Portable Mantram Meditation for Veterans With Military Related Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD)

• Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) [ Time Frame: Post-treatment and 8 week follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  PTSD symptom severity is measured by CAPS to determine PTSD diagnosis. The scale rates 17 items representing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) criteria B (re-experiencing), C (avoidance/numbing) and D (hyper-arousal). CAPS has demonstrated high levels of internal consistency, good inter-rater reliability, & excellent convergent validity. The F1/I2 rule will be applied to establish the diagnosis of PTSD aligned with DSM-IV (e.g. one symptom of Criterion B, three of Criterion C, and two of Criterion D. The CAPS also includes an item to assess duration of PTSD symptoms.
  
  

• Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) [ Time Frame: Baseline to Eight-Week Follow-Up (Week 16) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  PTSD symptom severity measured by CAPS to determine PTSD diagnosis. The scale rates 17 items representing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) criteria B (re-experiencing), C (avoidance/numbing) and D (hyper-arousal). CAPS has demonstrated high levels of internal consistency, good inter-rater reliability, & excellent convergent validity. The F1/I2 rule will be applied to establish the diagnosis of PTSD aligned with DSM-IV (e.g. one symptom of Criterion B, three of Criterion C, and two of Criterion D. The CAPS also includes an item to assess duration of PTSD symptoms.
  
  
• PTSD Checklist - Military [ Time Frame: Baseline to Post-Treatment (Week 8) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Self-Reported PTSD Symptoms
  
  
• Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) [ Time Frame: Post-treatment and 8 week follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  FFMQ a 39-item scale that measures five components of mindfulness: observing; describing; acting with awareness; non-judging of inner experience; and non-reactivity to inner experience. FFMQ scores have mediated the effect of mindfulness training on positive changes in psychological state.
  
  
• Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (FACIT-SWB) [ Time Frame: Baseline to Post-Treatment (Week 8) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The FACIT-SWB was developed to assess spiritual components (e.g., harmony, meaning, purpose in life, peacefulness, faith/assurance) of quality of life using 23 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicating greater spiritual well-being. Validity has been demonstrated by significant Pearson correlations between measures of quality of life, mood, and religious growth. It has demonstrated internal consistency reliability.
  
  
• Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (FACIT-SWB) [ Time Frame: Baseline to Post-Treatment (Week 16) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The FACIT-SWB was developed to assess spiritual components (e.g., harmony, meaning, purpose in life, peacefulness, faith/assurance) of quality of life using 23 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicating greater spiritual well-being. Validity has been demonstrated by significant Pearson correlations between measures of quality of life, mood, and religious growth. It has demonstrated internal consistency reliability.
  
  
• Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) [ Time Frame: Baseline to Post-Treatment (Week 8) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  FFMQ a 39-item scale that measures five components of mindfulness: observing; describing; acting with awareness; non-judging of inner experience; and non-reactivity to inner experience. FFMQ scores have mediated the effect of mindfulness training on positive changes in psychological state.
  
  

The investigators aim to conduct a more rigorous test of the therapeutic treatment efficacy of the Mantram Repetition Program (MRP) by offering it as a stand-alone intervention, compared to an attention control arm, in a more diverse sample of Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who will be recruited from a variety of clinics, including primary care, women's health and specialty clinics in two geographical locations. A prospective, randomized, two-site clinical trial will be conducted to compare the effect of the MRP to that of an attention control of Present Centered Therapy on scores of the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and PTSD Checklist-Military (PCL-M) at three time-points (pre-treatment, post-treatment at 8 weeks and at follow-up or 16 weeks). The investigators propose to address the following aims: To examine the MRP as a stand-alone intervention for efficacy in treating Veterans with PTSD; To examine MRP as stand-alone intervention for efficacy in treating trauma-related psychological distress (depression, insomnia, anger) in Veterans with PTSD; To examine MRP as a stand-alone intervention for efficacy in improving mental health, quality of life, spiritual well-being, mindfulness and posttraumatic growth.