Brains of veterans with PTSD changed after mindfulness training

"The brain findings suggest that mindfulness training may have helped the veterans develop more capacity to shift their attention and get themselves out of being 'stuck' in painful cycles of thoughts," says Anthony King. (Credit: LoboStudio Hamburg/

Like an endlessly repeating video loop, horrible memories and thoughts can play over and over in the minds of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They intrude at the quietest moments, and don’t seem to have an off switch.

Now, a small new study of veterans with PTSD shows the promise of mindfulness training for enhancing the ability to manage those thoughts if they come up, and to keep them from getting “stuck.” Even more surprising, the findings actually show the veterans’ brains changed—in ways that may help them find their own off switch for that endless loop.

For the study, published in the journal Depression and Anxiety, 23 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan received some form of group therapy. After four months of weekly sessions, many reported that their PTSD symptoms eased up.

But in those who participated in mindfulness training—a mind-body technique that focuses on in-the-moment attention and awareness—researchers were surprised to see significant brain changes as well.

Stronger brain connections




“The brain findings suggest that mindfulness training may have helped the veterans develop more capacity to shift their attention and get themselves out of being ‘stuck’ in painful cycles of thoughts,” says Anthony King of the psychiatry department at the University of Michigan.

[This is your brain on mindfulness training]

We’re hopeful that this brain signature shows the potential of mindfulness to be helpful for managing PTSD for people who might initially decline therapy involving trauma processing. We hope it may provide emotional regulation skills to help bring them to a place where they feel better able to process their traumas.”


Because of mindfulness-based training’s reputation as an “alternative” approach and its relationship to traditionally East and South Asian practices like meditation and yoga, researchers were initially unsure they would find enough veterans to try it.


Symptoms trigger?

“Once we explained the rationale behind mindfulness, which aims to ground and calm a person while also addressing mental phenomena, they were very interested and engaged—more than we expected,” says King. “The approach we took included standard elements of exposure therapy as well as mindfulness, to help lead veterans to be able to process the trauma itself.”


People with PTSD should not see mindfulness alone as a potential solution for their symptoms, should seek out providers trained specifically in PTSD care, King says.

The mindfulness group saw improvement in PTSD symptoms, in the form of decreased scores on a standard scale of PTSD severity, that was statistically significant and considered clinically meaningful, whereas the control group did not. However, the between-group effects in this small study were not considered statistically significant. Therefore, King wants to explore the trend further in larger groups, and in civilians.

[Some vets with PTSD are aging too fast and too soon]

That’s because mindfulness sessions can sometimes actually trigger symptoms such as intrusive thoughts to flare up. So, it’s important for people with PTSD to have help from a trained counselor to use mindfulness as part of their therapy for PTSD.







The US Defense Department and a Mind and Life Institute Varela award funded the work.

Source: University of Michigan