User:Jamie Kerby/Post-traumatic stress disorder

Using Meditation to treat Post-traumatic stress disorder in youth
Meditation is becoming a common psychotherapeutic intervention for youth with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Children and adolescents who have endured traumatic events or abuse tend to struggle with emotional dysregulation, and meditation helps to increase self-awareness and regulating one's emotions. Meditation interventions like mindfulness meditation or transcendental meditation for youth who have experienced a traumatic event have better treatment effects compared to other treatments like EMDR or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Other forms of meditation that have been used to treat youth include mind-body meditation, focused attention meditation, open-monitoring meditation, and body-mind meditation. Interventions involving both yoga and meditation help youth to explore and understand their physical sensations by teaching them to focus on their breathing. Some benefits children and adolescents may experience are increased creativity, increased focus, higher levels of relaxation, and increased psychological and emotional well-being. Other benefits from meditation are decreases in depression levels, hopelessness or other PTSD symptoms, and increases in self-esteem. Meditation can also help to regulate the heart rate and calm the nervous system. Meditation's benefits can be present for as long as six months or longer after treatment.