Say Ohm! Meditation and mindfulness training have been shown to have potential as part of ADHD treatment for teen and adult ADHD. A recent study found that Transcendental Meditation in particular may help people with ADHD alter some of their brain function to support ADHD treatment.
“Transcendental Meditation allows the attention to readily transcend thinking and experience pure consciousness,” says Frederick Travis, PhD, director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.
Travis and his colleagues recently published research showing that three months of Transcendental Meditation improves certain measures of brain function in young teens with ADHD. The pilot study looked at the performance of 18 middle school students who learned Transcendental Meditation and found that their ability to read accurately improved. Parents of the students also reported that they saw improvement in their children’s sleep quality, happiness, organizational skills, and attention to schoolwork.
Like other forms of meditation, Transcendental Meditation is designed to be practiced while sitting in a comfortable position and in a quiet location (although it could be practiced anywhere at any time). Practitioners usually have a phrase or mantra that they repeat throughout the 20-minute meditation period. The repetition helps the mind move past the thoughts and even the awareness of the mantra to silence.
“It helps adults and students by giving them an experience of silence, wakefulness,” Travis explains. “This leads to changes in brain functioning so that the meditation experience begins to be integrated with waking experiences.”
It’s not unusual for studies of meditation and ADHD to be small, says psychiatrist Martin W. Wetzel MD, assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE, who explains that patients often ask about meditation as a possible, non-pharmaceutical treatment.
“The research on these treatments is often limited to case reports, personal anecdotes, testimonies, etc. This is partly because it is difficult to design good studies that use a placebo condition, and also because there is limited funding available to conduct this type of research,” explains Dr. Wetzel.That said, he adds there is also very little harm in trying meditation. “I believe the risks of these types of therapy are minimal, and usually the cost is the most significant consideration.”
Transcendental Meditation is one of many different forms of meditation. Meditation has been used to ease stress, anxiety, substance abuse, self-injury, and depression as well as to improve physical health, such as reducing blood pressure and fending off heart disease. Some studies suggest that long-term meditation may help protect brain function.
Previous research showed that Transcendental Meditation does result in physiological changes that can help fight the impact of stress and seems to activate specific parts of the brain when it's practiced long term.
Pros and Cons of Transcendental Meditation
If you’re weighing this approach, consider these pros and cons:
- Improved verbal abilities, organization, and overall well-being.
- Better stress management.
- Transcendental Meditation is portable and does not require additional equipment.
- No interference with current medication.
- Training may be costly and might not be covered by health insurance.
- Effects may vary between individuals. “In the case of meditation and biofeedback, I have heard from patients a mixed report of success ranging from very good results to no noticeable improvement,” says Wetzel.
- Effectiveness may depend on ability to meet the time commitment (two sessions per day of 20 minutes each).
If you’ve tried other types of meditation or simply decided it’s not for you because of the challenges involved, Travis says that Transcendental Meditation could still work for you. “It is readily learned by everyone,” he says. “People report the experience of silence and wakefulness in the first few days. That is because Transcendental Meditation uses the natural tendency of the mind.”
Getting Started With Transcendental Meditation
Even if you’ve tried other types of meditation, Travis says that Transcendental Meditation could still work for you. “Transcendental Meditation is procedural knowledge rather declarative knowledge,” he says. You can read about the step-by-step method, but it’s essential to actually go through the process, with guidance.
“It's similar to riding a bicycle," he says. "You don't give a lecture to a child about how to ride a bike. Rather, you run along with their bike, giving them the experience of maintaining balance by moving the bike forward.”
If you are interested in learning Transcendental Meditation, you need a trained teacher, Travis says. The cost of instruction can run about $2,000. Typically, training takes place over four days, with two-hour sessions each day. The teacher then assigns the student a special phrase that is to be used as their mantra, which is kept secret. “It’s always learned one-on-one,” Travis notes. You can find a trained teacher at www.tm.org.
Is Transcendental Meditation the missing component in your ADHD treatment? Talk to your medical team to best coordinate your approach to managing ADHD. Remember that you should never stop taking any prescribed medications without your doctor’s supervision.
Last Updated: 8/24/2011