Students at Maharishi Institute who learned the Transcendental Meditation technique (TM) were free from depression within 15 days, compared with a non-TM group of students with PTSD at another school (University of Johannesburg) who showed no reduction in depression symptoms during the 135 days of study.
PTSD can be hidden : Richard Peycke, Chairman of Maharishi Institute, explained that in South Africa up to 20 or 25 % of the students may have PTSD. He said, ‘Initially, we did not think that PTSD would be a problem, but after testing our students we realized that even though they may have learned to act like the general population, the inner stress is still there. And that stress blocks the learning process and impedes social development and success at work.
We even found that the two years we tested the students, 30% of the entering classes had PTSD. We also found that within a few months, with careful regularity of checking and regular knowledge and experience lectures, and regularity of meditation, the students started easing out of PTSD’.