From: David Orme-Johnson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 9:38 PM To: David Orme-Johnson Subject: No Effects Studies page on TruthAboutTM.com
Dear Colleagues, This is the last one for a while. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Fairfield for a month of long meditations. This page responds to five studies claiming that TM practice has no effects. These studies, by the way, contradict articles asserting that the practice has adverse effects. These studies generally say that it is benign, like ordinary rest. Of particular interest is the # 5 in the short summaries below, a response to a review by Canter and Ernst claiming that TM practice does not improve cognitive ability. Detailed responses are on the Web site. I have responses to other “no-effect” studies, which I will post later. All the best, David ------------------------------------- Critique of studies alleging that Transcendental Meditation technique has no effect ISSUE: DOES THE TRANCENDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM HAVE NO EFFECT? Below are short summaries of studies reporting that the Transcendental Meditation has no effect, followed by more detailed analyses. HYPERLINK "http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Research/No-EffectStudies/index.cfm#Desir aju#Desiraju"1. Desiraju, T. (1990) The Yoga and Consciousness Project. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience. Bangalore, India: Omni magazine, November, pp. 84-88. Dr. Desiraju’s EEG study is one that claims that Transcendental Meditation has no special effects. It in no way shows or implies that the Transcendental Meditation technique has negative effects. His results appear to be due to a lack of understanding that the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique is a dynamic process, not a single state. It has different phases: thoughts, inner silence (transcendental consciousness), sometimes sleep and dream states. When these different phases are averaged, no special effects might be seen. However, many researchers that have discriminated between the different phases of Transcendental Meditation practice have found unique effects, particularly during the transcendental consciousness phase. HYPERLINK "http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Research/No-EffectStudies/index.cfm#Holme s#Holmes"2. Holmes, D.S. (1984). Meditation and Somatic Arousal Reduction: A Review of the Experimental Evidence. American Psychologist 39, no. 1 (1984): 1-10. The Holmes study was a qualitative review of several meditation techniques combined together, claiming that meditation did not reduce somatic arousal any more than ordinary rest. The review was flawed by mixing the results of different techniques, which used different methods and had different goals. A meta-analysis specifically on the Transcendental Meditation technique found that the technique differed significantly from ordinary rest on a number of physiological parameters (Dillbeck & Orme-Johnson, 1987). HYPERLINK "http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Research/No-EffectStudies/index.cfm#Smith #Smith"3. Smith, J.C. (1976). Psychotherapeutic Effects of Transcendental Meditation with Controls for Expectation of Relief and Daily Sitting. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 630-637. The Smith study claims that the Transcendental Meditation program does not have any special ability to reduce trait anxiety, and that if there are effects, they are due to the subjects’ expectations. However, a meta-analysis of all studies on trait anxiety, including Smith’s, have shown that Transcendental Meditation practice is more effective than other relaxation and meditation techniques, controlling for expectation and a wide range of other variables. HYPERLINK "http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Research/No-EffectStudies/index.cfm#Kaia# Kaia"4. Kaia, T. E. & Huddleston, S. (1999)The use of psychological skills by female collegiate swimmers. Journal of Sports Behavior, Dec., 22(4), 602-610. This study did not actually measure the effects of the TM technique on swimming skill, as the TranceNet Web site implies. It did not even suggest that any of the swimmers even knew what the Transcendental Meditation technique was, much less whether they ever actually practiced it. Therefore, the TranceNet statement that “Transcendental Meditation had no significant effect” is a completely wrong and misleading description of what the study actually did and said. HYPERLINK "http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Research/No-EffectStudies/index.cfm#Cante r#Canter"5. Canter, P. H. and Ernst, E. (2003). The cumulative effects of Transcendental Meditation on cognitive function. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift 115/21–22: 758–766. This paper reviewed 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on cognitive performance, from which it concluded that the studies showing positive effects were a result of expectation. However, the positive effects were on objective measures of cognitive performance, which could not be influenced by expectation. The review also contained mistakes, counting one no-effect study twice, and not including an important RCT showing positive benefits. Of the three no-effect studies, all were very small and covered a short time period. One studied learning-disabled children who might not be expected to change over a short period of time (three months). A second was on a measure that was not really cognitive (pistol shooting), and in the third the subjects did not practice the TM technique regularly. On the other hand larger, longer studies, in which the subjects were known to meditate regularly, found clear evidence of global cognitive development. Two studies which the Canter and Ernst review classified as “largely negative” report largely positive results, not largely negative results. In addition, a wide range of confirming evidence, which was not included in the review, supports the conclusion that TM practice does improve cognitive performance. David W. Orme-Johnson, Ph.D. HYPERLINK "mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL PROTECTED] HYPERLINK "http://www.truthabouttm.com/"www.TruthAboutTM.com HYPERLINK "http://www.seagroveartist.com/"www.SeagroveArtist.com 191 Dalton Dr. Seagrove Beach, FL 32459 850-231-2866 850-231-5012 Fax No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.0/1076 - Release Date: 10/17/2007 7:53 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.0/1076 - Release Date: 10/17/2007 7:53 PM
