Compassion Meditation for Veterans with PTSD: Home Practice Matters

There is strong rationale and growing empirical support for compassion meditation as an alternative treatment for PTSD. The purpose of this study was to examine the importance of home meditation practice, a central component of compassion meditation approaches, among veterans with PTSD participating in an adapted version of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT®).

Participants were 49 veterans with PTSD as determined by clinical interview with a mean age of 46.2 (SD = 14.5) pooled from three studies (non-randomized pilot study, randomized proof-of-concept study, telehealth-delivered feasibility study). During the CBCT intervention, participants completed weekly clinical outcome assessments of PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, negative affect, and positive affect. Participants also completed a weekly practice log, including the duration of home meditation practice over the previous week. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the relationship between weekly home meditation practice and weekly change in clinical outcomes.

Home meditation practice was associated with significant improvement in depression symptoms (B =  − 0.03, SE = 0.01, p < 0.001), negative affect (B =  − 0.04, SE = 0.01, p = 0.007), and positive affect (B = 0.03, SE = 0.01, p = 0.005) controlling for treatment session.

These findings underscore the importance of home meditation practice among veterans with PTSD learning compassion meditation. This preliminary evaluation should be replicated and additional research is needed to identify optimal home practice dosing to maximize adherence while achieving clinically meaningful improvement.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02372396.