Background. Little is known about Tibetan medicine (TM), in Western industrialized countries. Objectives. To provide a systematic review of the clinical studies on TM available in the West. Data Sources. Seven literature databases, published literature lists, citation tracking, and contacts to experts and institutions. Study Eligibility Criteria. Studies in English, German, French, or Spanish presenting clinical trial results. Participants. All patients of the included studies. Interventions. Tibetan medicine treatment. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods. Included studies were described quantitatively; their quality was assessed with the DIMDI HTA checklist; for RCTs the Jadad score was used. Results. 40 studies from 39 publications were included. They were very heterogeneous regarding study type and size, treated conditions, treatments, measured outcomes, and quality. Limitations. No Russian, Tibetan, or Chinese publications were included. Possible publication bias. Conclusions. The number of clinical trials on TM available in the West is small; methods and results are heterogeneous. Implications of Key Findings. Higher quality larger trials are needed, as is a general overview of traditional usage to inform future clinical trials. Systematic Review Registration Number. None.
<p>A Tibetan-Newari dictionary. (Michael Walter and Manfred Taube 2006-05-15, revised by Bill McGrath 2008-01-03)</p>
<p>A topically organized text, the Newari is given in Tibetan transliteration. The editors have provided a more standard Newari transliteration, as well as English translations indices to the Tibetan, Newari, and English. A facisimlie of the original manuscript. Photographs of relevant household objects are also provided. (Nathan Hill 2007-12-13, revised by Bill McGrath 2008-02-06)</p>
Transcendental Meditation (TM®) is derived from ancient yogic teachings. Both short- and long-term physiological correlates of TM® practice have been studied. EEG effects include increased alpha, theta, and gamma frequencies and increased coherence and synchrony. Neuronal hypersynchrony is also a cardinal feature of epilepsy, and subjective psychic symptoms, apnea, and myoclonic jerking are characteristic of both epileptic seizures and meditative states. Clinical vignettes have highlighted the potential risk of human kindling from repetitive meditation in persons practicing TM®, but clinical studies of similar techniques suggest that meditation may also be a potential antiepileptic therapy. Future clinical studies of meditating subjects using video/EEG monitoring are warranted to determine whether behavioral phenomena have an underlying epileptic basis, and prospective clinical trials of TM® in subjects with well-delineated epilepsy syndromes are necessary to establish the safety of this technique and its potential efficacy for seizure reduction and improvement of quality of life.
Zotero Collections:
Join Sara Estelle in the latest Nature Connections show as she is joined by Chris Phillips, Author of "Treating Depression Naturally". Chris shares more about how depression is a uniquely experienced emotion/state of being and how and why it might manifest. Chris also talks about 3 aspects of depression - namely anger, hormonal depression and depression experienced by many young people today - and flower essences that might help
BackgroundChronic depression is a severe and disabling condition. Compared to an episodic course, chronic depression has been shown to be less responsive to psychopharmacological and psychological treatments. The cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP) has been developed as a specific psychotherapy for chronic depression. However, conflicting results concerning its efficacy have been reported in randomized‐controlled trials (RCT). Therefore, we aimed at examining the efficacy of CBASP using meta‐analytical methods.
Methods
Randomized‐controlled trials assessing the efficacy of CBASP in chronic depression were identified by searching electronic databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) and by manual searches (citation search, contacting experts). Searching period was restricted from the first available entry to October 2015. Identified studies were systematically reviewed. The standardized mean difference Hedges' g was calculated from posttreatment and mean change scores. The random‐effects model was used to compute combined overall effect sizes. A risk of publication bias was addressed using fail‐safe N calculations and trim‐and‐fill analysis.
Results
Six studies comprising 1.510 patients met our inclusion criteria. The combined overall effect sizes of CBASP versus other treatments or treatment as usual (TAU) pointed to a significant effect of small magnitude (g = 0.34–0.44, P < 0.01). In particular, CBASP revealed moderate‐to‐high effect sizes when compared to TAU and interpersonal psychotherapy (g = 0.64–0.75, P < 0.05), and showed similar effects when compared to antidepressant medication (ADM) (g = −0.29 to 0.02, ns). The combination of CBASP and ADM yielded benefits over antidepressant monotherapy (g = 0.49–0.59, P < 0.05).
Limitations
The small number of included studies, a certain degree of heterogeneity among the study designs and comparison conditions, and insufficient data evaluating long‐term effects of CBASP restrict generalizability yet.
Conclusions
We conclude that there is supporting evidence that CBASP is effective in the treatment of chronic depression.
Pages |