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As discussed earlier, the practice of TM directly affects the neurobiological aspects specifically affected by PTSD. Researchers at the University of Colorado school of Medicine demonstrated that it also has a positive effect on other symptoms associated with PTSD. Combat veterans of the Vietnam War seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress were randomly assigned to either the TM program or psychotherapy. The participants in the TM group reported significant reductions in depression, anxiety, emotional numbness, alcohol consumption, family problems, difficulty in getting a job, insomnia, and overall symptoms of PTSD. The TM participants also exhibited a more rapid physiological recovery from stressful stimuli as measured by habituation of the skin resistance response.

Though the study group was small, participants in the TM group showed a significant positive treatment effect when compared to controls receiving psychotherapy, as demonstrated on pre and post test measurements of DSM III criteria of emotional numbness, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, measurement of galvanic skin resistance to assess rapidity of habituation to a stressful stimulus, and a questionnaire measuring post-Vietnam adjustment addressing alcohol consumption, degree of insomnia, and extent of family problems. The only area that did not show a significant difference between intervention groups was employment status.

(Brooks JS, Scarano, T. Transcendental Meditation in the treatment of post-Vietnam adjustment. Journal of Counseling and Development. 1985:(64);212-215.)