to Reduction in Drug-Related Mortality

Supplemental files to accompany paper M.C. Dillbeck & K.L. Cavanaugh (2023). "Empirical Evaluation of the Possible Contribution of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program to Reduction in Drug-Related Mortality." Medicina, 59(2), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina5902019

Societal Violence and Collective Consciousness

This research tests the hypothesis that group practice of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM) and TM-Sidhi® program by a group of sufficient size is associated with reduced rates of homicide and violent crime. Data from a prospective quasi-experiment were analyzed using intervention analysis or interrupted time series analysis. Dependent variables are time series of the U.S. monthly homicide rate as well as violent crime rate from a sample of 206 cities. The binary intervention variable is based on the size of the largest U.S. TM-Sidhi group. Intervention effects were analyzed by time series regression using a broken-trend intervention model. As hypothesized, there was a statistically and practically significant shift in trend in the direction of reduced rates for each of the variables beginning with the onset of the intervention period. Diagnostic tests indicate that key statistical assumptions of the analysis are satisfied. Alternative hypotheses are considered for the apparent effect of macro-level social behavioral change without micro-level behavioral interaction

Empirical Evaluation of the Possible Contribution of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program to Reduction in Drug-Related Mortality

Background and Objectives: CDC data indicate that the U.S. is experiencing a sustained epidemic of drug-related mortality, with such deaths exceeding a record 100,000 in 2021, up 47% from 2019. Opioids, especially the synthetic opioid fentanyl, account for approximately 75% of this mortality. This study evaluates a proposed Consciousness-Based® approach that may possibly help reduce trends in drug-related fatalities by mitigating what WHO refers to as an “epidemic of stress” in society that helps fuel drug misuse and other negative public health trends. This approach involves providing support in public and private sector public health initiatives for individual and group practice of a subjective, evidence-based meditation procedure suitable for those of all educational, cultural, and religious backgrounds: the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique and its advanced aspect, the TM-Sidhi® program. Materials and Methods: Segmented-trend regression analysis of monthly CDC data on U.S. drug-related fatality rates (dfr) from a prospective social experiment (2002–2016) was used to replicate and extend prior peer-reviewed research. Results: As hypothesized, (1) practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi program by a group of theoretically predicted size (√1% of the U.S. population) was associated with a statistically and practically significant reduction in dfr trend during the five-year “demonstration period” of the quasi-experiment; and (2) monthly dfr trend subsequently increased during the five-year follow-up period when the group fell below the required size (both p’s < 0.0001). The estimated total percent decrease in dfr during the demonstration period was 35.5%, calculated relative to the baseline mean. This decline was followed by total dfr increases of 11.8% and 47.4% relative to the demonstration-period mean during the two phases of the follow-up period. Conclusion: Existing evidence warrants implementation and further evaluation of this approach in U.S. public health initiatives