Mindfulness-based stress reduction finds a place in the military
from the official homepage of the United States Army
SAN ANTONIO (June 15, 2015) — Mindfulness-based meditation and the military are generally two things that one would not associate with one another.
But on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Dr. Valerie Rice, chief of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s Human Research and Engineering Directorate Army Medical Department Field Element in San Antonio, has participated in the Army Study Program since 2012. She has led a study entitled “Evaluating Next Generation Resiliency Training using the Virtual World of Second Life” for the last four years.
This study, along with her two related 2015 studies “Fortifying and Amplifying Resiliency Training” and “Expeditious Resiliency: Examining a 5-day Intensive Mindfulness Training,” which were recently funded, have allowed Rice and her team to work with active-duty military and veterans to examine the potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction for conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, depression, chronic pain, and anxiety among others.